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Wife is a Texas History teacher.  I was born in Abilene and bleed Texas Orange through and through.

So, naturally I went to Nebraska to go to college for two years.  (Long story.)  

Anyway, the American History Prof and I got in an argument over Texas History.  Our college text book and the prof argued that The Alamo and San Jacinto were part of the Spanish American War and that The US won Texas as part of the spoils from that war.  Eegads!  Didn't he know we were and independent republic first... complete with a Prez and the works?  Apparantly not and the text book was wrong, too.  So I was wondering if anybody else had encountered this or any other major discrepancy from HS to college.

No.  I was taught in college that Texas petitioned for statehood but were not taken in because of trying to keep the same number of slave and non-slave states.

What?  No mention of Pecos Bill?

Or was he from farther west?

[!--QuoteBegin--][/span][table border=\"0\" align=\"center\" width=\"95%\" cellpadding=\"3\" cellspacing=\"1\"][tr][td]Quote (Son of a Preacher Man @ Jan. 04 2004,10:46)[/td][/tr][tr][td id=\"QUOTE\"][!--QuoteEBegin--]Wife is a Texas History teacher.  I was born in Abilene and bleed Texas Orange through and through.

So, naturally I went to Nebraska to go to college for two years.  (Long story.)  

Anyway, the American History Prof and I got in an argument over Texas History.  Our college text book and the prof argued that The Alamo and San Jacinto were part of the Spanish American War and that The US won Texas as part of the spoils from that war.  Eegads!  Didn't he know we were and independent republic first... complete with a Prez and the works?  Apparantly not and the text book was wrong, too.  So I was wondering if anybody else had encountered this or any other major discrepancy from HS to college.[/quote]
For what it's worth, I went to high school in a county in rural West Virginia where the mother of one of my schoolmate's sued the state because we were not provided with an adequate eduaction--and won--and I was even taught better than that!

Wasn't the Spanish-American war about 60 years after the Alamo? And wasn't it a war against Spain and not Mexico? Soapman I'd ask for a refund from that college!

Ken

Ah, Texas, Cuba, what's the difference? :thumbs-up:

I assume that SoaP meant the Mexican-American War of the 1840s.  I tread a bit cautiously here becuase I think I know which college in Nebraska he is referring to and it is one I strongly support.

Having said that, I think there is a school of thought that treats the Alamo/ San Jacinto conflict as a part of the overall conflict that led to the formally declared war in 1846.  I believe that this is the theory accepted by the recent History Channel documentary on the Alamo.  I think the conflict began even before the Alamo.  There was a prior rebellion that was crushed by the Spanish before Mexican independence.

I guess it's a little like debating when WWII began.  Do you include Spanish Civil War?  Do you include the Italian invasion of Ethiopia?  How about the Japanese incursion into Manchuria.  I'll bet the Czechs would beg to differ with a start date coinciding with the invasion of Poland on Sept. 1, 1939.

By the way, is getting San Jacinto day off as a holiday in school sufficient Texas heritage to avoid a carpet-bagger label?

Yeah--the Mexican-American War.  Indeed.  Well, its been fifteen years!  I just remember arguing with him.  What really amazed me about it all was that the text book was written that way, too.  

The only time I ever had San Jac Day off was when I worked for the state of Texas.

No other complaints about said college whatsoever on my end.  Truly wonderful place.

Mexican-American War. O.K., I can see the point of view of Mexico being a bunch of Americans taking over their territory and ultimately leading to the incorporation of Texas into the United States.

Don't worry, in about 30 to 40 years, Texas, NM, Arizona, and southern California will be headed back to Mexico anyways.

Ken

Actually, we won't have to go back to Mexico;  Mexico is coming to us.

Saturday, at a Catholic church down the road a way, they said a funeral mass for a young man who was killed while serving with the Army in Iraq.

Thing is, this boy (the same age as my son) wasn't even an "American."    He was a resident alien who had signed up so that he could become a citizen.  (My own grandfather did the same thing back in the "Great War.")   He didn't live to become a citizen, but he'll be granted posthumous citizenship and his family (many of whom only attended the mass after intervention by our congressman to get them across the border) will be eligible to become citizens more quickly.

A lot of us don't value our citizenship, but to some people, it's worth everything.   The country will be better off with more of them.

Little useful to add other than:

To the great shame of Arkansas much of the planning for Texas Independence was done here.

And as I remind the posters on my sports board when Middle Tennessee and North Texas fans get into their usual scuffles, I've been to Texas and the fact that a bunch of Tennesseeans not only traveled to Texas but actually fought the Mexicans for it proves that neither group has any room to insult the intelligence of folks from my beloved state.

Finally Davey Crockett said Tennessee could go to hell, he was going to Texas. Tennessee got the better end of the deal.

:noworries:



[!--EDIT|Arkstfan|Jan. 06 2004,11:01--]

My favorite Texans are Hank and Bobby Hill from the great town of Arlen.

None of this is really that big of a deal except for the fact that it was the first time I truly realized that history is in the mind of the teller.

That and the fact that I just wanted to be first to post something under this new heading...

:D