Texas State...
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Texas Counties |
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Texas Counties
Texas is a state in the South and Southwest regions of the United
States. It joined the United States in 1845 as the 28th state, after nine years of self governing.
The state name derives from a word in a Caddoan language of the Hasinai, táysha (or tejas, as the
Spaniards spelled it), meaning friends or allies. Spanish explorers mistakenly applied the word to the
people and their location.
With an area of 268,820 square miles (696,241 km2) and a population of 22.5 million, Texas is the second
largest U.S. state in both area and population, and the largest state in the contiguous 48 states in area. (Alaska
is the largest U.S. state in area and California is the most populous.) Texas has historically had a "larger than
life" reputation, especially in cowboy films.
Of Texas 254 counties, 42 bear Indian, French, or Spanish names. Stephen F.
Austin is honored by 10 counties. Washington, Clay and other American patriots are honored by 12 counties. Men like
Glasscock who fought in the Texas War of Independence or at the Alamo are honored by 96 counties, 15 of those dying
at the Alamo, signed the Declaration of Independence or served as statesmen in the Republic of Texas. Twenty-three
have the names of frontiers men and pioneers. Eleven honor American statesmen who worked for the annexation of
Texas. Ten leaders in Texas since statehood, including jurist, ministers, educators, historians, statesmen, and 36
men were prominent in the Confederacy during Civil War. Midland and 8 others have geographical names. San Jacinto
and Val Verde were named for battles, Live Oak and Orange, for trees, and Mason for a fort.
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The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic
features of our country!"
But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.
Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally,
act locally." |
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Penn Foster High School
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