Posted: January 8th, 2024

Texas History from 1870 to 1960

Texas History from 1870 to 1960

Texas is a state with a rich and diverse history that spans over two centuries. From the end of the Civil War to the dawn of the Space Age, Texas experienced many political, social, economic, and cultural changes that shaped its identity and destiny. In this paper, we will explore some of the major events and trends that occurred in Texas from 1870 to 1960, and how they affected the lives of Texans of different races, ethnicities, genders, and classes.

Reconstruction and Redemption (1870-1890)

The period of Reconstruction after the Civil War was a tumultuous time for Texas, as it faced the challenges of rejoining the Union, rebuilding its economy, and protecting the rights of its newly freed African American population. Texas was readmitted to the Union in 1870, after ratifying the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments that granted citizenship and voting rights to former slaves. However, many white Texans resisted these changes and sought to restore their pre-war dominance through violence, intimidation, and legal discrimination. The Republican governor Edmund Davis, who supported Reconstruction policies, faced fierce opposition from the Democratic Party and conservative groups such as the Ku Klux Klan. Davis was defeated in the 1873 election by Richard Coke, who led the “Redeemer” movement that aimed to restore white supremacy and states’ rights in Texas. Under Coke and his successors, Texas enacted laws that restricted the civil rights and economic opportunities of African Americans, such as poll taxes, literacy tests, segregation, sharecropping, and convict leasing. These laws effectively disenfranchised and exploited most black Texans for decades to come.

The Cattle Boom and Frontier Expansion (1870-1890)

While Reconstruction brought political turmoil to Texas, it also opened new economic opportunities for the state. The demand for beef in the eastern markets increased after the war, and Texas had millions of cattle roaming its vast rangelands. To take advantage of this situation, Texas ranchers began to drive their herds northward to the railroads in Kansas and Missouri, where they could sell them at higher prices. These cattle drives became a symbol of the Texas frontier spirit, as cowboys braved harsh weather, hostile Indians, outlaws, and stampedes to reach their destinations. Some of the most famous cattle trails were the Chisholm Trail, the Goodnight-Loving Trail, and the Western Trail. The cattle boom also stimulated the growth of towns along the trails, such as Abilene, Dodge City, and Fort Worth.

As the cattle industry expanded, so did the Texas frontier. The federal government encouraged westward settlement by offering land grants to railroad companies and homesteaders. The railroads connected Texas with other regions and facilitated trade and migration. The homesteaders cultivated crops such as cotton, corn, wheat, and fruits on their farms. However, these settlers also encountered conflicts with the Native Americans who inhabited the western lands. The Comanche, Kiowa, Apache, and other tribes resisted the encroachment of white settlers on their hunting grounds and raided their settlements. The U.S. Army fought several wars with these tribes in an attempt to subdue them and confine them to reservations. One of the most notable battles was the Battle of Palo Duro Canyon in 1874, where Colonel Ranald Mackenzie destroyed the winter camps and supplies of several tribes and forced them to surrender.

New South and Progressivism (1890-1920)

The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries saw Texas transform from a rural agrarian society to a more urbanized and industrialized one. This transformation was part of a larger national trend known as the New South or Progressivism,