Texas Discussion

Part 1: 2 page page on the The question:  Some people love Texas and others love to make fun of her.  According to some, we all ride horses, shoot guns, dodge tornadoes and execute people on a daily basis.  Tell me about your favorite Texas stereotypes – here are some ideas:  What have you heard from people outside of the State?  If you are from Texas – are you more proud to be from Texas or from the US?  What do other states and countries think of Texas and Texans?  What are the positive and negatives about living in Texas (other than the heat – we all know it is hot)?  What is the most boring state in the union and why?  These are just some of the idea of things to write about – you can write about more.

Part2:

This lesson’s topic of discussion concerns the efforts to revise the Texas Constitution. The state is currently governed under the Constitution ratified in 1876. It has been criticized as being overly complex, long, and confusing. There have been numerous efforts to revise the Constitution. In November 1972, Texans passed an amendment calling for the state legislature to hold a constitutional convention in 1974 for the purposes of drafting a new constitution. 

The Question(s):

Why was a revision needed to the Texas Constitution? What were the most pressing issues at hand?

In your opinion, explain what led to the failure of the constitutional convention in 1974? 

Do you believe that the Texas Constitution should be revised today, or is it functioning well enough to govern the state? If you believe it should be revised, how could a constitutional convention avoid a failure similar to the one that occurred in 1974? 

Here are some resources that may help you in answering the questions above: An overview of the Constitutional Convention of 1974 (Links to an external site.) produced by the Handbook of Texas, an educational film produced in 1974 by the Texas Constitutional Revision Commission, to explain the history of the Constitution of 1876 and prior attempts at its revision, and a video from the Texas Politics Project (Links to an external site.) discussing the complexity of the Texas Constitution.