Lectures Week of October 30
Texas Government
Part 1
2023-10-30
Announcements
- Exam 2 Grades
- Plan for rest of semester
- Final Exam Information
- Exam 2 Extra Credit
Exam 2 Grades
- Announcement in Canvas with breakdown
- Slight decrease from Exam 1
- Almost everyone took the Exam
Plan for Rest of Semester
Estimating your grade:
- If your Total Grade is 50 or below, please consider dropping this week - If you missed Exam 1, you can add 0.3 times your Exam 2 percentage for an estimate of your current grade without the online Deliberaion Activity - If you complete the Online Deliberation Activity, you can add 10 to your total grade for a good estimate of where you stand - So, if you have a 50, did not take Exam 1, made a 50% on Exam 2, and complete the Online Deliberation Activity, your estimated grade would be approximately 75. - If you have a 40, did not take Exam 1, made a 40% on Exam 2, and complete the Online Deliberation Activity, your estimated grade would be approximately 62%. - If you have a 30, did not take Exam 1, made a 30% on Exam 2, and do not complete the Online Deliberation Activity, your estimated grade would be approximately 39%.3 class weeks left
- November 21 - Tuesday class will have class - November 23 - Thanksgiving Holiday - November 28 - Study day - November 30 - Final Exam
Final Exam
In class or the Dart Center, November 30
In person
No exceptions, no makeups, no excuses accepted
- Extreme, very well documented medical emergency might get an incomplete for the semester if 85% of work including both Exam 1 and Exam 2 are completed. All bureaucratic burden of documentation will fall on the student.On Scantron provided by Political Science Department
Bring two to three #2 pencils, sharpened and ready to use
Everything will be put away for the duration of test
Final Exam
80 questionsm 75 minutes
- same material, randomized order - 1 point per question - 75 points possible - 5 floating extra credit points - 10 Exam 1 Lecture Questions - already posted in Canvas - 30 questions from Exam 1 and Exam 2 Chapters - 25 questions from Unit 3 (Texas) Chapters - 5 Second Chance questions from Exams 1 and 2 - topics and definitions will be posted in Canvas - Unit 1 to 3 questions will be in practice exam including Second Chance questions - 10 current Texas politics questions from Unit 3 Lectures* - will not appear in Canvas other than slides
Final Exam
- Unit 3 Lecture questions will not be surprises: For example, I might be talking about an action taken by the Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, and say, “What is the name of the Governor of Texas? You should know that for the exam!”
Hint: Greg Abbott is the Governor of Texas!
- Second Chance or “I know it now” questions will be important questions widely missed on Exams 1 and 2.
Exam 2 Extra Credit
Texas Government
Politics, Culture, and Economy of Texas
- Political Culture - Regions - DemographicsTexas Constitution (begin)
Political Culture of Texas
Diverse political culture has two themes that are shared across party, ethnic, and religious lines
- Individualism - Traditionalism
Individualism
Grew from multiple sources
- Frontier experience of self-reliance - Settlers looking for Economic opportunity (this continues today) - American Revolutionary ideals
Traditionalism
Grew from multiple sources
- Frontier experience of neighbors cooperating especially through churches - Provincialism - Business dominance
The cultures and partisan politics
- Before the 1990s, the Democratic Party appealed successfully to these cultures
- Since 1990, the Republicans social conservative wing has connected with Texan’s traditionalism
- The Republicans business oriented wing has connected with Texan’s individualism
- The national Democratic Party difficulty connecting: notable exceptions such as the Clintons and Obama
The cultures and geography
Traditionalism
- Interior Lowlands - Great Plains - Gulf Coastal Plains & Basin regiona - outside urban areasIndividualism: discuss the following
- the specifics vary but this is a fundamental characteristic of Texas - What about variation among demographic groups? - Native Texans and newly arrived Texans?
Texas Constitution: Origins
Texas has had 7 Constitutions
- 1827 - Constitution of Coahuila y Tejas - 1836 - Constitution of the Republic of Texas - 1845 - Constitution of the State of Texas - 1861 - Constitution of the State of Texas - 1866 - Constitution of the State of Texas - 1869 - Constitution of the State of Texas - 1876 - Constitution of the State of Texas
Origins: Mexican Rule and Independence
1827: Texas was under Mexican rule as a province of New Spain, and its residents faced cultural and political differences, leading to tensions.
1836: Texas Declaration of Independence was a pivotal moment, leading to the creation of the Republic of Texas as an independent nation.
Indepence: Republic of Texas
1836 - 1845
Constitutional revision in 1839
American settlers
Heavily influenced by the U.S. Constitution and principles of government
- The Republic of Texas was modeled on the United States - Washington and the east coast were geographically distant from Texas - Before railroads - first railroad in Teas was in 1853 - Before telegraph - first telegraph in Texas was in 1848
Origins: Annexation to the United States
1845
New constitution for the State of Texas
Inspiration from the U.S. Constitution and other state constitutions.
Framework includes:
- Separation of powers - Checks and balances - Bill of Rights - Three branches - Bicameral legislature
Slavery in early Texas
- There were about 5,000 slaves under Mexican rule
- Slavery was legal across the Republic of Texas though practically existed in the eastern 2/5 of the state
- Texas was admitted to the Union as a slave state
- Abolished by General Order No. 3 on June 19, 1865 issued from Galveston by United States Army Major General Gordon Granger
Texas State Library Archives Commission: Slavery in Early Texas
General Order #3
Galveston Texas June 19th 1865.
General Orders
No. 3.
The people of Texas 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 quietly 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.
By order of Major General Granger
F.W. Emery
Major A.A. Genl.Amendments and Revisions
1861: Confederate Constitution of Texas (arguably never a legal Constitution of the State of Texas)
1866: Constitution of the State of Texas
1869: Constitution of the State of Texas
- explicitly abolished slaverey - explicitly established civil rights for African Americans - Reconstruction Constitution1876 Constitution of the State of Texas
1876: Constitution of the State of Texas
- Current Constitution of the State of Texas
- Written in response to the Reconstruction Constitution of 1869
- Designed to limit the power of the state government
- Based on the U.S. Constitution and the 1845 Texas Constitution
1876 Constitution of the State of Texas
- 3rd oldest state constitution in the U.S.
- 4th oldest constitution in the U.S.
- 5th oldest (written) constitution in the world
- 17 articles
- 491 amendments
- 87,000 words
- 6 times longer than the U.S. Constitution
- 2nd longest state constitution in the U.S.
- 2nd most amended state constitution in the U.S.Authorship and License
Author: Tom Hanna
Website: tomhanna.me
License: This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.</>
GOVT2306, Fall 2023, Instructor: Tom Hanna