The Cattle Kingdom and Railroads

Reconstruction

• The period after the Civil War is called Reconstruction

• News spread through the plantations that slaves in Texas were freed after the Civil War

• June 19 , 1865 is known as Juneteenth and is now celebrated as a state holiday.

• African Americans have picnics and parades in celebration

The Black Codes

• Though slaves were freed, Texas passed a law giving them only certain rights such as owning a renting property but not the right to vote

• They also enforced segregation- keeping people in separate groups based on their race

Texas Rejoins the United States• The Fourteenth Amendment allowed

African Americans to vote• Texas had to write a new state constitution • In 1870, Texas rejoined the U.S.• Plantation life ended and many people

become sharecroppers, people who farm a plot of land

• Over time, the number of farms in Texas grew

Ranching in Texas• Different cattle developed, including Longhorns with

unusually long horns, which were sold for money• Cowhands made money by driving herds of cattle to

market on cattle drives across open land• Cattle drives ended at railroads where the cattle were

shipped across the country• King Ranch was one of the largest ranches in Texas

and had several cowhands

On the Trail• Cowhands had special equipment and wore

special clothing• Many trails started in Texas and continued

Northward• Cattle were branded with their rancher’s symbol

so they could be recognized on the trail• Cooks, who drove chuck wagons, were at the

front of the drive and found locations and prepared food. The trail boss was the leader and hired cowhands to ride beside the herds. At night, the cowhands gaurded the herds.

The End of Trailrides

• Settlers put fences around crops to protect them from cattle

• Ranchers fenced land to keep cattle from roaming

• Joseph Glidden invented barbed wire

• Barbed wire blocked the way of the cattle drives

• By the 1880’s, cattle drive were over

Building Railroads• Crops pulled by wagons got stuck on roads and

boats couldn’t reach all areas of Texas so the railroad was invented

• A locomotive pulls railroad cars and railroad tracks were built in Texas so goods could be more easily shipped.

• Trains brought new people to Texas and cities grew

• Railroads attracted new businesses but the price of shipping goods was sometimes high

Railroads continued..

• Railroads carried both people and farm crops and other goods.

• Goods could be shipped to states where people would pay more for the goods

• Small communities now had a form of business because they could sell more goods and services.

• The oil industry grew with locomotives.