Chapter 9 – “Economic and Political Reform, 1874-1890”

1. Identify the various economic transformations in Texas in the 1870s and 1880s being sure to evaluate why the expanding railroad industry was “the single most important agent leading to change.”
2. Describe in detail the spread of railroads across the Lone Star State being sure to cover each of the following:
1. the desirability of railroads in a frontier state such as Texas
2. reasons Texans subsidized (helped pay for) rail construction
3. methods of subsidization
4. major rail lines built in this era
3. Be familiar with early unionization efforts in Texas.
4. Discuss in detail the changing nature of agriculture in Texas following the Civil War and Reconstruction being sure to address each of the following:
1. increasing acreage in farm usage
2. exploding production levels and declining value
3. spreading tenancy, sharecropping, and the crop-lien system
4. the shift from subsistence to cash crop or commercial farming
5. Identify and describe in detail the factors giving rise to the open-range cattle industry as well as its demise being sure to address the most important trails by which cattle were pushed north and west.
6. The Constitution of 1876 marked the final step in “Redemption,” ending the Reconstruction era. Describe in detail the new constitution and the type of state government it created being sure to address each of the following:
1. the partisan composition of the constitutional convention
2. the various ways in which state government, especially the governor’s office, was stripped of power
3. how the constitution can be seen as a negative reaction to the Reconstruction experience
7. Once Reconstruction ended, a group of conservatives known as “Redeemers” controlled southern states politically. Governors Richard Coke, Richard B. Hubbard, Oran Roberts, John Ireland, and Sul Ross of Texas represented the Redeemer era in this state. Identify and describe the primary goals of their administrations in terms of reasserting Democratic control, limiting government, slashing expenditures, and preserving the control of conservatives.
8. Identify and describe each of the following agrarian-oriented organizations, their proposals, and how they reflected a growing agrarian discontent both economically and politically:
1. the Grange or Patrons of Husbandry
2. the Greenback Party
3. the Farmers’ Alliance
9. Be familiar with the declining political influence of both Republicans and black Texans between Reconstruction’s end and the turn of the century.
10. Recognize the importance of each of the following:
1. the Screwmen’s Benevolent Association and the Knights of Labor
2. the Great Southwest Strike
3. barbed wire and the Fence Wars
4. the Cowboy Strike of 1883
5. the Fifty Cent Law of 1879
6. the prohibitionist movement
7. the subtreasury plan

Chapter 10 – “The Populist Movement, 1890-1900”

1. Describe in detail the decimation of the Texas farming community during the final third of the nineteenth century being sure to address each of the following:
1. governmental policies that had an adverse effect
2. one-crop farming of cotton
3. overproduction and plummeting values
4. the trap of indebtedness
5. spreading tenancy and sharecropping
2. Trace the evolution of agrarian discontent from the Farmers’ Alliance to the Populist party being sure to identify the latter’s demands and constituencies.
3. While Attorney General and then Governor James Stephen Hogg was and would remain a Democrat, he nonetheless reflected and focused agrarian discontent in the political arena. Identify and describe his major accomplishments in this perspective.
4. Trace the Populist party’s challenge of Democratic hegemony in Texas between 1892 and 1896 addressing each of the following:
1. the demand for currency inflation through silver coinage
2. the subtreasury plan
3. the Populist effort to build a biracial coalition
4. the need to convince voters of Populist viability
5. the “fusionist” issue in 1896
6. the absorption of Populists by the Democratic party after the 1896 election
5. Identify the importance of each of the following:
1. the Texas Railroad Commission
2. bimetallic currency system
3. “Hogg’s laws”

Chapter 11 – “Society and Culture, 1874-1900”

1. Describe the changes and continuities of Texas during the final quarter of the nineteenth century in terms of population, demographics, and living and working conditions.
2. Identify the reasons Texas remained such a violent place between 1874 and 1900.
3. Be familiar with each of the following examples of violence:
1. the Taylor-Sutton Feud
2. criminal gunfighters such as John Wesley Hardin and Ben Thompson
3. attacks upon racial minorities
4. the cattle wars on the South Texas border
4. Describe the effectiveness and sometimes “extralegal” means used by the recreated Texas Rangers to cope with violence.
5. Evaluate the changing and deteriorating situation of black and Tejano citizens of the state as the century drew to a close.

Chapter 12 – “The Progressive Era and WW1, 1900-1919”

1. Identify the major characteristics that differentiated Southern progressivism from the reform movement in the North and West.
2. Describe Texas at the beginning of the century in terms of population and economic demographics.
3. Be familiar with Galveston’s adoption of the commission form of municipal government, the new form’s accomplishments in the wake of the 1900 hurricane, and its spread to other Texas cities.
4. Describe in detail the systematic effort to disfranchise racial minorities and narrow the electorate being sure to identify the methods by which this was accomplished. Additionally, explain how the electorate’s restriction protected conservative control of government.
5. Evaluate the progressive record of Governor Thomas Campbell being sure to address such steps as the Robertson Insurance Law, stronger antitrust laws, the outlawing of railroad passes, and the Bank Deposit Guaranty Law.
6. Identify the Plan de San Diego, the use of the Texas Rangers in the South Texas region, and charges of indiscriminate brutality regarding the treatment of Mexican Texans.
7. Describe the process by which Texas women gained the right to vote in the latter Progressive era.
8. Trace the process by which Texas went from local-option laws to a statewide prohibition on alcohol.
9. Identify the importance of each of the following:
1. the Spindletop oil strike
2. poll tax
3. “white primary”
4. Waters-Pierce Oil Company case
5. the “Punitive Expedition” against Pancho Villa’s forces
6. the Zimmerman Telegram
7. the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)

Chapter 13 – “The Rise of Urbanization, Expanding Opportunities, and the
Invisible Empire, 1920-1929”

1. Describe the Texas economy of the 1920s being sure to address industrial growth as well as the continuing primacy of agriculture.
2. Evaluate the political, social, and economic condition of Tejanos and Texas blacks during the Twenties.
3. Examine the increasing growth of cities in the Twenties being sure to identify reasons urban areas were attracting greater numbers of Texans.
4. Describe in detail the rise and spread of the second Ku Klux Klan being sure to address each of the following topics:
1. the kind of fears and tensions that brought about the Klan’s resurgence
2. the Klan’s supporters
3. the Klan’s targets (especially its efforts to impose its vision of morality)
4. the Klan’s political activity and strength
5. the reasons for the Klan’s rapid demise
5. Be familiar with the successes and failures of Texas governors Pat Neff, Miriam Ferguson, and Dan Moody during the Twenties.
6. Identify the importance of each of the following:
1. Permanent University Fund (PUF)
2. the “Big Swing”
3. League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC)
4. Nixon V. Herndon (1927), Nixon v. Condon (1932), Grovey v. Townsend (1935)
5. William J. Simmons
6. Hiram Wesley Evans
7. Earl Mayfield
8. Felix D. Robertson