Sam Houston And The American Southwest Summary

Improved Essays
Andrea Barrios
Hist 1301.1m1
5/31/2016
Sam Houston and the American Southwest
In Sam Houston and the American Southwest, written by Randolph B. Campbell and edited by Mark C. Canes, the main focus is on Sam Houston’s many accomplishments and failures. The purpose Randolph Campbell has is to inform general and scholarly readers on who Sam Houston was as a warrior, politician, and leader. Sam Houston was a governor of two states, President of the Republic of Texas, and for thirteen years a United States senator. Sam Houston’s story is not only one of courage and strength, but also helps us understand the possibilities and limitations of leadership. Randolph B. Campbell was born and raised in Virginia. Campbell attended the University of Virginia
…show more content…
He also was the president of Texas State historical Association and a member of the Southern Historical Association, the Organization of American Historians and the Society of Historians of the Early American Republic. This makes Campbell more than qualified to write about one of the most profound leaders. Campbell composes the life of Sam Houston and his significant roles in the development of the Southwest. The underline theme Randolph Campbell appears to persuade readers to accept is Sam Houston was an astonishing man and a good leader. The author documented Sam Houston’s life with many obstacles starting very young at fourteen years old all the way to his death bed at seventy years old. Sam Houston was a good man, but he was vulnerable to making mistakes and possessing errors just like any other person. Sam Houston began his life as a soldier at the age of twenty years old. After the United States Army, Sam Houston decided to study law with Judge James Trimble. A few years later, Sam Houston ran for United States House of Representatives with the support of friend Andrew …show more content…
Some reviewers have agreed, such as James Marten; in which he stated, “Campbell has succeeded in providing a thoughtful, very readable, and eminently useful survey of a fluid, exciting, and fascinating period of United States and Texas history through the lens of the life of the greatest Texan hero of them all”. (The Journal of Southern History 60.4, 1994, 796). Although, not all reviewers agree with Campbell’s book, some have argued that Campbell did not write more about Sam Houston’s private side. Walter L. Buenger stated, “Unfortunately, brevity precluded examine the private side of Sam Houston. We learn little of the ideas, ideology, and emotion that shaped the inner life of this complex man”. (Journal of the Early Republic, 14.1, 1994,

Related Documents

  • Superior Essays

    In Paul Johnson’s perceptive book, Sam Patch the Famous Jumper, Johnson casts a new light on aspects of American society that may have been undervalued. Sam, a working-class spinner, comes up with his own way to combat the growing wave of industrialization and suburbanization in America; stunt jumping off waterfalls. Sam is motivated by a number of different things, including his desire for the working-class to be given more credit and more respect than they have traditionally received in the past, which illustrates one of the novel’s most important themes, the conflict between the lower and upper socioeconomic classes in the United States. In addition to social conflict, the novel also addresses the idea of the rise of self-made fame, which…

    • 1250 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Decent Essays

    The Plan de San Diego Revolt was an occasion in the historical backdrop of south Texas that has for quite some time been known to students of history of Mexico and of the Mexican Revolution. Named for the Texas town where it was declared, the Plan called for Tejanos to ascend, reclaim Texas from the Anglos, and return it to Mexico . Benjamin Heber Johnson review, Revolution in Texas, approaches the Plan de San Diego Revolt from a totally alternate point of view. This is on account of, in his view, the brutality of 1914 and 1915 along the lower Rio Grande was really the appearance of more profound, more significant statistic and financial changes in the locale. These progressions agitate the predominant racial, social, political, and financial…

    • 479 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Dwight D. Eisenhower by Tom Wicker is an informative, concise, and engaging biography. As the title implies, this biography was about the 34th President of the United States, Dwight D. Eisenhower. A former World War II general, Eisenhower had a reputable career in the military and captured the hearts of millions of Americans, thus launching his campaign to become President in 1953. As President, Eisenhower was in the midst of a changing world, dealing with much abroad and domestically, such as the Cold War and the Supreme Court decision for school desegregation. While Wicker’s biography was informative in outlining Eisenhower’s election, presidency, and lasting impact, it fell short in describing Eisenhower holistically by largely focusing on his failures and not the positive outcomes of his presidency.…

    • 1446 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Houston's father died and his family had to move to another state. “He emigrated with his mother, five brothers, and three sisters to Blount County in Eastern Tennessee, where the family established a farm near Maryville on a tributary of Baker's Creek.” (www.tshaonline.org). Nonetheless, this will only be the beginning of the greatest changes that Houston is going to experience throughout…

    • 574 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In The White Scourge, Neil Foley addresses how the construct of whiteness in Texas in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries affected the structure of society. Neil Foley is the Robert H. and Nancy Dedman Chair in History at Southern Methodist University. His research concerns race and civil rights in Mexico and the American Southwest.…

    • 1367 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Born on the Fourth of July tells the true story of Ron Kovic, born on 4th of July in Massapequa, New York and longing to join the army, but his family was against it. However, after graduating from high school, he joins US Marine Corps. Unfortunately, during the war Kovic was exposed to the unheroic horrors of real war, shattering his naive image of wars nobility that he had carried since a child. This makes Kovic came to the conclusion that America is not all that it is made up to be.…

    • 242 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Lyndon B. Johnson and the transformation of American Politics, 1908-1973. By John L. Bullion. John L. Bullion, a professor and historian that teaches the history of America. He specializes in teaching about the American Revolution Era, politics, and policies. While furthering his research on some of his work.…

    • 297 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Improved Essays

    We can clearly see that the Texas governor is not near to being a powerful government official. And that the governor is no where near to being treated like a ‘mini president’ when it comes to governing the state. If the governor were to have more power, the governor would surely become more effective when it comes to certain bills or policies. However, for the kind of political culture that Texas has, the governor should not be able to have full on control and suddenly become the strongest governor in the nation. But as for now, we will next examine some of the historical reasons that will tell us why the Texas governor is so weak and how the governor’s position became to be so…

    • 1575 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Big, Hot, Cheap, and Right: What America Can Learn from the Strange Genius of Texas Erica Grieder. PublicAffairs, 250 West 57th Street, 15th Floor, New York, NY 10107, copyright 2013. 284 pages. Big, Hot, Cheap, and Right What America Can Learn from the Strange Genius of Texas, by Erica Grieder, breaks Texas down into its basic components in order to explain to non-Texans what Texas truly is. Grieder’s covers four main topics in her book.…

    • 1075 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    The mighty man known as Sam Houston even went to go beg on his knees to her, but she didn’t care for him. This course of action eventually led up to him resigning his position of governor of Tennessee at the time because of the controversy caused with his alcoholism and the departure of his marriage. Furthermore, a congressman by the name of William Stanberry, once attempted to accuse Houston of fraud. Houston then ended up beating the poor congressman down with his cane and left him bleeding in the street. This caused Houston to go to trial and ultimately own a fine of $500, which was later revoked when Andrew Jackson became…

    • 694 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Midnight Rising Analysis

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages

    His burning hatred of racial oppression leads him to conduct a raid into Harpers Ferry and liberate the slaves. Brown’s bloody uprising ruptured the union between North and South, but his bravery made him a hero. Attracting the attention of Abraham Lincoln, Brown’s dream was fulfilled in the Emancipation Proclamation. Readers will remember this topic as it paints the portrait of a pivotal figure. This book will impact the United States by recounting the life of history’s most complicated and vexed character.…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sam Houston consistently remained brave. Sam Houston remained loyal to all of his Indian friends and family. When Lamar stated that, they should fight back to the Indians , Houston denied this. Houston never seceded his Indian family, that adopted him at the age of sixteen, when he moved away from his biological family back in Tennessee. Houston was incredibly courageous to stick up for his Indian family when he could have just as…

    • 463 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    It has been over seventy-two years since "The Mind of the South” was written by Willard J. Cash, more commonly known as W. J. Cash. Mr. Cash was born in South Carolina in 1900. As a Carolinas native, he was raised with detailed knowledge of the South 's culture, society and history. In 1936, W. J. Cash had written a series of articles for the nationally renowned magazine, American Mercury. The magazine’s publisher Alfred A. Knopf offered Cash the opportunity to write a single volume history of the South.…

    • 1024 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    For example, a commissioner from Alabama, Leroy Pope Walker described that the Republican rule from the north would cost the southerners, “our property,” and “our liberties. (Dew 52) Perhaps the commissioner who most vividly described the racial fear of the secessionist was Alabama’s Stephen Hale. Hale wrote of the south “facing ‘extermination’”. When he referred to southerners being “degraded to a position of equality with free negroes,” (Dew 52)…

    • 997 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In his book, Sleuthing The Alamo, James E. Crisp goes beyond the mere description of the historical events that took place during the Texas Revolution. Crisp’s passion to uncover why certain events of the Texas Revolution were remembered in a specific way, propelled him to closely examine and critically analyze the motive behind a number of writers and historians. It was this determination that forced Crisp to take no for an answer and to “attempt to separate Texas myth from Texas history”. What makes Crisp’s book Sleuthing The Alamo so unique, in contrast with most historical books, is that Crisp involves himself in his text in such a way that it becomes very personal to him. Additionally, Crisp doesn’t conceal his own personal biases as…

    • 929 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays