Texas Politics, Chapter One
Instructor Test Bank
1. In what century did the Spanish explorers Cabeza de Vaca and Coronado explore
what is now the American Southwest?
a. 15th
b. 16th
c. 17th
d. 18th
2. Texas joined the United States in what year?
a. 1776
b. 1815
c. 1836
d. 1845
3. How long was Texas an independent republic?
a. 4 years
b. 10 years
c. 20 years
d. 30 years
4. Who was Governor of Texas when Texas voted to secede from the Union?
a. Andrew Jackson
b. Stephen F. Austin
c. Edmund J. Davis
d. Sam Houston
5. Which of the following states is characterized principally by the traditionalistic
political culture?
a. Massachusetts
b. Illinois
c. Texas
d. Oregon
6. Which is the largest city in Texas?
a. San Antonio
b. Austin
c. Houston
d. Dallas
7. Which river forms much of the northern border of Texas?
a. Rio Grande
b. Guadalupe
c. Colorado
d. Red
Information Classification: General
, 8. The first big oil strike in Texas took place at Spindletop near Beaumont in?
a. 1901
b. 1917
c. 1930
d. 1941
9. In 2020, the Anglo share of the Texas population was about?
a. 75%
b. 60%
c. 40%
d. 25%
10. In 2020, the black share of the Texas population was about?
a. 40%
b. 30%
c. 22%
d. 12%
11. The Texas population in 2020 was about?
a. 30 million
b. 21 million
c. 18 million
d. 15 million
12. What types of jobs are expected to grow most rapidly over the next decade?
a. First responders
b. Construction laborers
c. Financial advisers
d. Manufacturing
13. Texas median household income in 2019 ranked where among the 50 states?
a. 45th
b. 35th
c. 24th
d. 15th
14. Where does Texas rank among the 50 states in proportion of adults who have
graduated from high school or earned a G.E.D.?
a. 1st (best)
b. 20th
c. 40th
d. 50th
15. Which American president fought a war with Mexico to secure Texas and win the
rest of the Southwest?
Information Classification: General
, a. Andrew Jackson
b. Henry Clay
c. James K. Polk
d. James Buchanan
Instructor Test Bank Answer Key: (1) B, (2) D, (3) B, (4) D, (5) C, (6) C, (7) D, (8) A,
(9) C, (10) D, (11) A, (12) B, (13) C, (14) D, (15) C
Essay Questions
1. Describe the socio-demographic changes that have occurred in Texas since 1820
and how those changes are expected to develop over the next several decades.
2. Has the diversity of the Texas population advanced or inhibited the state’s cultural
and economic development and can we expect the same forces to act in the same
ways going forward?
3. What key factors are likely to advance and/or inhibit economic growth and
development over the next several decades?
Short Answer Essay Questions
1. Did Texas enter the Union before or after California and what historical events
connected the two admissions?
2. Describe the place of Reconstruction in Texas history.
3. What climatic features best describe Texas East and West of the Balcones
Escarpment?
4. Describe the attraction of the Austin Colony to Anglo settlers.
5. What role did the “Runaway Scrape” play in the Texas Revolution?
True/False Questions
1. Governor Sam Houston favored Texas’s secession from the Union.
2. Santa Anna was President of Mexico when Texas won its independence.
3. The independent Republic of Texas prohibited slavery in its territory.
4. Texas is less urbanized than the nation as a whole.
5. Hispanics are expected to be a plurality of Texans by the 2030s.
6. Texas was not as badly damaged by the Civil War as most southern states.
True/False Answer Key: (1) false, (2) true, (3) false, (4) false, (5) true, (6) true
Fill-In-The-Blank Questions
1. The forms the boundary between Texas and Mexico.
Information Classification: General
, 2. commanded the Texas Army at the Battle of San Jacinto.
3. Texas is said to have a political culture.
4. The is a geographical fault line that runs from Del Rio to San Antonio
and then North to Oklahoma.
5. is the largest city in Texas.
6. The city most commonly designated the ethnic German heart of the Hill Country is
.
7. The post-Civil War period of military occupation of the South is called
.
Fill-In-The-Blank Answer Key: (1) Rio Grande River, (2) Sam Houston, (3)
traditionalistic or traditionalistic/individualistic, (4) Balcones Escarpment, (5) Houston,
(6) Fredericksburg, (7) Reconstruction
Information Classification: General
Instructor Test Bank
1. In what century did the Spanish explorers Cabeza de Vaca and Coronado explore
what is now the American Southwest?
a. 15th
b. 16th
c. 17th
d. 18th
2. Texas joined the United States in what year?
a. 1776
b. 1815
c. 1836
d. 1845
3. How long was Texas an independent republic?
a. 4 years
b. 10 years
c. 20 years
d. 30 years
4. Who was Governor of Texas when Texas voted to secede from the Union?
a. Andrew Jackson
b. Stephen F. Austin
c. Edmund J. Davis
d. Sam Houston
5. Which of the following states is characterized principally by the traditionalistic
political culture?
a. Massachusetts
b. Illinois
c. Texas
d. Oregon
6. Which is the largest city in Texas?
a. San Antonio
b. Austin
c. Houston
d. Dallas
7. Which river forms much of the northern border of Texas?
a. Rio Grande
b. Guadalupe
c. Colorado
d. Red
Information Classification: General
, 8. The first big oil strike in Texas took place at Spindletop near Beaumont in?
a. 1901
b. 1917
c. 1930
d. 1941
9. In 2020, the Anglo share of the Texas population was about?
a. 75%
b. 60%
c. 40%
d. 25%
10. In 2020, the black share of the Texas population was about?
a. 40%
b. 30%
c. 22%
d. 12%
11. The Texas population in 2020 was about?
a. 30 million
b. 21 million
c. 18 million
d. 15 million
12. What types of jobs are expected to grow most rapidly over the next decade?
a. First responders
b. Construction laborers
c. Financial advisers
d. Manufacturing
13. Texas median household income in 2019 ranked where among the 50 states?
a. 45th
b. 35th
c. 24th
d. 15th
14. Where does Texas rank among the 50 states in proportion of adults who have
graduated from high school or earned a G.E.D.?
a. 1st (best)
b. 20th
c. 40th
d. 50th
15. Which American president fought a war with Mexico to secure Texas and win the
rest of the Southwest?
Information Classification: General
, a. Andrew Jackson
b. Henry Clay
c. James K. Polk
d. James Buchanan
Instructor Test Bank Answer Key: (1) B, (2) D, (3) B, (4) D, (5) C, (6) C, (7) D, (8) A,
(9) C, (10) D, (11) A, (12) B, (13) C, (14) D, (15) C
Essay Questions
1. Describe the socio-demographic changes that have occurred in Texas since 1820
and how those changes are expected to develop over the next several decades.
2. Has the diversity of the Texas population advanced or inhibited the state’s cultural
and economic development and can we expect the same forces to act in the same
ways going forward?
3. What key factors are likely to advance and/or inhibit economic growth and
development over the next several decades?
Short Answer Essay Questions
1. Did Texas enter the Union before or after California and what historical events
connected the two admissions?
2. Describe the place of Reconstruction in Texas history.
3. What climatic features best describe Texas East and West of the Balcones
Escarpment?
4. Describe the attraction of the Austin Colony to Anglo settlers.
5. What role did the “Runaway Scrape” play in the Texas Revolution?
True/False Questions
1. Governor Sam Houston favored Texas’s secession from the Union.
2. Santa Anna was President of Mexico when Texas won its independence.
3. The independent Republic of Texas prohibited slavery in its territory.
4. Texas is less urbanized than the nation as a whole.
5. Hispanics are expected to be a plurality of Texans by the 2030s.
6. Texas was not as badly damaged by the Civil War as most southern states.
True/False Answer Key: (1) false, (2) true, (3) false, (4) false, (5) true, (6) true
Fill-In-The-Blank Questions
1. The forms the boundary between Texas and Mexico.
Information Classification: General
, 2. commanded the Texas Army at the Battle of San Jacinto.
3. Texas is said to have a political culture.
4. The is a geographical fault line that runs from Del Rio to San Antonio
and then North to Oklahoma.
5. is the largest city in Texas.
6. The city most commonly designated the ethnic German heart of the Hill Country is
.
7. The post-Civil War period of military occupation of the South is called
.
Fill-In-The-Blank Answer Key: (1) Rio Grande River, (2) Sam Houston, (3)
traditionalistic or traditionalistic/individualistic, (4) Balcones Escarpment, (5) Houston,
(6) Fredericksburg, (7) Reconstruction
Information Classification: General
