ALL INTERPRETERS OF TEXAS AGREE THAT THE TEN YEARS OF the Republic had an immense psychological impact. As a recent analyst of the" Texas myth" has put it, the importance of the simple fact of independence" has been indelibly stamped upon the memory of the Texan (he can raise more hell on Texas Independence Day than on the Fourth of July) and upon the folk memory of the non-Texan as well." These years were basic and formative, and out of them a recognizable" Texas culture" first began to assume a coherent pattern. And these years of independence were also a geographically creative period, in which certain incipient areal patterns, certain regional differentiations, certain functional orientations and spatial networks of circulation were of a character which made the human geography of the Texas of 1845 a recognizable forerunner of the Texas of today.

However, while 1836 was an abrupt change of sharp significance, 1845 had relatively little direct impact upon such matters. Just as the flag of the Republic became the flag of the state and" its clear symbol of a single star" continued to be" proudly flown to represent a state that is independent, solitary and unique," so the geographical patterns and trends of theRepublic were simply extended and elaborated on into statehood with little interruption or alteration. Such developments continued until 1861, when many of them were abruptly stopped