Sam Houston and the American Southwest
author—Randolph B. Campbell
Discussion Questions
1. Describe Houston’s origins (family, date of birth, home, etc.)
2. Was there anything about his youth that suggested what kind of adult he would become?
3. What had he accomplished before the age of 25 and what personal strengths and weaknesses had appeared by that time?
4. Why was Houston a natural for a career in American politics? What political offices did he hold and what political policies did
he support while in Tennessee?
5. Just how close to Andrew Jackson was he? Why did he decide to resign from the Tennessee governor’s office? How did
scandal mark both men’s lives?
6. How did Houston react to the losses and setbacks he had in 1829? Why did he choose to live again with the Cherokees? What
was there about the world of Indians that attracted Houston?
7. What indicated that his relationship with Jackson had not permanently ended by scandal? How did Houston’s weaknesses still
besiege him during this period of his life? Comment on de Tocqueville’s calling Houston “the unpleasant consequences of
popular sovereignty.” (p. 35)
8. Why did Houston tell a friend that the Stanbery affair saved his political career? Assuming this was an acute observation, what
does that tell us about 19th century American society and politics?
9. What was Houston’s relationship with the Galveston Bay and Texas Land Company? What interest did the U.S have in regard
to the Comanche Indians in Texas?
10. How does the author, R. Campbell, answer the charge that the Texas Revolution was resulted from a conspiracy planned by
Andrew Jackson and led by Sam Houston?
10. What conditions contributed to cultural and political conflicts between the American and Mexican peoples? What conditions
contributed to their cooperation with each other in Texas?
11. How did the Mexican government exhibit distrust and fear toward Americans living in Texas between 1826 and 1832?
(Fredonia Rebellion to Anahuac uprising)
12. At the Convention of 1832, what did the Texans want from the Mexican government? When the government rejected their
requests, what did they decide to do? What did the Texans ask for at the second convention in 1833? Why was it ironic that
Stephan F. Austin carried the Texan petition to Mexico City?
13. In the spring of 1833, how did Houston portray Texas to Jackson? What did he predict about its future?
14. How did Houston put down roots in Texas for his own life?
15. Between 1834 and 1835, how did the Mexican government demonstrate its chronic instability? Why did the Texans believe
that Santa Anna represented their views and why did Austin finally reject Mexican rule?
16. Did the Mexican government make major mistakes in dealing with the Texans that led to revolution?
17. Who were the “war party” leaders in Texas? How did a dispute over the collection of duties develop into a major conflict?
18. While the events at Anahuac and Gonzales were playing out in 1835, how did Houston display caution? How did he show
that same caution at the Consultation in the fall of 1835?
19. From the beginning of his appointment as head of the Texas army, what strategy did Houston want to follow? What actually
happened that prevented his accomplishing that goal? (San Antonio and Matamoros expedition)
20. How did the total defeat at the Alamo actually serve the Texans during the war? How did the massacre at Goliad serve them?
Why was the treaty negotiated with the Indians in December, 1836 helpful to the Texans?
21. Why did Houston retreat from the Mexican armies and how did many soldiers and civilians view this retreat?
22. What “fatal” mistake did Santa Anna make that defied military fundamentals and how did Houston take advantage of this
mistake?
23. Does Houston deserve credit for the Texans victorious revolution?
24. What had happened between Houston and David G. Burnet during the revolution that made the two men life-long political
enemies? What problems Burnet face immediately after the revolution? What did Houston say about the demand for Santa
Anna’s execution?
25. What were the five major problems facing Houston when he became the first president of Texas? Why would the Jackson
administration not support annexation of Texas in 1836?
26. How did Houston deal with the problems concerning Mexico and Santa Anna?
27. What issues faced the Van Buren administration over Texas annexation? Why did Texas desperately want the recognition of
other nations and what policy did Houston follow to gain this recognition?
28. How did Houston deal with problems other than foreign relations during his first presidency?
29. Why was Houston unable to run for a second presidential term in 1838 and how did he upstage the new president, Mirabeau
Lamar?
30. How did Houston finally find another wife? What impact did Margaret Lea have on his life?
31. What did Houston do after leaving the presidency? What Lamar policies did Houston oppose? What divided political parties
in Texas? What happened to the pubic debt under Lamar?
32. Describe the presidential campaign during the summer of 1841. What did James Morgan say about Houston’s victory? Was
this an accurate picture of his personal habits at this time?
33. What were the three main problems facing Houston during this second term? How did his proposed solutions to these
problems reflect his cautious nature?
34. What financial policies did Texas adopt during this time and what effect did they have? What policies toward Indians were
adopted and what effect did they have? How did the Santa Fe expedition and the Texas Navy frustrate Houston’s Mexico
policy? How was Houston’s basic approach to foreign relations similar to Washington’s in the 1790’s? How did the Texas
Congress react to Mexico’s invasion in 1842 and how did Houston deal with them? What was the Mier expedition?
35. Describe the controversy over the Texas capitol. What was the “Archives War”? Why was Houston so concerned about
Texas’s future in 1843?
36. What difficulties did Houston face in his efforts to get the U.S. to annex Texas? What were the terms for the annexation
treaty negotiated in the spring of 1844? What did Houston do when the U.S. Congress rejected this treaty in the summer?
Why and how did annexation finally take place in 1844-45? What terms were offered in the joint resolution Congress passed
in February, 1845?
37. What party and what policies did Houston support once he became a U.S. Senator? How did he view the continuing conflict
with Mexico during Polk’s administration? Why did slavery become an issue in the war debate, and what position did
Houston take on this issue? What were his views on Manifest Destiny?
38. What position did Houston take on the extension of slavery while it was debated in 1849-1850? Why did many Texans
consider his speech in Congress during the debate a betrayal of the South? As part of the Compromise of 1850, what
provisions directly affected Texas?
39. Houston strongly opposed the Kansas-Nebraska Act in 1854. Why did he take this position, and what was its impact on his
career? What did he predict would happen if the law was passed?
40. What was the Know Nothing Party, and how was Houston associated with it?
41. What important defeats did Houston suffer in Texas politics in 1857? What reasons did he give for proposing a resolution to
consider establishing an American protectorate over Mexico and Central America?
42. What factors explain Houston’s re-election of governor of Texas in 1859? How did Houston view proposals by Northerners to
violate the Fugitive Slave Act and by Texans to evade the prohibition against the African slave trade? What policies did he
promote during the gubernatorial campaign?
43. Why was Houston not nominated for the presidency in 1860 by the Democratic or the Constitutional Union parties?
43. Following the election of 1860, what actions did Sam Houston take in an effort to prevent secession by Texas?
44. Once Texas voted to secede in February, 1861, what happened to Houston?
45. What was Houston’s attitude toward the Civil War once it began in April, 1861?
46. How can it be argued that the key to Houston’s career in Texas was his practicality?