Texas History Test Communication & Stakeholder Relations 5 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: The Joint Resolution for Texas annexation in 1845 passed the U.S. Congress by a narrow margin, representing a compromise that addressed which key stakeholder concern?
- Native American land rights within Texas
- The possibility of dividing Texas into up to five smaller states (Correct answer)
- Catholic Church property claims in South Texas
- British merchant trading rights in Texas ports
Correct answer: The possibility of dividing Texas into up to five smaller states
The resolution included a provision allowing Texas to subdivide into up to five states, a concession designed to mollify different political factions about the balance of power.
Question 2: Juan Seguin's role in the Texas Revolution exemplifies stakeholder tension because he fought for Texas independence but was later driven out by what?
- Mexican military forces who captured San Antonio
- Anglo-Texan suspicion and hostility toward Tejanos (Correct answer)
- Political opposition from Sam Houston's government
- Land disputes with Stephen F. Austin's colonists
Correct answer: Anglo-Texan suspicion and hostility toward Tejanos
Despite his military service to Texas, Seguin faced growing anti-Mexican prejudice from Anglo settlers and was forced to flee to Mexico in 1842.
Question 3: The empresario system required colonists to communicate their allegiance to Mexico by formally converting to which religion?
- Protestantism
- Catholicism (Correct answer)
- Anglicanism
- No religious requirement was imposed
Correct answer: Catholicism
Mexico required all colonists to convert to Catholicism as a condition of receiving land grants, though enforcement was often minimal in practice.
Question 4: After Texas statehood in 1845, the primary communication challenge for the new state government was managing tensions over what unresolved boundary issue?
- Texas's border with Louisiana and the Sabine River
- Texas's claimed western border with New Mexico, disputed until the Compromise of 1850
- Texas's southern border at the Nueces River versus the Rio Grande (Correct answer)
- Texas's northern boundary with Indian Territory
Correct answer: Texas's southern border at the Nueces River versus the Rio Grande
The Nueces Strip — the land between the Nueces River and Rio Grande — was claimed by both Texas and Mexico, and its status directly triggered the Mexican-American War.
Question 5: Republic of Texas diplomats in Europe faced the challenge of countering British abolitionists' pressure on Texas. What did Britain want Texas to do in exchange for diplomatic support?
- Abolish slavery (Correct answer)
- Adopt British common law
- Allow British naval bases on the Gulf Coast
- Impose tariffs on American goods
Correct answer: Abolish slavery
British diplomats and abolitionists pressured Texas to end slavery, hoping to create a free-labor buffer state that would also undermine American slavery.
Question 6: Which Texas leader was most effective at communicating a moderate, inclusive vision to both Anglo settlers and Tejano stakeholders during the Republic period?
- Mirabeau Lamar
- William Barret Travis
- Sam Houston (Correct answer)
- David G. Burnet
Correct answer: Sam Houston
Sam Houston's personal relationships across cultural lines, his Cherokee ties, and his emphasis on negotiation made him the most broadly inclusive leader of the Republic era.
Question 7: The Texas Declaration of Independence (March 2, 1836) addressed which specific stakeholder grievance related to communication rights?
- Mexico had shut down Texas newspapers and censored the press
- Mexico failed to provide Texas colonists a trial by jury and denied them the right to petition government (Correct answer)
- Mexico had banned English-language documents in Texas courts
- Mexico had expelled all Protestant ministers from Texas
Correct answer: Mexico failed to provide Texas colonists a trial by jury and denied them the right to petition government
The Declaration specifically cited Mexico's failure to grant trial by jury and its refusal to hear petitions from Texas colonists as evidence of tyranny.
Texas History Test Communication & Stakeholder Relations 5
The Joint Resolution for Texas annexation in 1845 passed the U.S.
Congress by a narrow margin, representing a compromise that addressed which key stakeholder concern?