THE STATE OF TEXAS
GOVERNMENT, POLITICS AND POLICY
6TH EDITION
CHAPTER NO. 01: INTRODUCTION TO TEXAS HISTORY AND POLITICS
1) The first modern European nation to lay claim to the territory of Texas was
A) France.
B) Spain.
C) England.
D) Portugal.
ANSWER: B
2) Of the six flags flown over Texas, which represented republics?
A) Texas and Mexico
B) the CSA and France
C) Spain and France
D) France and Mexico
ANSWER: A
3) The war that led to the declaration of the Republic of Texas began
A) with the battle at the Alamo.
B) in 1835.
C) within months of the arrival of the first American settlers.
D) when the Spanish government imposed restrictions on American settlers.
ANSWER: B
4) Who won the battle that led to the independence of Texas from Mexico?
A) Steve Austin
B) James Fannin
C) Sam Houston
D) General Santa Anna
ANSWER: C
,5) What is the main reason why early petitions by the Republic of Texas to join the United
States were rejected?
A) Texas residents favored monarchy, not republicanism.
B) Texas was composed almost entirely of Catholic Spanish speakers.
C) The American government feared sparking a war with Spain.
D) There was controversy over Texas becoming a slave state.
ANSWER: D
6) The Adelsverien Society promoted the immigration of_________ settlers in Texas.
A) French
B) Spanish
C) Mexican
D) German
ANSWER: D
7) Which statement about the events which led to the rebellion against Mexico in late 1835 is
FALSE?
A) President Antonio López de Santa Anna declared himself dictator of Mexico and
issued decrees limiting property rights and economic freedom for Anglos.
B) Texan and Mexican forces fought over a small six-pound cannon in Gonzales, Texas.
The victory of Texans in that incident fed a fever of revolt, and political leaders began
planning for rebellion against Mexico.
C) Internal conflicts between the Catholic Spanish people who wanted independence
from the Mexican dictator, and the Protestant Anglos migrating from the Louisiana
Territory, who generally favored the economic policies of Mexico and the land-grants
given to new settlers from the West.
D) The pro-slavery views of southern white Protestants, who brought African American
enslaved people with them in the 1820s conflicted with the Spanish Catholic settlers
who already occupied Texas. Because of Mexico’s own history of ethnic diversity, a
strong antislavery movement began to brew.
ANSWER: C
8) Which of the following statements about Spanish influence in Texas is FALSE?
A) The Spanish introduced slavery to Texas.
B) Many rivers, features, and cities still have Spanish names.
C) The Spanish introduced horses, sheep, and cattle to Texas.
D) Current landownership laws still reflect early Spanish legal systems.
ANSWER: A
,9) Which flag was the fifth to fly over Texas?
A) Spanish flag
B) United States flag
C) Confederate flag
D) Mexican flag
ANSWER: B
10) Texas’ first petition for statehood was denied because
A) the vast majority of Anglo settlers did not consider themselves American.
B) the U.S. felt that Mexico still had a valid claim to the land.
C) the Spanish and Mexican settlers who remained in Texas threatened revolt.
D) there was not a free state to balance the admittance of Texas as a slave state.
ANSWER: D
11) Why did the U.S. commit 50,000 troops to Texas at the end of the Civil War in 1865?
A) to prevent Texas from seceding
B) to secure the border after Mexican encroachment
C) to enforce the provisions of Reconstruction
D) to discourage French meddling
ANSWER: D
12) Which of the following is an example of “luck” that limited Texas’s exposure to the ravages
of the Civil War?
A) official French support of the Confederacy
B) the successful show of force by the army of General Banks
C) Native American occupation and harsh terrain west of the Balcones Escarpment
D) Maximilian’s long reign in Mexico
ANSWER: C
13) One of the primary political goals for Reconstruction was
A) to allow Northern states to be readmitted to the Union.
B) to undermine the economy in the southern states.
C) to restore law and order to a society recovering from war.
D) to reintroduce slavery, in a limited way, in several southern states.
ANSWER: C
, 14) The "carpetbagger's constitution" reversed which right of whites who had participated in the
Civil War?
A) right to bear arms
B) right to vote
C) habeas corpus
D) freedom of assembly
ANSWER: B
15) Southern Democrats were able to regain control of state government with the election of
A) 1864.
B) 1866.
C) 1874.
D) 1878.
ANSWER: C
16) Approximately how long did one-party Democratic rule last in Texas?
A) 10 years
B) 50 years
C) 100 years
D) 150 years
ANSWER: C
17) Which of the following is true of the early settlement of parts of the Republic of Mexico by
U.S. Anglos?
A) The Anglos were largely southern white Protestant, and existing Spanish settlers were
largely Catholic.
B) Santa Anna sought to keep the peace by increasing Anglo property rights and
economic freedom.
C) By 1824, the Mexican government had ended the empresario land-grant system.
D) Existing Spanish-descent settlers encouraged the importation of slaves by the Anglo
settlers.
ANSWER: A