TELLING THE TEXAS STORY
THE 1836 PROJECT:
Photo Credit: Ben Friberg
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THE 1836 PROJECT: TELLING THE TEXAS STORY
About the 1836 Project Advisory Committee
House Bill 2497, passed by the 87th Texas Legislature, established The 1836 Project as an advisory
committee to promote patriotic education and increase awareness of the Texas values that continue to
stimulate boundless prosperity across this state.
Members:
The 1836 Project is composed of nine members reective of the diversity of the state. The governor,
lieutenant governor, and speaker of the house of representatives each appointed three members.
The appointees may include persons in the private sector with relevant experience or subject matter
expertise.
ϐ Dr. Kevin Roberts — Chair
ϐ Senator Brandon Creighton — Vice Chair
ϐ Dr. Carolina Castillo Crimm
ϐ Robert Edison
ϐ Dr. Don Frazier
ϐ Commissioner Jerry Patterson
ϐ Sherry Sylvester
ϐ Richard “Dick” Trabulsi, Jr.
ϐ Walter “Mac” Woodward, Jr.
Scan the QR Code or click on the button to take the The Texas 1836 Project Quiz:
1836 Quiz direct link: schreiner.edu/texas-1836/
1836 QUIZ
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THE 1836 PROJECT: TELLING THE TEXAS STORY
TELLING THE TEXAS STORY
Why is Texas the way it is? What is it about this place that
has attracted so much attention over time and has given
rise to larger-than-life legends and lore that continue to
color this state’s identity? The land surely played a part,
but geography and climate merely created the backdrop.
The people that were born here or came here have made
Texas. What seemed like an inhospitable zone to many
has proved to be a land of promise to those with fortitude
and nerve.
This is their story —
and yours.
The original inhabitants of Texas, small bands of hunter gatherers, drifted across the land on foot for the
rst 14,000 years, migrating with the seasons from seashore to pecan-covered river bottoms or inland
cactus groves. Armed with a knowledge of astronomy, water sources and food supplies, they acclimated
to an environment which could be harsh and unforgiving, but which also provided a moderate climate
during much of the year.
1500s
In addition to the small wandering tribes, by the 1500s
a variety of tribes known collectively as the Caddo had
created farming communities and carried on extensive
trade with peoples as distant as New Mexico and the Great
Lakes.
1520s
In the 1520s, a small group of shipwrecked Spanish
castaways made their way across Texas led by Alvar Nuñez
Cabeza de Vaca—credited as the rst European explorer in
the region. After many trials, the survivors made it back to
Mexico with the help of the many small tribes who peopled
the land. It is believed that one of the Caddo tribes may
have introduced themselves to the Spanish using the word
“Teysha” meaning friend or allies. The Spaniards, however,
reported little of interest among their “Teysha” friends.
There were no European style civilizations, but more importantly, there was neither gold nor silver to ll
the coers of Spain. Subsequent expeditions conrmed these ndings and Spain lost interest. For 200
more years, Texas remained the domain of the native peoples.
“You don’t
just move
into Texas, it
moves into
you.”
- Manny Fernandez
New York Times.
Caddo Home
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THE 1836 PROJECT: TELLING THE TEXAS STORY
1690
By 1690, global jealousies among the European powers changed the Spanish attitude about their far-
ung northern American frontier. In response to French incursions into Louisiana, Spain had to take a
chance on this far northern despoblado, or wilderness. To
establish control over the natives of these lands, which
the Spanish called the great kingdom of the “Tejas,”
the least expensive method was religious conversion.
Franciscan missionaries marched north to take up
missionary work among the Caddo, attempting to convert
them into proper Christian Spaniards while others toiled
among the natives along the coast. Far to the east, Los
Adaes, the rst capital of Tejas, anchored these eorts
and served as a block to French ambitions. When
smallpox killed their children, the Caddo refused the
advances of the missionaries, using the Spanish outposts
merely as stopping points on their annual migrations.
The wilderness rivalry continued for several years. Spanish and French interest in native trade and
control enabled the Caddo to play the Europeans o against one another as the natives negotiated
to secure their highly prized weapons and trade goods. The Spanish, having made little progress in
converting the Caddo, withdrew their scattered missions back to the San Antonio River valley while
maintaining Nacogdoches as a defense against French incursions and contraband trade. Spain also sent
reinforcements to Tejas.
1740
In 1740, José de Escandón established half-a-dozen
Spanish settlements along the Rio Bravo (Rio Grande
del Norte) in a great land rush and a few years later
built Presidio La Bahia to guard the coastal road. By
mid-century, Spanish Tejas could boast a population
of 5,000 hardy settlers.
The Spanish settlers who moved into the new land to
join the missionaries learned to be tough, self-reliant,
and independent. A spirit of patria chica, or local
loyalty, developed among the settlements. Following
the dictates of laws from faraway Mexico and even
farther away Madrid, the people of the province
referred to each other as vecinos, neighbors, as they
created a network of compadrazgo or godparenthood which provided support, friendship, and protection.
The indigenous tribes may not all have adopted Spanish religion, but they did adopt Spanish horse
culture. The Comanche, mounted on stolen or captured Spanish horses, transformed themselves into a
mighty empire.
French Ships
Presidio la Bahia
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THE 1836 PROJECT: TELLING THE TEXAS STORY
1770s
By the 1770s, from their home base in what is now north Texas, Oklahoma, and Colorado they swept
south into Tejas and deeper into Mexico to raid Spanish ranches and feed a booming trade in horses.
Spanish mounted units—presidiales—struggled to defend the region against these nimble adversaries.
1810
Everything changed in 1810. Triggered by Napoleon’s invasion of Spain, Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla
led Mexico’s rst attempt at independence from Spain. San Antonio became a battleground as the small-
town split between those favoring the Royalist cause and those seeking independence from Spain. Texas’
rst republic and rst Constitution, written by Bernardo Gutierrez de Lara, failed in 1813 when Royalist
forces including a young lieutenant named Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna arrived from central Mexico.
At the Battle of Medina, General José Joaquín de Arredondo defeated an insurgent army and then
massacred more than 1,400 settlers opposed to the royal government.
1821
In 1821, after a lengthy eleven-year struggle for independence, Mexico
at last emerged as a new nation but its economy was in shambles.
Threatened by the Spanish, French, Americans and the ever-present
Comanches, Mexican leaders needed to people their northern border. They
took a chance and invited American immigrants into the undeveloped, and
now nearly depopulated, Tejas.
Where three hundred years of indigenous, Spanish and Mexican control
had seen Tejas as full of diculties and vexations, incoming Americans saw
a land of boundless opportunity. The government of Mexico used a system
of contractors—much like modern day real estate developers—to grant
land to incoming settlers. People like Stephen F. Austin, Martín de León and
Green DeWitt agreed to help the government settle people in the region in
exchange for grants of large tracts of land. The Americans, attracted by the
immense oers of more than 4,000 acres of land for each family, looked
to commerce, ranching, farming and plantation agriculture to create a
protable economy.
1826
A revolt by Haden Edwards and his colonists at Nacogdoches in 1826 caused Mexican ocials to
reconsider the experiment. The government sent an expedition to Texas under General Manuel de Mier
y Terán to determine the level of loyalty of the new settlers. In his 1828 report, the General observed,
“Among these foreigners are fugitives from justice, honest laborers, vagabonds and criminals.” These
Americans may have become Mexicans by law, but intellectually they remained attached to the ideals of
the American Revolution. “Honorable and dishonorable alike travel with their political constitution in their
pockets,” Mier y Terán wrote, “demanding the privileges, authority and ocers which such a constitution
guarantees.”
Stephen F. Austin
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THE 1836 PROJECT: TELLING THE TEXAS STORY
Mexico also fractured politically. One faction supported the Conservative Centralist position with power
controlled from Mexico City while another was in favor of a Federalist states’ rights constitution with
power in the hands of local citizens. Most of the newly arrived settlers favored the 1824 Federalist
constitution.
1829
The presence of enslaved people among these Americans proved a dilemma for Mexico. In 1829,
the Mexican government passed a law prohibiting slavery—but exempted Tejas. Many opposed the
institution on moral and philosophical grounds, but these immigrants and some ocials saw it as
necessary to develop the region’s agricultural potential. These dierences of opinion would be a constant
cause of friction.
Local Tejanos had mixed feelings about the newcomers. While welcoming the energy, enthusiasm, and
economics of the newcomers, the Spanish-speaking inhabitants of Tejas discovered their small
population of some 2,500 people had been swamped by more than 30,000 American immigrants
including 5,000 enslaved laborers and the attending evil of the institution. These new settlers, some of
whom had come into Coahuila y Tejas illegally, rarely abided by their contractual obligations. They
seldom spoke the Spanish language, only occasionally practiced the ocial Catholic religion, and asked
for their own judicial and educational systems. They even changed the similar sounding “j” to an “x”
creating Texas when discussing the province. These Americans also believed in certain “inalienable rights”
and were quick to defend them.
The Mexican hope and settlers’ dream of prosperity for Texas would take
a lot of work and the burden of accomplishing it would fall unevenly.
By 1823 a local militia, the Texas Rangers, emerged to maintain armed
vigilance and protection over the project. Even so, Texas soon had a
reputation. “Texas is heaven for men and dogs,” the saying went, “but hell
for women and oxen.” This was doubly true for the enslaved, enduring
the same hardship but under more cruel circumstances.
1830
In 1830, a Centralist Mexican regime attempted to resolve the American immigration problem by closing
the borders. Just two years later, under a resurgent Federalist government, the border reopened, and
American immigrants once again ooded into Texas.
By 1834, the Federalists found themselves again displaced by the Centralists, who had created a new
constitution under the leadership of General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Eight Mexican states revolted
against their loss of local control. Santa Anna moved quickly and harshly to crush the rebellions. In
December of 1835, Federalists in San Antonio defeated and expelled the Centralist garrison. Santa Anna
turned his focus to Texas to stamp out the rebellion there and punish the so-called “Texians.”
“Texas is heaven for
men and dogs,” the
saying went, “but hell
for women and oxen.”
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THE 1836 PROJECT: TELLING THE TEXAS STORY
1836
Surprised by the Centralist army’s advance, some 200 insurgents led by William B. Travis, James Bowie
and David Crockett made a stand at the small mission known as the Alamo in San Antonio. After a
thirteen days siege, Santa Anna defeated the defenders and wiped out the small garrison. Meanwhile, at
Goliad, Centralist troops captured a sizable Texian army under Colonel James Walker Fannin and executed
most of the prisoners. This American-dominated region quickly shifted from a lukewarm loyalty to Mexico
to a fervent enthusiasm for independence.
The Texians avowed their purpose. “The Mexican
government, by its colonization laws, invited and induced
the Anglo-American population of Texas to continue to
enjoy that constitutional liberty and republican government
to which they had been habituated in the land of their birth,
the United States of America. In this expectation they have
been cruelly disappointed.”
The men who declared Texas independent and fought to
achieve that independence included newcomers and native-
born alike. On average, these men were about forty-years
old, with the youngest in his early twenties, and the oldest
in his seventies. Most were men entering middle age, most
of them with families and obligations. By and large they
were born in the South, but a handful came from Pennsylvania, New York, and Massachusetts. Others
hailed from places like Ireland, England, Canada, and Central and Eastern European countries. A few held
enslaved people as property, but the overwhelming majority did not. Many were farmers, but there were
as many merchants, land speculators, lawyers, and doctors
as there were sodbusters. A few seemed to t Mier y Terán’s
description of unruly, but mostly they liked rules, they just
didn’t like it when people changed them without their
consent.
Many of these revolutionaries were natives of Mexico, and
like their compatriots born elsewhere, opposed tyranny.
Francisco Ruiz, Juan Seguin, and Jose Antonio Navarro were
from San Antonio de Béxar, now a battleeld in this struggle
for independence. Lorenzo de Zavala, a native of the
Yucatan, agreed. These men understood that the promises
of liberty transcended national borders and nativity.
On March 2, 1836, this collection of risk takers announced the creation of a new nation: The Republic of
Texas. The question that hung in the air that day was what kind of country would it be? In 1776, the men
who declared American independence in Philadelphia two generations before had the idea of what their
nation might be. In 1810, Father Hidalgo had issued his Grito de Dolores in favor of Mexican independence
and pronounced “death to bad government.” On March 2, 1836, the signers at Washington on the Brazos
and heirs to these traditions knew exactly what they wanted. Here, in the lands stretching from the Red
River to the Rio Grande, and from the Sabine to the great unknown to the west, these ideals would be
tested in the eld. On April 21, 1836, General Sam Houston led these bold Texians and Tejanos to victory
on the battleeld of San Jacinto.
The Alamo
Surrender of Santa Anna
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THE 1836 PROJECT: TELLING THE TEXAS STORY
The emerging Republic of Texas had plenty of problems as it attempted to live up to these promises.
Deeply indebted to American creditors, the country claimed a wide swath of territory from the mouth of
the Rio Grande to present day Wyoming. There were too few people facing too many problems. Texans
hoped the United States would soon annex their republic before the new country collapsed. Mexico,
meanwhile, refused to recognize the legitimacy of the upstart nation and threatened war with the U.S.
should they occupy Texas.
Annexation would not come as easily as the Texans hoped. The Republic had patterned its constitution
after those of North Carolina and Tennessee where slavery was legal. This complicated the issue for
the American government which could not admit Texas without upsetting the fragile balance existing
between slave and free states. As a result, the new Republic of Texas struggled for nearly a decade
while presidents Sam Houston, Mirabeau B. Lamar and Anson Jones navigated Indian aairs, invasions
by Mexican forces, and a ballooning national debt. Even so, Texas persisted. “Texas has yet to learn
submission to any oppression,” Houston declared, “come from what source it may.”
1848
Their stubbornness paid o. Skillful political maneuvering
and diplomacy in Washington D. C. and Texas nally led
to annexation in 1845. This, as Mexico had promised, led
to a war between the United States and the Republic of
Mexico. The 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending
the conict, forced Mexico to give up one third of its
territory, including Texas, in exchange for $18 million
dollars, an amount worth about $600 million today. As
the United States struggled with the question of whether
the newly acquired territory would be slave or free, the
Compromise of 1850 resulted in Texas losing its western
third (what is now New Mexico, Colorado, and Wyoming)
to pay o the debt the new state brought with it.
At last, solvent and safe as part of the United States, Texas grew rapidly. Southerners, moved in, as did
Germans, Poles, Czechs, and other Europeans. Their arrival, however, came at the disadvantage of the
indigenous peoples and further marginalized the Tejanos in and around San Antonio and South Texas.
In this process, what had been a diverse borderland became an extension of the American South.
Enslaved individuals accounted for a third of Texas’s 600,000 inhabitants by 1860 and a great deal of its
productivity.
1861
When the southern states seceded from the United States and formed the Confederate States of
America in 1861, Texas joined them over the objections of legendary leaders like Houston and James
W. Throckmorton. Many, including Tejanos and Germans, opposed slavery and the Confederacy, and
often served in Union regiments. Tens of thousands of Texans, including Tejanos and Germans, fought
for the South. Some served as enthusiastic volunteers, while others joined after conscription became
law and denied them the option of staying at home. Texans fought on nearly every Civil War battleeld,
but especially in Louisiana. One in ve Texas Confederates died in the conict. The last battle of the
Civil War—little more than a heated skirmish—was fought in Texas at Palmito Ranch a month after the
surrender at Appomattox.
Comanches
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THE 1836 PROJECT: TELLING THE TEXAS STORY
1865
On June 19, 1865, U. S. ocials in Galveston declared the end of the war and announced the freeing of all
slaves. It is a date which is still celebrated among African Americans as Juneteenth, now a national
holiday.
Through it all, the state emerged defeated but relatively untouched as no
major battles occurred here. Soon U.S. occupation forces moved into Texas
to bring it back into the United States. Some of the newcomers wondered
why they bothered. One disappointed commander remarked, “If I owned
Hell and Texas, I would live in Hell and rent out Texas.”
In many ways, the American Civil War, and the decades after, helped craft
modern Texas. Reconstruction introduced Texans to a constitution in which the government in Austin
was dominated by a pro-Union governor and his cabinet and with multiple laws opposed by many of the
ex-Confederates. It also gave rights to a newly freed African American population who, with the help of
the northern Freedmen’s Bureau, took advantage of their chance at education and self- government.
1876
With the end of Reconstruction in 1876, when given an opportunity to
overhaul its state constitution, pro-Southern white Texans responded
by creating a weakened state government while defending the
concept of federalism as expressed in the Tenth Amendment of the
U.S. Constitution. Following reconstruction African Americans lost
many of their rights. The Comanche Empire also collapsed, and its
people moved to a reservation. Commercial hunters killed o the
American bison that covered the Texas plains nearly to extinction
although some in the state lobbied to have the bualo protected
by law. Bold stock raisers turned long-distance cattle drives into a
lucrative ranching industry. Railroads soon spread a steel web across
the state, and even the great expanse of West Texas started to ll
with homesteaders as railroads sold alternating sections of land to
farmers. By the end of the century, more than 3 million people called
Texas home.
Texas was prosperous but was not economically dierent from the rest of the South. It was an agrarian
state like Alabama or Mississippi. Jim Crow laws discriminating against African Americans, and legal
segregation and ethnic bias against minority groups continued into the new century. Like elsewhere
in the United States, there was some population diversity with signicant areas of German, Czech,
Polish, Italian and other European settlement. The Tejano population remained relatively small and
concentrated mostly in San Antonio and the Lower Rio Grande Valley.
Yet, Texas was huge and remained full of promise. Promoters had always touted its great potential as a
farm and ranch paradise. The idea that everything was bigger in the Lone Star State began to take root.
The state government also fostered a probusiness environment. The image of the bold and daring Texan
spread across the globe.
“If I owned Hell
and Texas, I would
live in Hell and
rent out Texas.”
Farmer
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THE 1836 PROJECT: TELLING THE TEXAS STORY
1901
In 1901, Texas changed. The discovery of oil, especially at Spindletop
near Beaumont, ushered in a period of remarkable transformation. Farm
laborers and cowboys who had struggled as cotton sharecroppers and
ranch hands became roughnecks and roustabouts in the ever- spreading
oil elds of the state. The state government protected the new industry
with laws that favored independent operators over large national
corporations. Houston
blossomed as the energy
capital of the world, while
Dallas became a nancial
center where deals and
fortunes were made. The
“wildcatter” and the oil
derrick became new Texas
icons.
1910
In 1910, problems in Mexico once again impacted Texas. The overthrow of President Porrio Diaz led to a
decade-long revolution that ravaged the country and drove thousands of Mexicans across the border into
the United States, especially Texas. New tensions, cross border violence and raids, summary justice, and
extralegal executions often at the hands of state ocials marked this dark period. The United States also
sent troops to Texas to guard the troubled border, and in 1916 even launched a brief raid into Chihuahua
from El Paso in search of rebel leader Pancho Villa, but with little success.
The new immigrants fueled the booming Texas economy as its population swelled. Texas politicians took
center stage in Washington D.C. Men such as Edward House, Sam Rayburn and John “Cactus Jack” Garner
impacted U.S. and global aairs. Events surrounding World War I brought a fresh interest in things Texan
as American soldiers were stationed at newly established military bases.
1936
In 1936, Texas made news across the country. At Fair Park in Dallas, the
state threw a huge centennial birthday party marking the debut of a new
and improved Texas. It reconnected with its revolutionary and republic
origins, its cowboy identity, its lone star ag, and
its growing energy dominance. It may have been
a burst of romantic nationalism, but it did much
to dene the unique Texas identity and
showcase the state to the nation and the world.
“Texas is neither southern nor western. Texas is
Texas,” wrote William A. ‘Dollar Bill’ Blakely, a
successful and colorful businessman and
politician. Author John Gunther of Illinois quipped in his travelogue, Inside
U.S.A., “If a man is from Texas, he’ll tell you. If he’s not, why embarrass him
by asking?”
Cotton Warehouse
Oil Gusher
Texas Cowboy
“Texas is neither
southern nor
western.
Texas is Texas.”
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THE 1836 PROJECT: TELLING THE TEXAS STORY
Texas was still far from perfect. The presence of racial oppressions such as the White Democratic
Primary—which eectively barred African Americans from voting—and segregation laws remained
vestiges that continued to shadow the Texas identity. Tejano natives and Mexican newcomers alike also
faced discrimination.
1940
World War II brought more prosperity, more recognition, and more population to the state. By 1940,
there were 6 million people calling Texas home. Military bases and defense industries joined oil and
agriculture as major employers. Texans did their part in the second World War as well. Names like Oveta
Culp Hobby, Audie Murphy, Earl Rudder, Dorie Miller, and Samuel Dealey joined the list of national
heroes. Admiral Chester Nimitz of Fredericksburg was the
architect of victory in the Pacic Theater.
Like the rest of the nation, Texas was changing. After the war,
many service members who had enjoyed their time at Texas
military bases came back to Texas and stayed. Others planned
for a way to return, attracted by its wide-open spaces, and
promise of opportunity. One of the veterans who immigrated
to Texas was Connecticut native George Herbert Walker Bush
who had own bombing missions in the Pacic theater from the
deck of the USS San Jacinto. He and his family were not alone in
the move— by 1950 the state increased its population another
million and added another 2.5 million a decade later for a total
of 9.5 million Texans.
The Lone Star State also embraced the military as a permanent part of its landscape during the Cold
War. Many of its communities hosted hundreds of thousands of newcomers in uniform from across the
country. San Antonio, El Paso, Fort Worth, Abilene, Corpus Christi and many smaller towns hosted bases
and enjoyed the inuence of new residents.
Texas still had plenty of detractors. Edna Ferber wrote Giant, which many considered an unattering
novel about the state. When the book became a movie starring Rock Hudson, James Dean, and Elizabeth
Taylor, Texans embraced the over-the-top portrayal of the state. John Bainbridge, in his 1961 book The
Super Americans, described Texas as a land of wealthy, boastful, and boorish people but conceded that
many were also optimistic, friendly, and pragmatic. To this day, the caricature of the outlandish, loud, and
self-important Texan has become a staple of American popular culture.
1961
Even so, Texas reached for the stars. In 1961, with the help and inuence of Vice President Lyndon B.
Johnson, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) created the Johnson Space Center.
One of the salient features of the Houston area that made it a good home to America’s emerging space
program was its well-trained work force and its institutions of higher learning.
Rice University, although segregated at the time and therefore ineligible for
government contracts, rose to the challenge. “Rice University stands at the
crossroads,” attorney Tom Martis Davis argued in a suit to integrate the school.
“It can go to the moon, or it can return to the nineteenth century.” The school
indeed opened its doors to all students. As a result of this progressive vision,
the rst word spoken from the moon was “Houston.”
Aircraft Worker
The rst word
spoken from
the moon was
“Houston.”
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THE 1836 PROJECT: TELLING THE TEXAS STORY
The spirit of change transformed Texas during the 1960s. The Civil Rights Movement swept across the
country and African American Texans who had shown grit and grace in the face of adversity for more than
a century became active participants. Congresswoman Barbara Jordan of Houston became instrumental
in using the levers of political power to help the movement along. After the assassination of President
John F. Kennedy in Dallas in 1963, Texan Lyndon Baines Johnson took over the presidency and became a
tireless advocate of what he christened “The Great Society.” He promised equality and opportunity for all
Americans passing the Civil Rights Act in 1964 and Voting Rights Act in 1965.
1990
As the nation changed, so did its politics. The South, once solidly Democratic, shifted toward the
Republican Party over the next few decades. Texas, which had long been solidly, if conservatively,
Democrat since 1846, followed the defection toward the Republicans. The 1970s saw this shift gather
momentum. By 1990, Texan George H. W. Bush, a Republican, was president of the United States. Four
years later, his son, George W. Bush, was governor of Texas and he too became president of the United
States in 2000.
Future
Texas continues to grow. Its population is more than 30 million and it is expected to almost double
by 2050. Houston, the fourth largest city in the nation, San Antonio, the seventh, Dallas, the ninth
and Austin, the eleventh, are innovation hubs for the entire country and home to 54 Fortune 500
headquarters. Thanks to the Texas model – low taxes, reasonable regulation and fair and balanced
tort laws – Texas has ourished, leading the nation in
exports while producing a tenth of the entire nation’s total
economy. Texas currently has the eighth largest economy
in the world, outpacing Russia, Canada and Brazil.
While energy and agriculture are the largest sectors of the
Texas economy, the state’s $141.7 billion information and
technology sector accounts for 8.3% of the state’s total
economy. 42,000 tech companies have been established
in Texas, employing 226,000 Texans. The aerospace,
nancial services, biomedicine, and tourism industries
are also thriving in Texas, and all play a huge role in the
global economy. While the Texas economy has become
exceptionally diverse, the state’s oil and gas production has
led to a manufacturing boom and made the United States
energy independent, thereby enhancing national security.
Hill Country
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THE 1836 PROJECT: TELLING THE TEXAS STORY
In the coming years, Texas will be the most populous state in the nation.
Hundreds of people move here every day from other states and nations
drawn by the region’s beauty, diversity, low cost of living and a culture that
supports re-invention and innovation. Four out of ve who move to the
Lone Star State will stay for a lifetime.
From its past and present, and looking forward to the future, Texas has
become a mix of remembering the Alamo, watching a rodeo, dancing to
conjunto, and busting a rhyme, all with a touch of tuxedo and an aria by Mozart. It is barbecue, barbacoa,
chicken fry and schnitzel. Texans are a people of many
places united by a shared identity. The hope is that all
Texans understand what they are receiving—what they are
building upon—as they write new chapters of the story.
Texas has always been a borderland, inhabited by people
who create exceptional lives. This tale is far from perfect,
like most human endeavors. Even so, it is full of optimism,
energy, grit and gumption that sets a bold example for the
rest of the nation and the world.
Whether you are here for a visit or a lifetime,
welcome to Texas.
Guadalupe River
Four out of ve who
move to the Lone Star
State will stay for a
lifetime.
