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Chapter 56 Culture ofThe Lone Republic 1836-1861
Chapter 56 Culture of the Lone Star Republic 1836-1861
"What exactly are we Texans like? Well let me tell you it's not something that you can answer in a single sentence."- Stephen F. Austin 1850
"I don't give a damn about entering the Union cause I am a full blooded Texan. I took part in the Revolution that built this nation, and I intend to see it last to the next century."- President Mirabeau Lamar 1841
"I am not a Mexican. I am a Texan."- Presidential Candidate Juan Seguin 1859
In the early years of the Republic, it was quite difficult to exactly describe what Texas culture was, or what was unique about the nation. When Europeans of the time met with a Texan, many just assumed that they were Mexican and had little to no idea of what life in Texas was like. Due to this, Texas had a very static public image in foreign nations that made it look like they were just a by-product of America, which in some cases can be true. It wasn't until the late 19th century after the Mexican War that Texas culture began to spread across the globe with the birth of the "Wild West" culture that still is a prominent image of Texas today. The truth of the matter is though, that Texas had been developing its unique culture and customs ever since it first declared independence. The reason there was such a difficulty at the time, was due to the huge amount of diversity and ethic blending that made even the United States look homogeneous. In just a quarter of a decade from 1836 to 1861, Texas exploded from a backwater country with a low population of 100,000 to that of 2 Million. Many of them being immigrants or the acculturation of Indians that brought about many unique cultures to that of the existing Anglo-Tejano model. In this chapter we will be looking at what was exactly Texan in the first decades of the Republic, and see how that early culture lead to what is the Republic of Texas today.
Art&Literature: While Texas was introduced to many forms of art, the one that frequently dominated across its many different culutres was naturalism or landscape art. Artists and writers that came to Texas were frequently amazed by the diverse natural environments across the Republic and the laid back casual culture of its people. Most works of art in this era while limited due to the growing population and establishment of cultural identity, were dedicated to these topics. Paintings were the most frequently used methods of fine arts, with artists painting scenes of the Texas landscape; whether they be the sunset in a horizon, the grassy plains and forests of the east, majesty of the Rio Grande and Colorado, harsh Arizona deserts, Deseret mountainside, or the Pacific environment of California. When creating artwork that focused on people, much attention was given to the everyday lives of Texans, with particular focus placed on the ranchers, Indians, Texas Rangers, frontier settlers, and life within the settlements. Most Texas novels that were created at this time could also be placed into similar categories. The most popular domestic series being "Chronicles of the Southwest" an adventure/travel series of works coauthored by German Karl May and Frenchmen Louis Bernard on their travels across the Republic. These adventure and domestic novels would make their way to Europe and entice more people to come to Texas based on the dreams of life in the Southwest. The works of Karl May are definitely considered to be most influential due to its impact in the still developing German national culture and its role in German literature by introducing several German protagonists and tales that became household names, while Texas itself became a popular topic in German and even French literature. Lastly, Texas art is very important for introducing the western world to Indian culture in a manner that is not based on ignorance or superiority. This lead to a fascination in Indian life and its preservation from assimilation due to the increased interest in their practices.
A Landscape scene showing a field of Bluebonnets
Entertainment: In the early years of Texas there were very few national forms of entertainment that were spread across the Republic. Performance venues such as theaters, concerts, and various competitions were localized and not spread on a national or even commonwealth scale. Sports would not be developed until the late 19th century, so there was only running, combat, shooting, and shows of strength. Many festivals and celebrations still occurred but these revolved around the later mentioned holidays and cultural practices. What did develop in Texas though, was the one method of entertainment that has basically become a major part of its identity to this day, the rodeo. The first rodeos do not have an recorded origin, but are generally said to have started in the 1840's across Texas. These resulted in county affairs where local fairs were created in order to celebrate harvests and promote livestock and agricultural products to any outsiders who might be willing to support the local economy. With the growth of the ranching sector as an integral part of the Texas economy, particular attention was paid to the cowboys and local ranchers and their livestock, with competitions to determine the best breeds. Through the creation of several games to entertain the fair goers, the method for the modern rodeo was created where several competitions would be held that involved the events of horse racing, bull riding, barrel racing, cattle wrestling, livestock shows, shooting galleries, Cowboy&Indian reenactments, and crop competitions. The Rodeo would become so popular in later years that it would soon spread throughout the Western hemisphere in Mexico, Yucatan, Midwest and Pacific America, Chile, Argentina, and even Australia and New Zealand today. While Rodeos have generally become a mild worldwide phenomenon and a major part of the Texas Identity, there is much debate as to whether or not it is a sport. Whatever the case, Rodeo became an official Olympic sport in the 1936 Galveston Games (though it is not used in Olympics outside of Texas)
In terms of the music scene, much development on the Southwestern genre did not truly begin until after the Mexican War. The two main genres that did rise was the mariachi band of Mexican music and the traditional Southern music. Outside of certain cultural festivals, these two types of music would be the ones most played in Texas. With the instruments of the harmonica, guitar, trumpet, violin, banjo, and accordion being used in both genres. Southern music often had English lyrics to accompany it like Mariachi did with Spanish. The only time when both styles would be used would be in the hoedown dance where a band would play either music while the partygoers would dance in the newly created styles of square dancing or the dosie doe.
View attachment 302994View attachment 302996
Bronco riding at the 2016 Houston Livestock Show&Rodeo (Right) A traditional hoedown (Left)
Food: Texan food in the early years of the Republic was not a single collection of dishes that were created in Texas, but rather a huge combination of different ethnic dishes from across the globe. Because of this, there were no real large movements that had attempted to establish a culinary identity. The most popular styles of food that would spread throughout Texas at this time would be Southern American, German, Mexican, and Chinese. Soon two very distinct styles of Texan food would emerge. Tex-Mex and Texan. Tex-Mex is a style of food created by Tejanos for the purpose of enticing Texans to eat their food in restaurants, with these dishes being made in several American elements. This would result in the creation of several Texan foods such as the burrito, guacamole, nachos, chili, and fajitas. The rise in popularity of these dishes would soon come to spread the usage of Latin dishes in general. With tortillas being served as a staple alongside bread, and Mexican spices being used in the cooking of several non-Latin dishes. Texan also developed at this time, being a hybrid mix of southern cuisine and the native Texan diet. Heavy preference usually goes to the selection of beef or chicken, and the usage of vegetables such as potatoes, corn, and lettuce in each dish. Texan foods also became notorious for introducing a heavy reliance on fried food. The most obvious difference between Texan and Southern foods is the sheer quantity in which it is served. A Texan dish would usually be large enough to hold 2 or three servings for a person, in a single plate. Becoming part of the saying that everything is bigger in Texas. With the heavy population of Cattle, beef and dairy base products were highly used in casual meals. Wheat became the main crop used for food in Texas, while California developed a Mediterranean diet based on its agriculture of tomatoes, grapes, oranges, and other citrus. Like most aspects of Texas culture, it's official cuisine would not be formally organized until the dawn of the 20th century, and its growth across the world not occurring until after the Great War.
A typical Tex-Mex meal
Holidays: The creation of many of Texas's current holidays were not established in the early years of the Republic. This is due to many Texans celebrating American holidays or that of a specific ethnic holiday within a minority culture. The first established one that was widely celebrated is Independence day on March 2nd. Most religious holidays observed were Christian ones with Christmas and Easter being celebrated across the Republic at its time of year. The growth of the Catholic population would also force certain Catholic holidays to become wider celebrations in Texas, even being celebrated by Protestant Texans for the cultural celebrations. These were All Saint's Day, Good Friday, Halloween (The day of the dead celebrations in Mexico) and the Feast of Our lady of Guadeloupe. The only non Tejano or Texan holiday that was celebrated cross culturally was that of the Chinese Cultural festivals, its practice and celebration being spread throughout California. In order to further establish the Texan identity, national holidays were created by the Texas Congress in its early years. These were Alamo Day, San Jacinto Day, Cabeza de Vaca Day (Discovery of Texas by the Spanish), and Election Day so that the population could go out and vote. As the Texan culture developed, many unique Texan holidays would be created in the latter 19th century and the 20th Century.
Languages: Officially as it has been since the creation of the Constitution in 1836, English has been the national language of the Republic of Texas with Spanish acting as a recognized informal secondary language that is part of Texas's culture. The reason that the Texas Constitution wrote this is due to the fact that the only two groups who had lived in Texas at the time of its creation were the Tejanos and American immigrants. With English being presented as the dominant language due to the present majority of Anglo-Texans. This gradually changed over time as more ethnic groups immigrated to Texas, and the nation suddenly found dozens of languages being spoken in its borders. With regards to the cultural norm on what would be spoken, English was accepted as the lingua franca and most immigrants were native Tejanos, and Indian tribes were generally encouraged to speak it in order to prevent any national divisions because of speech. Due to this, an American could travel to Texas and speak in English with a majority of its citizens in a casual conversation and could conduct business negotiations with English documents. This however, did not prevent the spread of other languages into the lives of Texans. Spanish soon spread among the population due to the rise in the position of Tejano's and the increasing numbers of immigrants from Latin America, with Tejanos becoming the second largest ethnic group in Texas and soon developing their own unique Texan culture. Spanish was often used as an intermediary language between non-English speakers, especially when dealing with Indian groups such as the Apache's. Much of the Spanish vocabulary also made its way into the terminology that Texans used for daily practices and items, later diffusing across the greater English world. Often Anglo-Texans or would soon learn Spanish in order to deal with their Tejano partners and conduct business without the need of an interpreter, while subliminally adding many Spanish phrases and words in their usage of English. Even the most Southern of American immigrants would later be found using Spanish cuss words and phrases in conversations with other immigrants from Southern America. With the growth of Spanish's popularity as a secondary language, multiple businesses and organizations across Texas would come to label their signs and papers in Spanish so that they could receive more business and dealings with the Tejano population. Spanish literature was soon being printed alongside English Texan and American literature, introducing Texans to the broader culture of the Latin American world. With all of these factors, the average Texan would use both Spanish and English multiple times daily and would often switch between languages in the span of seconds within conversations or with new ones. Developing a linguistic identity similar to that of the Franco-English culture in Quebec.
The second language to receive high spread was German. German immigrants were the third largest group behind Tejanos, and were the ones that integrated themselves most successfully in Texas society with German-Texans being found in all different walks of life across the Republic. While Germans were the ethnic group that had the easiest time learning English, many were prideful of their homeland and would often use it in private or publicly in highly concentrated German communities. With the same reasons as that of Spanish, many Texans would learn German so that they could interact with these people on an equal level and entice a greater amount of business and partnership due to respect of their customs. The main difference that separates the usage of Spanish and German though, is that German is often solely used in the State of Texas, in the area of West and North Texas to be exact. This is due to the fact that German immigrants would often cluster together in frontier towns that offered plenty of space of land for farming. This being in contrast to the Tejanos who are spread out across the Republic. The only major urban area where Germans could be found in high numbers were the cities of New Braunfels, Fredricksberg, and Galveston. Galveston being the most populated city in the state of Texas where Germans were able to establish an elite position on the island due to their status as some of the first settlers, and backing of many of the islands business and prominent roles in the immigration system. So while German was not used as casually as Spanish, it could still be found as a usage in conversation throughout Texas with it becoming a second or third language to residents of the frontier. Lastly, with the high amount of Germans and their relatively high status in comparison to their American brethren, German was not only preserved as a culture, but flourished in Texas. This led to the creation of the Texan dialect in German. A dialect of the German langauge which often transforms the German vocabulary to follow that of North American English instead of its German translation. Leading to Texan German being the dominant form of German throughout the Western Hemisphere by the dawn of the 21st century.
Among the many other languages that were spread in Texas, they were never able to achieve the same success as their Spanish and German counterparts. This was for numerous reasons but primarily due to the fact that either Texans weren't interested in bothering to learn the language, or said ethnic group was too small to receive any special attention. This was often the case with that of the Indian, French, Czech, Slavic, and Italian immigrants. One notable exception were the Chinese who became one of the largest groups in Texas, but never had Mandarin become widespread due to Chinese having been seen as too foreign. Still, Mandarin Chinese would spread at a moderate level in California to the point where many vernacular terms in California would come from Chinese. In accordance to their actual usage however, most Texans never really attempted to force these various ethnicities and races to speak only English, and let them keep their native tongue, but with an expectation to at least learn basic English to be a part of Texan society. With this mindset, many languages were preserved and grown, particularly in the case of Indians, and now result in Texas being the home of over 100 different languages today, the spread being contributed due to globalization in the 21st century.
View attachment 302998
An Example of the differences between Texan German and Standard German
Politics: In terms of politics in Texas, this section will not cover the political ideologies, parties, or typical voter representation as it does in previous chapters, but rather its overall effect of the population. Like their early American counterparts, Texas had high participation rates on election day in the 80's and sometimes 90's of percentage. With the party system being developed in the 1840's with the establishment of the Republican and Western Union party, a general divide in partisanship started to form in the population. Unlike the United States however, this did not become a direct part in the social lives of Texans, and most people were not divided by party stance or ideology. With politics only being a major topic of discussion in times of conflict or passing of a new and radical law to the existing political structure. In the early Presidential elections, the reason that candidates were chosen were often due to personal platforms and personality than solely based on parties. While genral demographics were created for each party, a member of either side of the political spectrum could easily switch positions depending on the candidate. Most focus and attention to politics was actively given to the local and county stages where their elected leaders policies would affect them the most versus the actions of Austin. The most fervent participants in national politics were those who were direct members of either party, or congressional politicians and national bureaucrats. Over time the partisan divide would increase with each election, the Republicans drifting to a right manner, while the Western Union became centrist. The divide was only ever truly cemented in the Texan Gilded Age after the Mexican War, along with the emergence of the Populist Party.
Religion: In terms of religion for the Republic, A Texan was either one of three lines; a Catholic, Protestant, or shaministic in the case of the Indian population. As mentioned in previous posts, Catholicism was able to spread throughout Texas and become a majority population due to the high numbers of Tejanos, French, Germans, later waves of Irish, and the increased missionary efforts of the Catholic Church. With the Church's position only strengthening after the founding of Italy. Due to the majority population and diversity of the Catholic population, most Protestant American immigrants generally began to treat them as equals or at least tolerate their practices. The Catholic Church would later become an important social aspect of Texas society with the Church's teachings spreading in daily practices and their ideology influencing the voting methods of active voters. Protestantism is generally based upon the power of the Baptist Church within Texas. While other denominations were eventually introduced such as the Methodist or mainstream evangelicals, Baptist cemented their position of power due to the highly devoted membership of the Southern immigrants to Texas. The Baptist Church would frequently be located in East Texas, and primarily advocated to white Texans, though they could be found throughout the frontier along with Catholic missions. Baptists were highly disorganized and didn't have an structure similar to the Catholic, Lutheran, or Episcopalian Churches, though they were commonly united by a roughly similar doctrine and had their congregations be influenced by their fiery preachers on Sunday, Baptist values representing mainstream Protestant values in Texas. Mormonism also began to flourish in Deseret with the permanent foundation of the Church of Latter-Day Saints in Salt Lake City. Though its population outside of Deseret was slim and they had few converts from established churches, with their practices and effects being elaborated on the latter chapter of the Mormon Rebellion. Indian folk religions for the most part never grew to non-Indian populations and they were mostly kept to their local tribes. Over time with the growth of missionary movements in Texas, Indian practitioners of their respective religions would decline in large numbers over the decades. But due to the Indian population's special autonomy and rights in Texas, their traditions were retained and religious practices later categorized for modern historians.
View attachment 302997
An 18th century Spanish Mission (Left) An image of a typical 19th century Baptist Church (Right)
In totality this is what it roughly means to be an early Texan. A citizen of the Republic of Texas that came from one of numerous different cultures, that lived in a nation that embraced diversity and the freedom and spirit of independence. Over time with Southwestern cultural norms being developed and Texas increasing its prosperity and growth with each new President, the citizens of the Republic were becoming Texanized. In that they were losing their main identity status of their homeland, and were slowly being acculturated to the patriotism and national spirit of Texas. In the next culture chapter "Culture of the Lone Star Republic 1861-1900" we shall explore the permanent creation of Texan culture, and Texan identity with the birth of the Southwestern ideal.
A/N: Sorry for the delay. After much time spent on this post, I give to you the culture of an independent Texas. Man, that was quite an amount of work. Next chapter shall focus solely on the Crimean War. After that is a return to the Crockett Years in Texas.
"What exactly are we Texans like? Well let me tell you it's not something that you can answer in a single sentence."- Stephen F. Austin 1850
"I don't give a damn about entering the Union cause I am a full blooded Texan. I took part in the Revolution that built this nation, and I intend to see it last to the next century."- President Mirabeau Lamar 1841
"I am not a Mexican. I am a Texan."- Presidential Candidate Juan Seguin 1859
In the early years of the Republic, it was quite difficult to exactly describe what Texas culture was, or what was unique about the nation. When Europeans of the time met with a Texan, many just assumed that they were Mexican and had little to no idea of what life in Texas was like. Due to this, Texas had a very static public image in foreign nations that made it look like they were just a by-product of America, which in some cases can be true. It wasn't until the late 19th century after the Mexican War that Texas culture began to spread across the globe with the birth of the "Wild West" culture that still is a prominent image of Texas today. The truth of the matter is though, that Texas had been developing its unique culture and customs ever since it first declared independence. The reason there was such a difficulty at the time, was due to the huge amount of diversity and ethic blending that made even the United States look homogeneous. In just a quarter of a decade from 1836 to 1861, Texas exploded from a backwater country with a low population of 100,000 to that of 2 Million. Many of them being immigrants or the acculturation of Indians that brought about many unique cultures to that of the existing Anglo-Tejano model. In this chapter we will be looking at what was exactly Texan in the first decades of the Republic, and see how that early culture lead to what is the Republic of Texas today.
Art&Literature: While Texas was introduced to many forms of art, the one that frequently dominated across its many different culutres was naturalism or landscape art. Artists and writers that came to Texas were frequently amazed by the diverse natural environments across the Republic and the laid back casual culture of its people. Most works of art in this era while limited due to the growing population and establishment of cultural identity, were dedicated to these topics. Paintings were the most frequently used methods of fine arts, with artists painting scenes of the Texas landscape; whether they be the sunset in a horizon, the grassy plains and forests of the east, majesty of the Rio Grande and Colorado, harsh Arizona deserts, Deseret mountainside, or the Pacific environment of California. When creating artwork that focused on people, much attention was given to the everyday lives of Texans, with particular focus placed on the ranchers, Indians, Texas Rangers, frontier settlers, and life within the settlements. Most Texas novels that were created at this time could also be placed into similar categories. The most popular domestic series being "Chronicles of the Southwest" an adventure/travel series of works coauthored by German Karl May and Frenchmen Louis Bernard on their travels across the Republic. These adventure and domestic novels would make their way to Europe and entice more people to come to Texas based on the dreams of life in the Southwest. The works of Karl May are definitely considered to be most influential due to its impact in the still developing German national culture and its role in German literature by introducing several German protagonists and tales that became household names, while Texas itself became a popular topic in German and even French literature. Lastly, Texas art is very important for introducing the western world to Indian culture in a manner that is not based on ignorance or superiority. This lead to a fascination in Indian life and its preservation from assimilation due to the increased interest in their practices.
A Landscape scene showing a field of Bluebonnets
Entertainment: In the early years of Texas there were very few national forms of entertainment that were spread across the Republic. Performance venues such as theaters, concerts, and various competitions were localized and not spread on a national or even commonwealth scale. Sports would not be developed until the late 19th century, so there was only running, combat, shooting, and shows of strength. Many festivals and celebrations still occurred but these revolved around the later mentioned holidays and cultural practices. What did develop in Texas though, was the one method of entertainment that has basically become a major part of its identity to this day, the rodeo. The first rodeos do not have an recorded origin, but are generally said to have started in the 1840's across Texas. These resulted in county affairs where local fairs were created in order to celebrate harvests and promote livestock and agricultural products to any outsiders who might be willing to support the local economy. With the growth of the ranching sector as an integral part of the Texas economy, particular attention was paid to the cowboys and local ranchers and their livestock, with competitions to determine the best breeds. Through the creation of several games to entertain the fair goers, the method for the modern rodeo was created where several competitions would be held that involved the events of horse racing, bull riding, barrel racing, cattle wrestling, livestock shows, shooting galleries, Cowboy&Indian reenactments, and crop competitions. The Rodeo would become so popular in later years that it would soon spread throughout the Western hemisphere in Mexico, Yucatan, Midwest and Pacific America, Chile, Argentina, and even Australia and New Zealand today. While Rodeos have generally become a mild worldwide phenomenon and a major part of the Texas Identity, there is much debate as to whether or not it is a sport. Whatever the case, Rodeo became an official Olympic sport in the 1936 Galveston Games (though it is not used in Olympics outside of Texas)
In terms of the music scene, much development on the Southwestern genre did not truly begin until after the Mexican War. The two main genres that did rise was the mariachi band of Mexican music and the traditional Southern music. Outside of certain cultural festivals, these two types of music would be the ones most played in Texas. With the instruments of the harmonica, guitar, trumpet, violin, banjo, and accordion being used in both genres. Southern music often had English lyrics to accompany it like Mariachi did with Spanish. The only time when both styles would be used would be in the hoedown dance where a band would play either music while the partygoers would dance in the newly created styles of square dancing or the dosie doe.
View attachment 302994View attachment 302996
Bronco riding at the 2016 Houston Livestock Show&Rodeo (Right) A traditional hoedown (Left)
Food: Texan food in the early years of the Republic was not a single collection of dishes that were created in Texas, but rather a huge combination of different ethnic dishes from across the globe. Because of this, there were no real large movements that had attempted to establish a culinary identity. The most popular styles of food that would spread throughout Texas at this time would be Southern American, German, Mexican, and Chinese. Soon two very distinct styles of Texan food would emerge. Tex-Mex and Texan. Tex-Mex is a style of food created by Tejanos for the purpose of enticing Texans to eat their food in restaurants, with these dishes being made in several American elements. This would result in the creation of several Texan foods such as the burrito, guacamole, nachos, chili, and fajitas. The rise in popularity of these dishes would soon come to spread the usage of Latin dishes in general. With tortillas being served as a staple alongside bread, and Mexican spices being used in the cooking of several non-Latin dishes. Texan also developed at this time, being a hybrid mix of southern cuisine and the native Texan diet. Heavy preference usually goes to the selection of beef or chicken, and the usage of vegetables such as potatoes, corn, and lettuce in each dish. Texan foods also became notorious for introducing a heavy reliance on fried food. The most obvious difference between Texan and Southern foods is the sheer quantity in which it is served. A Texan dish would usually be large enough to hold 2 or three servings for a person, in a single plate. Becoming part of the saying that everything is bigger in Texas. With the heavy population of Cattle, beef and dairy base products were highly used in casual meals. Wheat became the main crop used for food in Texas, while California developed a Mediterranean diet based on its agriculture of tomatoes, grapes, oranges, and other citrus. Like most aspects of Texas culture, it's official cuisine would not be formally organized until the dawn of the 20th century, and its growth across the world not occurring until after the Great War.
A typical Tex-Mex meal
Holidays: The creation of many of Texas's current holidays were not established in the early years of the Republic. This is due to many Texans celebrating American holidays or that of a specific ethnic holiday within a minority culture. The first established one that was widely celebrated is Independence day on March 2nd. Most religious holidays observed were Christian ones with Christmas and Easter being celebrated across the Republic at its time of year. The growth of the Catholic population would also force certain Catholic holidays to become wider celebrations in Texas, even being celebrated by Protestant Texans for the cultural celebrations. These were All Saint's Day, Good Friday, Halloween (The day of the dead celebrations in Mexico) and the Feast of Our lady of Guadeloupe. The only non Tejano or Texan holiday that was celebrated cross culturally was that of the Chinese Cultural festivals, its practice and celebration being spread throughout California. In order to further establish the Texan identity, national holidays were created by the Texas Congress in its early years. These were Alamo Day, San Jacinto Day, Cabeza de Vaca Day (Discovery of Texas by the Spanish), and Election Day so that the population could go out and vote. As the Texan culture developed, many unique Texan holidays would be created in the latter 19th century and the 20th Century.
Languages: Officially as it has been since the creation of the Constitution in 1836, English has been the national language of the Republic of Texas with Spanish acting as a recognized informal secondary language that is part of Texas's culture. The reason that the Texas Constitution wrote this is due to the fact that the only two groups who had lived in Texas at the time of its creation were the Tejanos and American immigrants. With English being presented as the dominant language due to the present majority of Anglo-Texans. This gradually changed over time as more ethnic groups immigrated to Texas, and the nation suddenly found dozens of languages being spoken in its borders. With regards to the cultural norm on what would be spoken, English was accepted as the lingua franca and most immigrants were native Tejanos, and Indian tribes were generally encouraged to speak it in order to prevent any national divisions because of speech. Due to this, an American could travel to Texas and speak in English with a majority of its citizens in a casual conversation and could conduct business negotiations with English documents. This however, did not prevent the spread of other languages into the lives of Texans. Spanish soon spread among the population due to the rise in the position of Tejano's and the increasing numbers of immigrants from Latin America, with Tejanos becoming the second largest ethnic group in Texas and soon developing their own unique Texan culture. Spanish was often used as an intermediary language between non-English speakers, especially when dealing with Indian groups such as the Apache's. Much of the Spanish vocabulary also made its way into the terminology that Texans used for daily practices and items, later diffusing across the greater English world. Often Anglo-Texans or would soon learn Spanish in order to deal with their Tejano partners and conduct business without the need of an interpreter, while subliminally adding many Spanish phrases and words in their usage of English. Even the most Southern of American immigrants would later be found using Spanish cuss words and phrases in conversations with other immigrants from Southern America. With the growth of Spanish's popularity as a secondary language, multiple businesses and organizations across Texas would come to label their signs and papers in Spanish so that they could receive more business and dealings with the Tejano population. Spanish literature was soon being printed alongside English Texan and American literature, introducing Texans to the broader culture of the Latin American world. With all of these factors, the average Texan would use both Spanish and English multiple times daily and would often switch between languages in the span of seconds within conversations or with new ones. Developing a linguistic identity similar to that of the Franco-English culture in Quebec.
The second language to receive high spread was German. German immigrants were the third largest group behind Tejanos, and were the ones that integrated themselves most successfully in Texas society with German-Texans being found in all different walks of life across the Republic. While Germans were the ethnic group that had the easiest time learning English, many were prideful of their homeland and would often use it in private or publicly in highly concentrated German communities. With the same reasons as that of Spanish, many Texans would learn German so that they could interact with these people on an equal level and entice a greater amount of business and partnership due to respect of their customs. The main difference that separates the usage of Spanish and German though, is that German is often solely used in the State of Texas, in the area of West and North Texas to be exact. This is due to the fact that German immigrants would often cluster together in frontier towns that offered plenty of space of land for farming. This being in contrast to the Tejanos who are spread out across the Republic. The only major urban area where Germans could be found in high numbers were the cities of New Braunfels, Fredricksberg, and Galveston. Galveston being the most populated city in the state of Texas where Germans were able to establish an elite position on the island due to their status as some of the first settlers, and backing of many of the islands business and prominent roles in the immigration system. So while German was not used as casually as Spanish, it could still be found as a usage in conversation throughout Texas with it becoming a second or third language to residents of the frontier. Lastly, with the high amount of Germans and their relatively high status in comparison to their American brethren, German was not only preserved as a culture, but flourished in Texas. This led to the creation of the Texan dialect in German. A dialect of the German langauge which often transforms the German vocabulary to follow that of North American English instead of its German translation. Leading to Texan German being the dominant form of German throughout the Western Hemisphere by the dawn of the 21st century.
Among the many other languages that were spread in Texas, they were never able to achieve the same success as their Spanish and German counterparts. This was for numerous reasons but primarily due to the fact that either Texans weren't interested in bothering to learn the language, or said ethnic group was too small to receive any special attention. This was often the case with that of the Indian, French, Czech, Slavic, and Italian immigrants. One notable exception were the Chinese who became one of the largest groups in Texas, but never had Mandarin become widespread due to Chinese having been seen as too foreign. Still, Mandarin Chinese would spread at a moderate level in California to the point where many vernacular terms in California would come from Chinese. In accordance to their actual usage however, most Texans never really attempted to force these various ethnicities and races to speak only English, and let them keep their native tongue, but with an expectation to at least learn basic English to be a part of Texan society. With this mindset, many languages were preserved and grown, particularly in the case of Indians, and now result in Texas being the home of over 100 different languages today, the spread being contributed due to globalization in the 21st century.
View attachment 302998
An Example of the differences between Texan German and Standard German
Politics: In terms of politics in Texas, this section will not cover the political ideologies, parties, or typical voter representation as it does in previous chapters, but rather its overall effect of the population. Like their early American counterparts, Texas had high participation rates on election day in the 80's and sometimes 90's of percentage. With the party system being developed in the 1840's with the establishment of the Republican and Western Union party, a general divide in partisanship started to form in the population. Unlike the United States however, this did not become a direct part in the social lives of Texans, and most people were not divided by party stance or ideology. With politics only being a major topic of discussion in times of conflict or passing of a new and radical law to the existing political structure. In the early Presidential elections, the reason that candidates were chosen were often due to personal platforms and personality than solely based on parties. While genral demographics were created for each party, a member of either side of the political spectrum could easily switch positions depending on the candidate. Most focus and attention to politics was actively given to the local and county stages where their elected leaders policies would affect them the most versus the actions of Austin. The most fervent participants in national politics were those who were direct members of either party, or congressional politicians and national bureaucrats. Over time the partisan divide would increase with each election, the Republicans drifting to a right manner, while the Western Union became centrist. The divide was only ever truly cemented in the Texan Gilded Age after the Mexican War, along with the emergence of the Populist Party.
Religion: In terms of religion for the Republic, A Texan was either one of three lines; a Catholic, Protestant, or shaministic in the case of the Indian population. As mentioned in previous posts, Catholicism was able to spread throughout Texas and become a majority population due to the high numbers of Tejanos, French, Germans, later waves of Irish, and the increased missionary efforts of the Catholic Church. With the Church's position only strengthening after the founding of Italy. Due to the majority population and diversity of the Catholic population, most Protestant American immigrants generally began to treat them as equals or at least tolerate their practices. The Catholic Church would later become an important social aspect of Texas society with the Church's teachings spreading in daily practices and their ideology influencing the voting methods of active voters. Protestantism is generally based upon the power of the Baptist Church within Texas. While other denominations were eventually introduced such as the Methodist or mainstream evangelicals, Baptist cemented their position of power due to the highly devoted membership of the Southern immigrants to Texas. The Baptist Church would frequently be located in East Texas, and primarily advocated to white Texans, though they could be found throughout the frontier along with Catholic missions. Baptists were highly disorganized and didn't have an structure similar to the Catholic, Lutheran, or Episcopalian Churches, though they were commonly united by a roughly similar doctrine and had their congregations be influenced by their fiery preachers on Sunday, Baptist values representing mainstream Protestant values in Texas. Mormonism also began to flourish in Deseret with the permanent foundation of the Church of Latter-Day Saints in Salt Lake City. Though its population outside of Deseret was slim and they had few converts from established churches, with their practices and effects being elaborated on the latter chapter of the Mormon Rebellion. Indian folk religions for the most part never grew to non-Indian populations and they were mostly kept to their local tribes. Over time with the growth of missionary movements in Texas, Indian practitioners of their respective religions would decline in large numbers over the decades. But due to the Indian population's special autonomy and rights in Texas, their traditions were retained and religious practices later categorized for modern historians.
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An 18th century Spanish Mission (Left) An image of a typical 19th century Baptist Church (Right)
In totality this is what it roughly means to be an early Texan. A citizen of the Republic of Texas that came from one of numerous different cultures, that lived in a nation that embraced diversity and the freedom and spirit of independence. Over time with Southwestern cultural norms being developed and Texas increasing its prosperity and growth with each new President, the citizens of the Republic were becoming Texanized. In that they were losing their main identity status of their homeland, and were slowly being acculturated to the patriotism and national spirit of Texas. In the next culture chapter "Culture of the Lone Star Republic 1861-1900" we shall explore the permanent creation of Texan culture, and Texan identity with the birth of the Southwestern ideal.
A/N: Sorry for the delay. After much time spent on this post, I give to you the culture of an independent Texas. Man, that was quite an amount of work. Next chapter shall focus solely on the Crimean War. After that is a return to the Crockett Years in Texas.
- Kaiser Chris
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