Texas
Texas, officially the State of Texas, is the second largest state in the United States by both area and population. Geographically located in the south central part of the country, Texas shares borders with the other US states of Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the west, and the Mexican states of Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas to the southwest, while the Gulf of Mexico is to the southeast. Its state government is currently controlled by the Republican Party, and its current governor is Greg Abbott.
Texas was originally a territory of Mexico which seceded in the Texas Revolution and was annexed by the United States at the beginning of the Mexican–American War. It also joined the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. Houston is the most populous city in Texas and the fourth largest in the US, while San Antonio is the second most populous in the state and seventh largest in the US. Dallas–Fort Worth and Greater Houston are the fourth and fifth largest metropolitan statistical areas in the country, respectively. Other major cities include Austin, the second most populous state capital in the US, and El Paso. Texas is nicknamed the Lone Star State to signify its former status as an independent republic, and as a reminder of the state's struggle for independence from Mexico.
Quotes
[edit]19th century
[edit]- A spirit of hostile interference against us... checking the fulfilment of our manifest destiny to overspread the continent allotted by Providence for the free development of our yearly multiplying millions.
- John L. O'Sullivan, on opposition to the Texas annexation, in The United States Magazine and Democratic Review, vol. 17 (July–August 1845), p. 5 [1]
- If I owned Texas and Hell, I would rent Texas and live in Hell.
- Philip Sheridan. Many newspapers stated that he had said this, and later on in his life he repeated it in variations. See "Sheridan, Hell and Texas", The American Catholic (April 30, 2010)
20th century
[edit]- When MacNab blanched, no more stunned than I, Rusk rose and put his arm about his shoulders: "Never forget, son, when you represent Texas, always go first class."
- James Michener, Texas (1985), closing line
- All my exes live in Texas,
And Texas is the place I'd dearly love to be.
But all my exes live in Texas
And that's why I hang my hat in Tennessee.- "All My Ex's Live in Texas", written by Sanger D. Shafer and Lyndia J. Shafer, recorded by George Strait (1987)
