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Texas, officially the State of Texas, is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Geographically located in the south central part of the country, Texas shares borders with the other US states of Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the west, and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the southwest, while the Gulf of Mexico is to the southeast. Its state government is currently controlled by the Republican Party, and its current governor is Greg Abbott.
Texas was originally a territory of Mexico which seceded in the Texas Revolution and was annexed by the United States at the beginning of the Mexican–American War. It also joined the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. Houston is the most populous city in Texas and the fourth largest in the US, while San Antonio is the second most populous in the state and seventh largest in the US. Dallas–Fort Worth and Greater Houston are the fourth and fifth largest metropolitan statistical areas in the country, respectively. Other major cities include Austin, the second most populous state capital in the US, and El Paso. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify its former status as an independent republic, and as a reminder of the state's struggle for independence from Mexico.
A
- Texas will see you in court Mr President.
- Texas has four seasons... Drought, flood, blizzard, and twister.
- Anonymous proverb, as quoted in The Big Apple
- Texas was a logical slave state. Her geographical latitude, her climate, her industrial opportunities aligned her among those divisions of the world who were the last to break away from an institution which had been fastened upon both barbarism and civilization from times unrecorded.
- A Twentieth Century History of Southwest Texas: Illustrated (1907), "The Civil War Period", Volume 1, New York: The Lewis Publishing Company, p. 197
B
- Conservatives look to Texas as their bright shining light. They hold it up as a model of limited government, where low taxes and business-friendly regulation have led to job growth and economic growth surpassing the national average over the last three decades. If the rest of the country followed the Texas model, the tale goes, our economic woes would be behind us and we would all share in a more prosperous future. The conservatives do have at least the beginnings of a case. Texas has outstripped the rest of the country in job creation. Since the business cycle peak in 1981, the number of jobs in Texas has increased by more than 78 percent. That compares with less than 52 percent for the country as a whole. The gains are not just oil, although oil is a big part of the picture. If we chose the business cycle peak in 2000, when oil prices were low, as the basis of comparison, then the Texas job growth story would be less impressive. It beats national job growth by just 1.1 percent. 47.1 for Texas and 46.0 for the U.S. Hot air — or to be more generous, a warm climate — is also a big part of the story.
- Dean Baker, "Tall tales about Texas" (13 June 2014), Al-Jazeera America
- Job growth in Texas has substantially exceeded growth in California, which also has the benefit of a warm climate. This provides a clear political contrast, since California has become one of the most Democratic states in the country, while Texas has become one of the most Republican. Red-state Texas easily bests blue-state California in the job growth contest since 1981, 78 to 59 percent. But the main reason for this gap is simply that the states are not playing the same game. Texas has consciously promoted development... Texas has more and cheaper housing than California. Just to take a couple of examples. The fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Los Angeles County is $1,398 a month, according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. By contrast, in Harris County, Texas, which includes Houston, it’s just $926. The fair market rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Santa Clara County, which includes San Jose, is $1,649 a month. It was just $894 in Dallas County in 2010, the most recent year available. The gaps are even larger for home sale prices.
- Dean Baker, "Tall tales about Texas" (13 June 2014), Al-Jazeera America
- The Democratic Party's favorite hobbies are winning, Texas and exhaustion.
- Russell Baker, "Observer: The Democrats in a Nutshell", The New York Times (22 August 1968) Baker's predictions came true with appearance of the New Covenant and the New New Deal
- Having lived in Texas as a youth and been forced to study Texas history, I thought I knew the story of its admission to the Union pretty well. But I never knew the profound importance of race to that history. In particular, I did not know that Mexico had abolished slavery and that this was a key reason for the war for Texas independence. The Texans were determined to keep their slaves and were willing to fight to the death for that right. And of course, the admission of Texas as a state was critical to the maintenance of slavery in the United States, which was threatened both economically and politically in the 1840s.
- in 1836, when Texas won its independence from Mexico, President Jackson stated that annexing the Republic of Texas would expand America's "area of freedom" and extend its "circle of free institutions." However, the conception of freedom being articulated by the Anglo settlers of the Texas republic was deeply racialized: not only were most settlers originally from the Deep South but many were "land speculators, slavers, militia leaders, and Indian killers."
- Cristina Beltrán Cruelty as Citizenship: How Migrant Suffering Sustains White Democracy (2020) p 66
- Everything is bigger in Texas, including economic growth. Texas was America's second fastest growing economy.
- Ananya Bhattacharya, "Is Texas America's best state economy?" (10 June 2015), CNN Money
- You don't get everything you want. A dictatorship would be a lot easier.
- George W. Bush, responding to the difficulties of governing Texas, as quoted in "The Taming of Texas", Governing Magazine (July 1998)
- We celebrated a little early at the White House this year, on quatro de Mayo, with a fiesta on the South Lawn. With the mariachi music, folklorika dancing and an ample supply of Mexican food. For a little while, it was just like being in Texas again. Growing up in Texas gave me many things I'm thankful for. And one of them is an appreciation of the Hispanic culture. In Texas, it's in the air you breathe; Hispanic life, Hispanic culture and Hispanic values are inseparable from the life of our state, and have been for many generations. The history of Mexican-American relations has had its troubled moments, but today our peoples enrich each other in trade and culture and family ties.
- George W. Bush, radio address (5 May 2001)
- My fellow Americans, this day has brought terrible news and great sadness to our country. At 9:00 a.m. this morning, Mission Control in Houston lost contact with our Space Shuttle Columbia. A short time later, debris was seen falling from the skies above Texas. The Columbia is lost; there are no survivors.
- George W. Bush, remarks after Columbia space shuttle disaster, televised remarks (1 February 2003)
- Some folks look at me and see swagger, which in Texas is called 'walking'.
- George W. Bush, accepting the Republican nomination for President in New York City (September 2004). Reported in The New York Times
- A mighty American submarine deserves a mighty American name. I can't think of a better name than Texas. Skilled professionals will forge the newest alloys and technology into one of the most sophisticated ships in the world. The Texas will represent America's iron fist, which our country uses to protect our citizens; and to help our neighbors and allies around the world.
- Laura Bush, speech at Newport News, Virginia (12 July 2002)
C
- When Texas became one of the United States, she entered into an indissoluble relation. All the obligations of perpetual union, and all the guaranties of republican government in the Union, attached at once to the state. The Act which consummated her admission into the Union was something more than a compact; it was the incorporation of a new member into the political body. And it was final.
- Sandy Cheeks: Can't you see? It's Texas... Wish I was in Texas, prettiest place in the world... I want to wake up in Texas, I miss those wide open skies. I miss my twenty acres, barbecues, and pecan pies. Oh, why? When I'm so far from you, Texas? All I can do is cry.
- "Texas" (22 March 2000), written by Sherm Cohen and Vincent Wallace, SpongeBob Squarepants: Season One, Nickelodeon
- Patrick Star: What's so great about dumb old Texas?
- "Texas" (22 March 2000), written by Sherm Cohen and Vincent Wallace, SpongeBob Squarepants: Season One, Nickelodeon
- Sandy Cheeks: Don't you dare take the name of Texas in vain!
- "Texas" (22 March 2000), written by Sherm Cohen and Vincent Wallace, SpongeBob Squarepants: Season One, Nickelodeon
- SpongeBob Squarepants: We can't say anything bad about dumb old Texas?
- "Texas" (22 March 2000), written by Sherm Cohen and Vincent Wallace, SpongeBob Squarepants: Season One, Nickelodeon
- Patrick Star: Then, can we say people from Texas are dumb?
- "Texas" (22 March 2000), written by Sherm Cohen and Vincent Wallace, SpongeBob Squarepants: Season One, Nickelodeon
- Sandy Cheeks: No, you can't say nothing about Texas!
- "Texas" (22 March 2000), written by Sherm Cohen and Vincent Wallace, SpongeBob Squarepants: Season One, Nickelodeon
- SpongeBob Squarepants: The stars at night are dull and dim, whenever they have to be over dumb old stupid Texas!
- "Texas" (22 March 2000), written by Sherm Cohen and Vincent Wallace, SpongeBob Squarepants: Season One, Nickelodeon
- The westward tide rolled on, bearing with it new problems of adjustment. The generation of the 1840’s saw their culmination. During these years there took place the annexation of Texas, a war with Mexico, the conquest of California, and the settlement of the Oregon boundary with Great Britain. Adventurous Americans in search of land and riches had been since 1820 crossing the Mexican boundary into the Texas country, which belonged to the Republic of Mexico, freed from Spain - in 1821. While this community was growing, American sailors on the Pacific coast, captains interested in the China trade, established themselves in the ports of the Mexican Province of California. Pioneers pushed their way overland in search of skins and furs, and by 1826 reached the mission stations of the Province. The Mexicans, alarmed at the appearance of these settlers, vainly sought to stem the flood; for Mexican Governments were highly unstable, and in distant Provinces their writ hardly ran. But there appeared on the scene a new military dictator, Santa Anna, determined to strengthen Mexican authority, and at once a revolt broke out.
- Winston Churchill, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Volume IV: The Great Democracies (1958), pp. 110
- In November 1835 the Americans in Texas erected an autonomous state and raised the Lone Star flag. The Mexicans, under Santa Anna, marched northwards. At the Mission House of the Alamo in March 1836 a small body of Texans, fighting to the last man, was exterminated in one of the epic fights of American history by a superior Mexican force. The whole Province was aroused. Under the leadership of General Sam Houston from Tennessee a force was raised, and in savage fighting the Mexican army of Santa Anna was in its turn destroyed and its commander captured at San Jacinto River. The Texans had stormed the positions with the cry “Remember the Alamo!” The independence of Texas was recognised by Santa Anna. His act was repudiated later by the Mexican Government, but their war effort was exhausted, and the Texans organised themselves into a republic, electing Sam Houston as President.
- Winston Churchill, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Volume IV: The Great Democracies (1958), pp. 110-111
- For the next ten years the question of the admission of Texas as a state of the Union was a burning issue in American politics. As each new state demanded entry into the Union so the feeling for and against slavery ran higher. The great Abolitionist journalist, William Lloyd Garrison, called for a secession of the Northern states if the slave state of Texas was admitted to the Union. The Southerners, realising that Texan votes would give them a majority in the Senate if this vast territory was admitted as a number of separate states, clamoured for annexation. The capitalists of the East were committed, through the formation of land companies, to exploit Texas, and besides the issue of dubious stocks by these bodies vast quantities of paper notes and bonds of the new Texan Republic were floated in the United States. The speculation in these helped to split the political opposition of the Northern states to the annexation. Even more important was the conversion of many Northerners to belief in the “Manifest Destiny” of the United States. This meant that their destiny was ! to spread across the whole of the North American continent. The Democratic Party in the election of 1844 called for the occupation of Oregon as well as the annexation of Texas, thus holding out to the North the promise of Oregon as a counterweight to Southern Texas. The victory of the Democratic candidate, James K. Polk, was interpreted as a mandate for admitting Texas, and this was done by joint resolution of Congress in February 1845.
- Winston Churchill, A History of the English-Speaking Peoples Volume IV: The Great Democracies (1958), p. 111
- The equality of all persons before the law is herein recognized, and shall ever remain inviolate; nor shall any citizen ever be deprived of any right, privilege, or immunity, nor be exempted from any burdens, or duty, on account of race, color, or previous condition.
- Section XXI, Constitution of the State of Texas (1869)
- [T]he adoption of any system of peonage, whereby the helpless and unfortunate may be reduced to practical bondage, shall never be authorized, or tolerated by laws of the State; and neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime, whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall ever exist in the State.
- Section XXII, Constitution of the State of Texas (1869)
- Independence without slavery, would be valueless... The South without slavery would not be worth a mess of pottage.
- Caleb Cutwell, letter to the Galvaston Tri-Weekly (22 February 1865)
D
- We hold as undeniable truths that the governments of the various States, and of the confederacy itself, were established exclusively by the white race, for themselves and their posterity; that the African race had no agency in their establishment; that they were rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race, and in that condition only could their existence in this country be rendered beneficial or tolerable.
E
- General Orders, No. 3. The people are informed that, in accordance with a proclamation from the Executive of the United States, all slaves are free. This involves an absolute equality of personal rights and rights of property, between former masters and slaves, and the connection heretofore existing between them, becomes that between employer and hired labor. The Freedmen are advised to remain at their present homes, and work for wages. They are informed that they will not be allowed to collect at military posts; and that they will not be supported in idleness either there or elsewhere.
- F.W. Emery, General Orders, No. 3 (19 June 1865), Galveston, Texas: Headquarters, District of Texas.
F
- So don't try to knock us baby, don't try to hate. That's how we do it in that Lone Star state; get it straight.
G
- Formerly, the purchase of Texas by our Government, for the purpose of bestowing it as a gift upon our colored population, was a favorite opinion of ours; but we have settled down into the belief, that the object is neither practicable nor expedient. In the first place, it is not probable that the Congress would make the purchase; nor, secondly, is it likely that the mass of our colored people would remove without some compulsory process; nor, thirdly, would it be safe or convenient to organise them as a distinct nation among us,—an imperium in imperio. The fact is, it is time to repudiate all colonization schemes, as visionary and unprofitable; all those, we mean, which have for their design the entire separation of the blacks from the whites. We must take our free colored and slave inhabitants as we find them—recognise them as countrymen who have extraordinary claims upon our charities—give them the advantages of education—respect them as members of one great family, who may be made useful in society and honorable in reputation. This is our view of the subject.
- William Lloyd Garrison, The Liberator (22 January 1861)
- Thermopylae had her messenger of defeat—the Alamo had none.
- Thomas Jefferson Green, reported in Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations (1989). Green is said to have included the sentence in a speech he helped Edward Burleson prepare. While Burleson has often been credited with originating the sentence as well as using it, he lacked the classical education necessary to have made the allusion. The sentence became popular after it was engraved on the first monument to the Alamo, which is located in Austin, Texas. The 10-foot-high statue, made of stones from the Alamo, was destroyed by fire when the Capitol at Austin burned. Another monument subsequently erected on the Capitol grounds also included the sentence. J. Frank Dobie, "The Alamo’s Immortalization of Words", Southwest Review (Summer 1942), p. 406–10.
- I wish for the people of Texas, as I do for the people of the entire South, that they may go on developing their resources, and become great and powerful, and in their prosperity forget, as the worthy Mayor expressed it, that there is a boundary between the North and South. I am sure we will all be happier and much more prosperous when the day comes that there shall be no sectional feeling.
- Ulysses S. Grant, as quoted in Words of Our Hero, Ulysses S. Grant, p. 56
H
- The Confederate Trans-Mississippi Department did not formally surrender until June 2, 1865, two months after the fall of Richmond. During that whole time, except for a few isolated areas, Texas was not occupied by Union troops and the whole area was in a sort of limbo, still officially in rebellion but without a clear course and without a national leadership. The U.S. Navy officially took possession of Texas on June 5, but did not have soldiers to establish a formal presence. General Granger arrived with troops at Galveston on June 17, and two days later issued a series of administrative notices formally notifying all of Texas that the state was now under formal military occupation, who the key officers and departments were, and so on. The third of these notices was General Order No. 3, that formally announced emancipation under the terms of the Emancipation Proclamation of January 1, 1863. These notices were published in papers around the state, first in Galveston and then elsewhere as the news was carried inland by telegraph and railroad.
- Andy Hall, "A Juneteenth Follow-Up" (22 June 2014), Dead Confederates: A Civil War Era Blog.
- June 5, 1865. Federal forces formally took possession of Texas. Captain Benjamin F. Sands, commanding the division of the West Gulf Blockading Squadron stationed off Galveston, boarded a small Union steamer, USS Cornubia, and entered Galveston harbor, followed by another gunboat, USS Preston. Sands disembarked with a handful of other officers, but took no armed escort, and was met on the wharf by a Confederate officer. The officer escorted the Union men a few blocks to City Hall, where both Sands and the mayor of Galveston addressed a crowd that had gathered there. Both men made assurances of their goodwill and urged the population to go about their business peaceably. Sands told the crowd that he carried a sidearm that day not out of any fear for his own safety but as a sign of respect for the mayor and local officials. Then, along with the mayor, Sands continued on to the old U.S. Customs House, where he 'hoisted our flag, which now, at last, was flying over every foot of our territory, this being the closing act of the great rebellion'.
- Andy Hall, "The Closing Act of the Great Rebellion" (5 June 2015), Dead Confederates: A Civil War Era Blog.
- The stars at night are big and bright, deep in the heart of Texas.
The prairie sky is wide and high, deep in the heart of Texas.
The sage in bloom is like perfume, deep in the heart of Texas.
Reminds me of, the one I love, deep in the heart of Texas.
The coyotes wail, along the trail, deep in the heart of Texas.
The rabbits rush, around the brush, deep in the heart of Texas.
The cowboys cry, 'Ki-yip-pee-yi!', deep in the heart of Texas.
The doggies bawl, and bawl and bawl, deep in the heart of Texas!- June Hershey, "Deep in the Heart of Texas" (1941).
- This deadly, frigid, multibillion-dollar chaos in energy-rich Texas was not the result of a polar vortex but a small-minded vortex of right-wing political hokum that puts the interests of a few corporate profiteers over the well-being of the people... Responding to withering public criticism of the state's chaotic and disastrous response to a killer winter storm, Abbott fumed, "What happened this week to our fellow Texans is absolutely unacceptable."... Abbott pointed his outrage at ERCOT, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas, the agency charged with maintaining a reliable flow of electricity to Texas homes, schools, businesses, etc. But... ERCOT merely administers policies set by the Public Utility Commission, and that corporate-cozy body has failed for years to mandate that the state's privatized, for-profit electric utilities weatherize their power generators to prevent freeze-ups. And who appointed the three members of that commission? Why, Greg, it was you! In fact, the chairwoman and one of the two other members of PUC are former top staffers of the governor.
- Jim Hightower, What the Texas Deep Freeze Revealed About Corporate-Run Government, Common Dreams (24 February 2021)
- Texas will again lift its head and stand among the nations. it ought to do so, for no country upon the globe can compare with it in natural advantages.
- Sam Houston, first President of the Republic of Texas. As quoted in the Sam Houston Memorial Museum.
- Texas has yet to learn submission to any oppression, come from what source it may.
- Sam Houston, first President of the Republic of Texas. As quoted in the Sam Houston Memorial Museum.
- All new states are invested, more or less, by a class of noisy, second-rate men who are always in favor of rash and extreme measures, but Texas was absolutely overrun by such men.
- Sam Houston, first President of the Republic of Texas. As quoted in the Sam Houston Memorial Museum.
- Texas is lost.
- Sam Houston, as quoted in "Revering Sam Houston, anti-Confederate patriot" (18 March 2016), by Michael Zak, Grand Old Partisan
- One objection I have heard voiced to works of this kind—dealing with Texas—is the amount of gore spilled across the pages. It can not be otherwise. In order to write a realistic and true history of any part of the Southwest, one must narrate such things, even at the risk of monotony.
- Robert E. Howard in a letter to August Derleth (March 1933).
J
- If you haven't climbed up to Enchanted Rock,
Drank a cold Shiner down in Luckenbach,
Taken your baby to the River Walk,
Then you ain't met My Texas yet.- Josh Abbott Band, "My Texas," Small Town Family Dream (2012), feat. Pat Green
- If you never caught a trout down in Port A,
Heard the words to Corpus Christi Bay,
Never seen fireworks on PK,
Then you ain't met My Texas yet.- Josh Abbott Band, "My Texas," Small Town Family Dream (2012), feat. Pat Green
- Havent had a kolache when you go through West,
Never heard of the Larry Jo Taylor fest,
Think polished pop country crap sounds the best,
Then you ain't met My Texas yet.- Josh Abbott Band, "My Texas," Small Town Family Dream (2012), feat. Pat Green
- You say you haven't hiked through Big Bend,
Had your hair blown back by a Lubbock wind,
Been somewhere where they call you "friend",
Then you ain't met My Texas yet.- Josh Abbott Band, "My Texas," Small Town Family Dream (2012), feat. Pat Green
K
- Texas is about as far from a Green New Deal as you can possibly get, seeing as a Green New Deal is a plan to bring together the need to get off fossil fuels in the next decade to radically decarbonize our energy system,.. to marry that huge infrastructure investment in the next green economy with a plan to battle poverty, to create huge numbers of good, union, green jobs, to take care of people. It’s a plan to have universal public healthcare and child care and a jobs guarantee. So it’s all the things that are not happening in Texas, because there isn’t just this extreme weather, which many scientists believe is linked to our warming planet — you know, you can’t link one storm with climate change, but the patterns are very clear, and this should be a wake-up call — but Texas is also suffering a pandemic of poverty, of exclusion, of racial injustice... we’ve heard this messaging, I think, because of panic, frankly, because the Green New Deal is a plan that could solve so many of Texas’s problems and the problems across the country, and Republicans have absolutely nothing to offer except for more deregulation, more privatization, more austerity. And so they have been frantically seeking to deflect from the real causes of this crisis, which is an intersection of extreme weather, of the kind that we are seeing more of because of climate change, intersecting with a deregulated, fossil fuel-based energy system.
- Naomi Klein, Fossil Fuel Shock Doctrine: Naomi Klein on Deadly Deregulation & Why Texas Needs the Green New Deal, Democracy Now! (22 February 2021)
- One in four Texans lacks health insurance, the highest proportion in the nation.
- Paul Krugman, The New York Times (15 August 2011).
M
- I can see that lone star from a thousand miles away calling me back home though I've ventured far astray. When I see that beacon shining for me all alone, it calls me back to Texas and to home.
- Tony Marcus, "Lone Star" (1998), Swingin' Out West
- The pattern of abuses in Uvalde County is strikingly reminiscent of the Deep South of the early 1960s. The Civil Rights Commission's study documents that duly registered Chicano voters are not being placed on the voting lists; that election judges are selectively and deliberately invalidating ballots cast by minority voters; that election judges are refusing to aid minority voters who are illiterate in English; that the tax assessor-collector of Uvalde County, who is responsible for registering voters, refuses to name members of minority groups as deputy registrars; that the Uvalde County tax assessor repeatedly runs out of registration application cards when minority voter applicants ask for them; that the Uvalde County tax assessor-collector refuses to register voter applicants based on the technicality that the application was filed on a printed card bearing a previous year's date. Other abuses were uncovered by the study of the Civil Rights Commission in Uvalde County, and elsewhere in Texas: Widespread gerrymandering with the purpose of diluting minority voting strength; systematic drawing of at-large electoral districts with this same purpose and design; maintenance of polling places exclusively in areas inaccessible to minority voters; excessive firing fees to run for political office
- Vilma Socorro Martínez, speaking to Congress in 1975, included in Voices of Multicultural America: Notable Speeches Delivered by African, Asian, Hispanic and Native Americans, 1790-1995 edited by Deborah Gillan Straub (1995)
- In Texas, as many of you know, children were required to be educated in either the white or the colored school. Officials in Texas, and I have in mind Pecos County and Nueces County, which have large percentages of Mexican American people, could not decide whether Mexican Americans were white or colored, so we got no schools. In most other schools, as in Uvalde, we were in fact put into a third category of school, called the Mexican school.
- Vilma Socorro Martínez, speaking to Congress in 1975, included in Voices of Multicultural America: Notable Speeches Delivered by African, Asian, Hispanic and Native Americans, 1790-1995 edited by Deborah Gillan Straub (1995)
- In order to prevail in Texas, we have to argue what is now known as the northern de jure segregation cases. We culled through the school board minutes going back to 1919. We traced the development of their school construction policies, their school assignment policies. We noticed that even toys were provided on the basis of race; twice the amount was spent for children in the Anglo schools as for children in the Mexican school, even though there were double the number of children in the Mexican schools as in the Anglo schools.
- Vilma Socorro Martínez, speaking to Congress in 1975, included in Voices of Multicultural America: Notable Speeches Delivered by African, Asian, Hispanic and Native Americans, 1790-1995 edited by Deborah Gillan Straub (1995)
- The crisis stemmed from a unique confluence of weaknesses in the state’s power system. Texas is the only state in the continental United States with an independent and isolated grid. That allows the state to avoid federal regulation - but also severely limits its ability to draw emergency power from other grids. ERCOT also operates the only major U.S. grid that does not have a capacity market - a system that provides payments to operators to be on standby to supply power during severe weather events. This week’s cold snap left 4.5 million... without power. More than 14.5 million Texans endured a related water-supply crisis as pipes froze and burst. About 65,000 customers remained without power as of Saturday afternoon, even as temperatures started to rise, according to website PowerOutage.US. State health officials have linked more than two dozen deaths to the power crisis. Some died from hypothermia or possible carbon monoxide poisoning caused by portable generators running in basements and garages without enough ventilation. Officials say they suspect the death count will rise as more bodies are discovered.
- Tim McLaughlin, Stephanie Kelly, Why a predictable cold snap crippled the Texas power grid, Reuters News Service, (20 February 2021)
- Don't mess with Texas!
- Tim McClure, Texas Department of Transportation (1985).
- When MacNab blanched, no more stunned than I, Rusk rose and put his arm about his shoulders: "Never forget, son, when you represent Texas, always go first class."
- James Michener, Texas (1985), Closing line
- Whether they are sitting in the plush Driskill Hotel in Austin or some god-awful motel in Waco, Texans firmly maintain that they have the biggest-and-best-of-everything. This bragging does not always make other people love Texas, even in the West. (When, back in the early 1980s, one of us broke down in a car with Texas plates in southern Colorado, nobody stopped to help for what seemed like an eternity; the man who eventually did explained: "You should have had a sign saying you weren't from Texas.")
- John Micklethwait and Adrian Wooldridge, "For Texas, Business and God" (2004), The Right Nation, ISBN 1-59420-020-3.
- Welcome to the 2-1-4. Big be, D Texas. Let Mr. Sexes flex this Lexus and this where the Cowboys play; they battle with my team from the bay. Frisco, now I'm from the Northwest. But, I likes my soul food, so I'm calling up an old groove and I'm a brother with a gut and don't forget about San Anton'. The last time I went through, I took three broads home and much love love to the brothers in Austin and the 5-1-2. I'm flossing in Lawston; a state that's as big as hell.
- Sir Mix-a-Lot, "Jump on It" (1996), Return of the Bumpasaurus, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Universal Music Publishing Group, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd., Regent Music Corporation
- Friendship.
- Motto of the State of Texas.
P
- Texans would be without electricity for longer than three days to keep the federal government out of their business.
- Rick Perry, quoted in Fossil Fuel Shock Doctrine: Naomi Klein on Deadly Deregulation & Why Texas Needs the Green New Deal, Democracy Now! (22 February 2021)
- Honor the Texas flag; I pledge allegiance to thee, Texas, one state under God, one and indivisible.
- Pledge of allegiance to the state flag as amended in 2007. Chapter 3100, Sections 3100.101–3100.104 of the Texas Government Code, as reported by Texas State Library and Archives Commission.
R
- My gut tells me there is something fishy going on in Texas.
- William O. Ritchie, Facebook post (14 February 2016).
- Your whole history, from the days of Austin and Houston and Davy Crockett right to the present time, shows what splendid fighting material the average Texan makes. But I do not care how good the material, it is not going to amount to much if it is not given a chance. It is a most important thing for all of us, if we desire to keep the regular army small, that we shall have the militia, the National Guard of the several States, kept up to a proper point. Last year, I am happy to be able to say, at the maneuvers of the regulars, your Texas troops did admirably. I have been told again and again how well they did. I want to congratulate you upon the excellent law for the administration of the National Guard that has been passed by the Texas legislature. I feel very much at home here.
- Theodore Roosevelt, Address to the Texas State Legislature in Austin Online, The American Presidency Project, 6 April 1905
S
- I would never go back to South Texas. They call where I grew up 'The Valley' and there's some nice scenery and stuff. But damn, there's not a lot to do.
- Megan Salinas, as quoted in "Megan Salinas" (August 2013), HUSTLER
- Texas was a wonderful, open-armed place for us to come. We've never regretted it for a second. I would defend Texas to the hilt everywhere. Certainly not all things about it, and I think San Antonio has some very serious problems with growth and "progress"... Texas has been a great, uplifting place to be. I think we have a wide margin on the page here, which for writers is helpful.
- Naomi Shihab Nye, in Conversations with the World by Phebe Davidson (1998)
- If I owned Texas and Hell, I would rent Texas and live in Hell.
- Attributed to Philip Sheridan
- Texas is a state of mind. Texas is an obsession. Above all, Texas is a nation in every sense of the word. And there’s an opening convey of generalities. A Texan outside of Texas is a foreigner... Sectional football games have the glory and the despair of war, and when a Texas team takes the field against a foreign state, it is an army with banners.
- John Steinbeck, pt. 4, Travels With Charley: In Search of America (1962).
- Saskatchewan is much like Texas; except it's more friendly to the United States.
- Attributed to Adlai Stevenson. This was attributed to Stevenson without reference in 1001 Greatest Things Ever Said About Texas (2006) by Donna Ingham, p. 92. It was also attributed without reference in "Reporters' Notebook", The Buffalo News, September 24, 1992. No closer connection to Stevenson has been found.
- All my exes live in Texas, and Texas is the place I dearly love to be. But, all my exes live in Texas.
- George Strait, as quoted in "All my Ex's live in Texas" (10 April 1987), written by Sanger D. Shafer and Linda J. Shafer
T
- We favor strengthening our common American identity and loyalty, which includes the contribution and assimilation of different racial and ethnic groups.
- Texan Republican Party Platform of 2014 (June 2014), by the Republican Party of Texas.
- Here are four facts about cowboy hats you might not know. The first fact is, just like guns in Texas; there are more cowboy hats than there are people here. That's because most cowboy hat wearers have more than one hat and avid cowboy hat wearers have more than five. Really addicted cowboy hat wearers have more than ten hats and 20 boots. The second fact is one of the most often quoted sayings in Texas is, 'Where did you get that hat?' The second most quoted saying is, 'Don't touch my hat!'
- Ralph D. Thomas, "Everything You Wanted To Know About Cowboy Hats But Didn't Know Who To Ask" (2015), Indian Village Mall
- Cowboy and Western Jackets & hats have become status symbols. Most Texans and Westerners who are fine hat wearers can spot a cheap hat a block or more away! Remember that in Texas, one of the most often quoted questions is "where did you get that hat?" This question could have several meanings from the person asking. It if often asked when one really admires the hat on the head of the person the question is directed too. It is sometimes used on a wanta-be cowboy who just purchased a really cheap hat which stands out like a sore thumb to those who know them. It is also sometimes asked as the asker simply doesn't like the hat but that is an individual and personal thing. Now that you too have become somewhat of an expert on cowboy hats, below is the famous Tribal And Western Impressions hat selections. We will start out with two short videos from our personal picks cowboy hats for men and our personal picks cowgirl hats for the ladies.
- Ralph D. Thomas, "Everything You Wanted To Know About Cowboy Hats But Didn't Know Who To Ask" (2015), Indian Village Mall
- The province of Texas is still part of the Mexican dominions, but it will soon contain no Mexicans; the same thing has occurred whenever the Anglo-Americans have come into contact with populations of a different origin.
- Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America (1835)
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- A funny thing has happened to the economic miracle in Texas that liberals predicted would go bust along with oil prices. America's foremost state job creator of the past decade continues to produce opportunity and employment. Last week's 'beige book' release from the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas shows that despite the struggling oil and gas industry, the Texas economy is still enjoying moderate growth.
- The Wall Street Journal, "No Economic Mess in Texas: Oil prices collapse but the Lone Star State keeps creating jobs" (20 July 2015)
- Last Wednesday the citizens of this city and vicinity, native Texans, assembled in the fairgrounds to commemorate the thirtieth anniversary if the liberation of the bonded Afro-American of Texas. After indulging in various pleasures, they were called to the sumptuous repasts that were spread by our energetic ladies and our worthy citizen and coadjuntor, R. B. Floyd. At 3:30 the people were called together in the amphitheater to hear the speakers of the day. The exercises were opened by the song, “Hold the Fort,” led by Presiding Elder, A. M. Ward; prayer, led by Rev. J. R. Ransom; 'John Brown's Body' was then led by Rev. Ward; E. W. Dorsey then stated why the 19th of June was celebrated. He was followed by S. O. Clayton, who in an address of twenty minutes delivered volumes of words which were impregnated with varied and bright thoughts. Closely following the speakers an animated game of base ball was witnessed; when the happy throng repaired to their homes expressing themselves highly pleased with their first Juneteenth celebration.
- Weekly Blade (22 June 1895), Parsons, Kansas
- Why should we as Texans want to be reminded of a legalized system of involuntary servitude, dehumanization, rape, mass murder?
- Royce West (2011), as quoted in "The Supreme Court Just Dealt the Confederate Flag a Blow, Here's How" (June 2015), The Washington Post.
- As the roll call proceeded, and vote after vote was recorded in the affirmative, the spectators in the gallery broke into applause. Seventy delegates responded “aye” before there was a single negative vote. Then the name of Thomas P. Hughes of Williamson county was called. “No!” came the response. The effect was electrical. Immediately there was a demonstration of disapproval among the spectators, but order was quickly restored and the roll call proceeded. The next three votes were in the affirmative and there was applause. The secretary then called the name of William H. Johnson of Lamar county. He voted “no,” and again there was a demonstration of disapproval. Quiet was no sooner obtained, however, than the name of Joshua Johnson of Titus county was called, and he, too, voted in the negative. A roar of disapproval went up, but the chairman demanded order and the next name was called.
- Wharton's History of Texas, from Wilderness to Commonwealth, Vol. 4, pp. 336–38.
- The response was in the affirmative and the crowd applauded. Then there were sixty-four “ayes” in succession before another negative vote was cast. The spectators applauded popular favorites as they announced their votes. Reagan, the brilliant member of congress, was cheered. There were cheers also for Runnels, the former governor, whom Houston had defeated at the previous election. And so it went. Finally the secretary called out, “Shuford! ” This was A. P. Shuford of Wood county. He voted in the negative and there was a flutter of disapproval. Eight more affirmative votes came next, and then the secretary reached the name of James W. Throckmorton of Collin county. Throckmorton arose. “Mr. President,” he said, speaking in tones that were audible throughout the hall, “in view of the responsibility, in the presence of God and my country — and unawed by the wild spirit of revolution around me, I vote “no.” For the first time the Unionists in the audience found their voices, and there was scattered cheering. But the expressions of disapproval were more pronounced and hisses came from all parts of the gallery. Throckmorton again addressed the chair. “Mr. President,” he said, “when the rabble hiss, well may patriots tremble!” A mighty shout went up from the gallery. Only a small percentage of the crowd was Unionist in sentiment, but, small as it was, it spontaneously responded to Throckmorton’s declaration.
- Wharton's History of Texas, from Wilderness to Commonwealth, Vol. 4, pp. 336–38.
- Above the hoots and jeers there was prolonged cheering, and it was with extreme difficulty that President Roberts restored order. Two other delegates, L. H. Williams and George W. Wright, both of Lamar county, voted “no” before the close of the roll call. Then the result was announced and both the delegates and the spectators broke into cheers. Out of one hundred and seventy- four delegates, only seven had voted against the ordinance. An impromptu procession, which included a number of ladies, entered the hall, led by George M. Flournoy, who carried a beautiful Lone Star flag. A wild frenzy of cheering followed, and it continued for several minutes as the flag was installed in a place of honor over the platform. Texas had taken the first step toward reassuming her independent station.
- Wharton's History of Texas, from Wilderness to Commonwealth, Vol. 4, pp. 336–38.
- The news got abroad in the town, and everywhere there was wild enthusiasm. Only the few who disapproved the action and who felt that evil days were ahead failed to join in the rejoicing. Among the latter were the seven delegates who voted against the ordinance. It had taken a superior order of courage for them to face that unfriendly crowd and vote their convictions, for they could not fail to know that the attitude of the crowd represented the attitude of an overwhelming majority of the people of the state. They were conscious of the fact that they had participated in a historic proceeding and had made themselves conspicuous by the part they had played. They believed the time would come when their votes would be judged otherwise than they were judged by the crowd that jeered them. In order to leave a lasting record of the event, therefore, they decided to have themselves photographed in a group. This they did in due course. The photograph is reproduced in this volume (see page 342), thus being printed in a book for the first time, sixty-six years after the event it commemorates.
- Wharton's History of Texas, from Wilderness to Commonwealth, Vol. 4, pp. 336–38.
“I accept your good wishes and your resignation. And you can go to hell, Dave Hull.”
Dave went to Texas.
- Richard Wilson, The Girls from Planet 5 (1955), Chapter 1
- The result of all these considerations is that the Government of Belgium has no interest in favoring the emigration of Belgian families to Texas, whether it be to produce more ample resources to them or to obey the instincts of the few rare ones who crave for adventurous undertakings.
- Early Belgian colonial Efforts: The long and fateful shadow of Leopold I, Page 99 De Briey, Report against the Project of Colonization to Texas, 2 May 1843, AMAE 2013 and BL.
- Mexico entered the controversy by pointing out that she was about to liberalize her trade relations with Belgium, but would not do so if Belgium persisted in her dealings with Texas.
- Belgium, in the Texas affair, does not have all the liberty of action she desires. Considerations such as the pending negotiations with the Mexican and American Governments dictate the avoidance of potential evils… abandoning any measures with Texas completely.
- Early Belgian colonial Efforts: The long and fateful shadow of Leopold I, Page 101 quoting the Belgian Foreign Ministry to the Chamber of Deputies, 18 May 1844. Laurent, 560.
- Although Pirson’s mission to Texas was not apparently known in Guatemala, the lesson of the Texas Rebellion was fresh on the minds of the opponents of the Belgian grant. “What was Texas when it began,” they asked. “and what is it today? Was it not a colony formed under the same illusions, with the same hopes, and with the same desire of accelerating time that has moved us in the approval of the contract with the Belgian company? And is it not today the cancer, the opprobrium, and the crowning evil that afflicts Mexico? Who assures us that our colony will not be for Guatemala what Texas has been for Mexico?”
- It is interesting to note however, that Leopold’s penchant for secrecy was also evident in the Texas project. Pirson was under strict orders not to reveal anything about his mission other than that he was sent to Texas to study the potential commercial and economic advantages of trade between the two countries. There was to be no mention of the colonial or loan aspects of his mission. “…(your ) mission must maintain a confidential character as much as possible…
- Early Belgian colonial Efforts: The long and fateful shadow of Leopold I, Page 103 ” Official Instructions to Victor Pirson, 13 November 1842, AMAE 2013.
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