Texas History Test Case Studies & Practical Application 4 â Questions and Answers
Question 1: A lawmaker in 1836 drafts the Republic of Texas's land policy. Which approach best describes how Texas treated public lands differently from U.S. states?
- Texas retained ownership of its public lands when it joined the Union, unlike other states (Correct answer)
- Texas sold all public lands to private companies before annexation
- Texas transferred all land titles to the federal government upon statehood
- Texas required all settlers to purchase land from the Catholic Church
Correct answer: Texas retained ownership of its public lands when it joined the Union, unlike other states
Unlike states carved from federal territory, Texas kept control of its own public lands when it joined the U.S., retaining millions of acres for schools and railroads.
Question 2: Juan SeguĂn fought for Texas independence but later fled to Mexico. What does his story illustrate about Tejano experiences during the revolution?
- Tejanos who aided Texas faced suspicion and displacement despite their contributions (Correct answer)
- Tejanos universally opposed Texas independence and were treated as enemies
- Mexican-origin Texans were given special land grants for their military service
- SeguĂn's story shows that Tejanos held the most political power in early Texas
Correct answer: Tejanos who aided Texas faced suspicion and displacement despite their contributions
SeguĂn served Texas loyally but was driven out by Anglo settlers who distrusted him as a Mexican, illustrating the marginalization of Tejanos despite their role in the revolution.
Question 3: The Texas Rangers were reorganized after the Civil War as a frontier force. Which practical mission justified their re-establishment in the 1870s?
- Protecting settlers from Comanche and Kiowa raids as the U.S. Army focused elsewhere (Correct answer)
- Enforcing Reconstruction laws imposed by the federal government
- Collecting tariffs along the Rio Grande for the state treasury
- Suppressing labor strikes in the emerging oil industry
Correct answer: Protecting settlers from Comanche and Kiowa raids as the U.S. Army focused elsewhere
Post-Civil War Comanche and Kiowa raids devastated frontier settlements, and the Rangers were reformed under Leander McNelly and others to restore order.
Question 4: A historian studying the 1900 Galveston hurricane wants to analyze its policy impact. What lasting governmental innovation resulted from the disaster?
- Galveston adopted the commission form of city government, a national model for urban reform (Correct answer)
- Texas created the first state-funded hurricane insurance program in the U.S.
- The federal government assumed direct control of all Texas coastal cities
- Galveston built a seawall funded entirely through private donations
Correct answer: Galveston adopted the commission form of city government, a national model for urban reform
Galveston replaced its ineffective mayor-council government with a commission of experts after the hurricane, a model copied by hundreds of U.S. cities.
Question 5: During the Texas Frontier era, the buffalo were nearly exterminated by hunters in the 1870s. What was the most significant practical consequence for the Comanche people?
- It destroyed their food supply and economic base, forcing reservation life (Correct answer)
- It opened new agricultural opportunities that Comanche leaders embraced
- It ended trade disputes between Comanche and Anglo ranchers over cattle
- It allowed the Texas Rangers to negotiate peaceful treaties for the first time
Correct answer: It destroyed their food supply and economic base, forcing reservation life
The Comanche's entire economy, diet, and culture depended on the buffalo, and its extermination by commercial hunters eliminated their ability to live independently on the plains.
Question 6: A Texas cotton farmer in 1880 relies on sharecropping to work his land. Which economic reality does this system reflect about post-Civil War Texas agriculture?
- Freedpeople lacked capital to buy land, so they farmed others' land in exchange for a crop share (Correct answer)
- Sharecropping was a Mexican agricultural tradition adopted by Anglo landowners
- The Texas government required all farms over 100 acres to use sharecropper labor
- Sharecroppers owned the land but leased tools and seeds from large planters
Correct answer: Freedpeople lacked capital to buy land, so they farmed others' land in exchange for a crop share
With freedom but no capital or land, many formerly enslaved Texans entered sharecropping arrangements that often kept them in cycles of debt to landowners.
Question 7: A political scientist studying the 1869 Texas Constitution notes that Governor Edmund Davis used it to centralize power. What specific mechanism allowed this?
- The governor was given power to appoint local officials rather than having them elected (Correct answer)
- The governor could veto constitutional amendments without a legislative override
- The governor controlled the Texas Supreme Court appointment process directly
- The constitution eliminated the state legislature and replaced it with an advisory council
Correct answer: The governor was given power to appoint local officials rather than having them elected
The Reconstruction-era 1869 constitution allowed the governor to appoint mayors, sheriffs, and judges statewide, concentrating enormous power in Davis's hands.
Texas History Test Case Studies & Practical Application 4
A lawmaker in 1836 drafts the Republic of Texas's land policy.
Which approach best describes how Texas treated public lands differently from U.S. states?