Gone to Texas
Gone to Texas (often abbreviated GTT), was a phrase used by Americans immigrating to Texas in the 19th century[1] often to escape debt[2] incurred during the Panic of 1819. Moving to Texas, which at the time was part of Mexico, was particularly popular among debtors from the South and West.[3]
The phrase was often written on the doors of abandoned houses or posted as a sign on fences.[4]
Recently, the Governor's Office of Economic Development has revised the use of "Gone to Texas" as part of its plan to attract businesses to Texas under its current advertising campaign "Texas. Wide Open For Business".
After Davy Crockett was narrowly defeated for re-election in Tennessee, he famously said, "You may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas," and followed through on that pledge.
[edit] References
- ^ National Gazette and Literary Register - December 29, 1825, "Col. Palmer is said to have taken French leave and gone to Texas." from online source, verified 2005-12-30.
- ^ UTSA ITC Education Scrapbook - Texas the Shape and the Name, The University of Texas at San Antonio, Institute of Texan Cultures. 1996-2001, verified 2005-12-30.
- ^ Samuel May Williams, Early Texas Entrepreneur, Margaret Swett Henson
- ^ "G.T.T.", The Handbook of Texas Online. Also see Smith, Sidney (1850). The Settler's New Home : Or, Whether to Go, and Whither?. London: John Kendrick. p. 128. http://books.google.com/books?id=ZbcJAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA128#PPA128,M1. Retrieved 2009-05-27. discouraging emigration by noting that "'Gone to Texas' has become the proverb for a scamp#PPA674,M1 Thirty years' view; or, A history of the working of the American government for thirty years, from 1820 to 1850 (Vol. 1)Benton, Thomas Hart (1854), New York: D. Appleton and Company, p. 674 Also see South-Western Immigration Company (Austin, Texas) (1881). [http://books.google.com/books?id=r4_PXXcccnMC&pg=PA73&dq=%22gone+to+texas%22. New York: E.D. Slater. encouraging immigration and remarking on the "slang use" of the term a "generation ago" to refer to fugitives from justice.
[edit] Further reading
- Campbell, Randolph (2003). Gone To Texas - A History of the Lone Star State. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-513843-0.
- Hughes, Thomas (1884). G. T. T. Gone to Texas: Letters from Our Boys. New York: MacMillan. http://books.google.com/books?id=X1DsPbehllMC. Retrieved 2009-05-23.
