Political Economy and Political Culture Political Culture Understandings of the appropriate relationship between government and the people the rights and responsibilities of the people the obligations of government the limits of government authority Northern Mexico circa 1776 Around 2 500 Spanish and Mexican settlers north of the Rio Grande Approximately 30 000 to 50 000 Native Americans No meaningful Anglo or Black presence Expanding American settlement in the Mississippi Valley Comanche raids from Texas into more settled parts of Mexico Beginning in the 1820s substantial numbers of Anglos began to move to Texas often bringing African American slaves Independence 1836 Stephen F Austin Texas the United States Texas admitted to the Union as a slave state 1845 Mexican American War 1846 1848 Resulting in American capture of what is now the southwest U S assumed the Republic of Texas s debts Texas retained title to unsettled lands Boundary Act of 1850 Texas gave up extensive land claims in return for 10 million Secession and Civil War The frontier of the Deep South Alienation of the non slaveholding German population centered in the Hill Country from the Confederacy Military Defeat and Reconstruction Reconstruction 1867 74 Military Occupation Black Enfranchisement Many Confederate military officers and officials barred from holding office Reconstruction to 1874 Republicans Largely comprised of African American and German voters the party of Lincoln some scalawags local Republicans and carpetbaggers Democrats The party of white supremacy and states rights The Reconstruction Constitution 1869 Created a strong central state government Governor given broad appointive and policy supervision powers Local government closely controlled by state authorities Taxes used to support an extensive system of public elementary and secondary education school attendance made compulsory Republicans subsidized railroads with bond issues and grants of land Return of the Democrats Redemption Beginning in 1872 former Confederates were allowed to vote again Democrats regained control of the State Legislature In 1873 Democrat Richard Coke defeated Edmund J Davis in the gubernatorial election In 1875 Texas held a new constitutional convention Dissatisfaction with Republican rule became reaction against governmental interference of any kind The distrust and suspicion of legislative action and political power that accompanies any laissezfaire philosophy was more deepseated in the South than elsewhere Laissez faire became almost a test of Southern patriotism C Van Woodward The New Blueprint Limitation and Fragmentation Separation of Powers Reduced salaries for state officials Governor stripped of most appointive powers most offices made elective Terms of office shortened In order to ensure that their objectives were met the authors of the Constitution went into explicit detail