Texas Is The Second Largest State Essay

Texas represents a national demographic shift that will cause the United States to become a “minority-majority” country in the near future. Texas achieved that status in 2004, when racial and ethnic minority populations, both native and foreign-born, collectively outnumber non-Hispanic whites; in addition, the state

The population in Texas has changed miraculously over the years. The population in 1850 was almost eighty percent white, about twenty five percent African Americans, and Latinos percentage was a

In the mid-1800s, many Americans began to move westward, with a variety of motivations. Farmers were drawn west by all of the fertile, open land in the west, offered to them cheap by the Homestead Act. The California Gold Rush was another reason many moved west. Gold was discovered in California, and miners flocked there, hoping to strike it rich. Additionally, cattle ranchers were attracted to the west because their beef cattle thrived on the abundant grasses and open range of the Great Plains. Later on, newly built railroads, including the first transcontinental railroad, made transportation of people and goods west much more feasible, and opened the West to rapid settlement (History Alive). Although Westward Expansion was a time of full

In the year 1843, the stage was set for the Great Migration. Throughout the 1840s westward expansion started rolling. People living in the crowded east were lured west with

The Hispanic population has seen the greatest increase and makes up approximately 36 percent of the state’s population.

Migration was also an important fact that heled the expansion. The migration to the west improved transportation means since people needed to move in and out of the new territories. By 1848, the demand rose after America acquired California after the Mexican War ended. Discovery of gold in that state also led to need for increased transportation. With the increased railroads expansion, migration was made easier, which in turn, gave way to acquiring of more laborers to work in the mines (Williams 1964, 102-106).

The Texas population consists of people with a variety of different cultural and racial background. The Texas population seems to be very young with an approximate 27.3 percent of the population being under the age of 18, and about 11.5 percent being over the age of 65 (U.S. Census Bureau, “Texas.”). Factors that increase the Texas population include higher birthrates, lower death rates, as well as immigration from other countries and states. The population is changing from a primarily white population as recorded during the 1990s to a projected primarily Latino population by 2050. However, Latinos were not a considered a separate ethnic group until the 1990s but were counted to the white population which consisted of European whites and the Latinos. The African- American population decreased from over 20 percent during the 1850s to below 20 percent population as of 2015. Asian- Americans are considered the smallest population in Texas at 4.5 percent (The Asian Population,” 2010 Census Briefs). Due to the changing economy and

The United States immigration and emigration is directly linked with the railroads construction history of the 19th century. The construction of the railroads that facilitated western expansion Immigrants were not only integral to part of the expansion, but they also used the railroad to migrate west and form new immigrant States in the territory. In the early 19 century, United States expanded westward, across the Mississippi River and later to the Pacific Ocean. These western lands, either was purchased, won in battles, or seized outright from Indian tribes and other nations.

Brannon, Ike, and Logan Albright. Immigration’s Impact on the Texas Economy. Austin: Texas Public Policy Foundation, Mar. 2016. PDF.

Education issues in Texas can affect several areas in the Lone Star State. Texas is the leader of all 50 states in teenage birth rates. This number alone can affect high school graduation rates which also trails other states in the rank of 41 of 50 states, and can be partially to blame for Texas’ last place position of the percentage of population over age 25 with high school diplomas. These low graduation rates affect social issues by forcing people into low income jobs, housing which usually leads to high poverty levels. Texas should be worried about the future that this information predicts because if nothing is done to correct the issue it will only get worse. In order to improve this reality Texas needs to be better equipped to help with

While many may believe that the most important issue to Latinos is immigration reform, a survey taken by the Pew Research Center in 2013 reveals that “some 57% of Latino registered voters called education an ‘extremely important’ issue facing the nation today” (Krogstad). The reason why this is seen as most important may be due to Texas’s overall low national rankings. As reported by the U.S. News and World Report, of the 1,492 Texas high schools examined for the nation’s best high schools, only 357 made the list in 2014 (Brown 367). As an increasing number of students “have come… from families that are ethnic minorities or economically disadvantaged,” such low rankings possibly result from the low quality education that they receiving as “historically, Texas not served minority and less affluent student as well as it has Anglo and middle-class students” (Brown 367). Additionally, in the 2012-2013 academic school year, the Texas Education Agency reported that 51 percent of students in the state are Latino, therefore as the amount of Latino students increases throughout the state, the higher the notice of this lower quality education as compared to their Anglo counterparts (Brown 367). This has lead to an outreach throughout the Latino community to improve the quality of education that they are

Texas falls back to the three groups that make up the population, the Anglos or whites, the African Americans, and the Latinos. There are different opinions between the Anglos and the Latinos concerning the language that should be used in the schools. The Latinos believe that the use of bilingual education helps the students transition from Spanish-speaking to English-speaking and leads to better instructions in the schools. Most of the Anglos oppose this policy leaving and ethnic divide within the state. The Latinos usually have less of an education and also have the highest dropout rate of high schools’ students. Economic factors along with social issues within the state has also contributed to the low voter turnout.

Texas has a reputation throughout history of differing views from the federal government in laws and politics pertaining to social, fiscal, and educational issues. On the whole, Texas operates as a largely conservative state. Because of this, policy-making is often right wing. With the institution of a Democratic, liberal president, the State’s dissent from the Federal government has only increased over certain issues. One hot topic of the 2012 Presidential election was immigration. With the major increase in immigration, it is no surprise that the issue was so emphasized. Between 2000 and 2011 there was a 30 percent

A study done by the Pew Hispanic Center in 2010 listed more 1.7 million undocumented residents living in the state of Texas. (Tannahill) The population growth rate, whether by legal or illegal means is only one of the issues that has been troubling state law makers and affecting the state’s water plan. The second issue that is affecting Texas’ water is the drought conditions that the state is currently suffering from.

As of February 2016, Texas unemployment rate had fell 0.1 percentage points to 4.4 percent (1) according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). There were 1,011,882 people unemployed in Texas in Septemeber 2009, but now is 436,912 fewer people unemployed. Although the economy is adding more jobs but the unemployment rate is still a problem in Texas. The reason that Texas had higher unemployment rate than the other state because Texas had the most immigrant. The unemployment rate in Texas of African American is 11.4 percent, which “has been well over twice the white rate for much of the last five years” (Gable 2). Also, Hispanic is 7 percent, which is much more than the white unemployment rate of 4.3 percent. The closing down companies and