Post-War Lawlessness
The decade after the American Civil War brought sweeping changes to Texas government and society as the state came under federal military occupation and Republican Party rule.
The emancipation of the slaves by federal decree—contrary to the wishes of many locals—the return of thousands of war-scarred soldiers, and the persistence of general frontier lawlessness proved to be a dangerous mix. Crime escalated, including thefts, robberies, gunfighting, and racially motivated murders.
Between 1865 and 1868, the state witnessed at least 939 murders, including 430 Black victims, according to the Committee on Lawlessness and Violence of the Constitutional Convention of 1868–69. The true figure may have been much higher, since the committee report was based on data from only some of Texas’s counties. Local authorities made few arrests, and even known murderers often could act with impunity.
Creation of the State Police
In response, the Republican-controlled legislature in 1870 passed a law creating a state police force, placing it under the control of Governor Edmund Davis, a Union military veteran, and the adjutant general of the state militia, General James Davidson, who would double as the chief of state police.
The law capped the size of the force at 258 men. It provided pay for the policemen, but required each to “provide himself with, and maintain ready for use, at least one good serviceable horse, and such arms, ammunition and equipments, as the Chief of State Police, with the approval of the Governor, may prescribe.”
Despite its small size on paper, the State Police employed officers of considerable means and influence, who enlisted posses of likeminded men to assist them in their duties. This practice was codified by an amendment to the law signed May 2, 1861, permitting the governor to muster as many as 20 “special policemen” in each county.
The State Police made thousands of arrests from 1870 to 1873, mostly for murder, attempted murder, and other serious crimes.
Backlash and Abolition
When Democrats took back control of the state legislature in 1873, they repealed the State Police Law and abolished the force. A few dozen members were absorbed into the Texas Rangers. The Democratic politicians at that time were mostly ex-Confederate leaders or sympathizers, who were hostile to the Davis administration; they viewed the State Police as despotic, corrupt, and politicized. Moreover, they were offended that the force employed Black officers—a fact that made it Texas’s first racially mixed law enforcement organization (with the possible exception of some local law enforcement organized in the late 1860s).
Patsy Spaw, editor of a history of the Texas Senate, described the prevailing attitude at the time of repeal:
“Resentment towards the state police became epidemic despite the service of exceptional officers such as L.H. McNelly and his special force of Rangers. Much of the friction was racial: about 40 percent of the force was black. Adding to the problem was the fact that some of the state police troops were of poor quality and that such men could be arbitrary in their actions. During its existence, the state police did weed out many less competent lawmen and worked to upgrade the corps’s professionalism. Overall, their efforts helped tone down Texas’ pandemic violence and even earned occasional praise from conservative newspapers.”1
Democratic opposition toward the State Police further hardened as a result of Davis’ occasional use of martial law, and his employment of state police during the constitutional crisis of January 1874, when he refused to leave office after a disputed election.
Central Control of Law Enforcement
Prior to the creation of the state police in 1870, Texas had only local law enforcement. State militia could be raised and controlled by the governor, but the militia fulfilled a paramilitary role, mostly related to frontier defense, rather than a law enforcement role. As a result, the creation of a central police force marked a significant change in the structure of law enforcement in the state.
Moreover, the law gave the governor sweeping powers to take command of local law enforcement “at all times, in any emergency,” including municipal police, sheriffs, deputies, and constables. To aid the governor in controlling local law enforcement, the law designated district judges as “the chief conservator of the peace for his district,” empowered to call upon local sheriffs, deputies, and constables “to suppress lawless combinations and riotous proceedings [i.e. lynchings, riots, etc.].”
Drafters of the subsequent 1876 constitution, which remains in effect today (though heavily amended), abhorred this manner of centralization, and provided for the direct election and local control of law enforcement. As a result, the law enforcement system in Texas today remains mostly decentralized. The modern system is designed to prevent despotism and the control of law enforcement by central political authorities. It allows for local flexibility but, according to critics, is inefficient and unaccountable.
A statewide law enforcement agency was reintroduced in 1935 (the Department of Public Safety), but its officers were called “troopers,” not “state police,” due to the stigma attached to that term. Per capita, it was smaller in size than the state police agencies in other states.
Another key difference between the present-day law enforcement system and the Reconstruction era system is that the 1870s State Police were established “in connection with the militia system of the state.” This structure may appear strange to readers familiar with modern “militia system” (now called the Texas National Guard). It suggests that Texas’s Reconstruction government believed that a quasi-military response was needed to quell the prevailing lawlessness of the time.
Text of the State Police Law of 1870
Section 1. Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Texas, That there shall be established a State Police (in connection with the militia system of the State), to be composed of one chief of police, four captains, eight lieutenants, twenty sergeants and two hundred and twenty-five privates. That the pay of each private policeman shall be sixty dollars per month; that of each sergeant shall be seventy-five dollars; that of each lieutenant one hundred dollars; and that of each captain of police one hundred and twenty-five dollars per month.
Sec. 2. The adjutant general of the State shall perform the duties of Chief of State Police, without extra compensation than that allowed by law to that officer; provided, however, that when there is no adjutant general, the Governor shall appoint, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, a Chief of State Police, who shall receive the compensation of two thousand five hundred dollars per annum. The chief of police, and the captains, lieutenants, sergeants and privates shall hold office for the term of four years, unless sooner removed.
Sec. 3. The Governor, or Chief of State Police, with the approval of the Governor, may, at any time, remove any of the members of the State Police for malfeasance, misfeasance, incompetency or disobedience of orders. The State Police shall receive, in addition to their regular pay, the same mileage and other compensation for conveying prisoners as are allowed by law to sheriffs; provided that such mileage and other compensation shall not be due where a prisoner is not conveyed beyond the county where arrested.
Sec. 4. The Chief of State Police, with the approval of the Governor, shall make all needful rules and regulations for the government of the State Police. Each officer and private of the State Police shall provide himself with, and maintain ready for use, at least one good serviceable horse, and such arms, ammunition and equipments, as the Chief of State Police, with the approval of the Governor, may prescribe.
Sec. 5. All sheriffs and their deputies, constables, marshals of cities and towns, and their deputies, and police of cities and towns shall be considered as part of the State Police, and be subject to the supervisory control of the Governor and Chief of State Police, and, under direction of the Governor or Chief of State Police, may, at any time, be called upon to act in concert with the State Police in preventing or suppressing crime, or in bringing to justice offenders. The Chief of State Police, subject to approval of the Governor, may make all needful rules and regulations for the government and direction of these officers in matters looking to the maintenance of public peace, preventing or suppressing crime, and bringing to justice offenders; and any of these officers failing or refusing prompt obedience to such rules and regulations, or to the orders of the Governor or Chief of State Police, shall be removed from office, and suffer such other punishment as may be prescribed by law.
Sec. 6. The Chief of State Police, with the approval of the Governor, may prescribe a uniform for the State Police, and the State Police may, in part or in all, in the discretion of the Governor, be detailed for duty in uniform, or may be employed as detectives in ferreting out and bringing to justice offenders.
Sec. 7. When offenders, for whom a reward has been offered by the Governor, are arrested by any of the State Police, those making the arrest shall be entitled to the reward offered, in addition to their regular pay; but no member of the State Police shall receive reward from private corporations or individuals for performance of their duty, unless by consent of the Governor.
Sec. 8. The Chief of State Police and his subordinates shall, at all times, obey all orders of the Governor, in relation to the preservation of the public peace, or the execution of the laws throughout the State; and it shall be their duty to see that the laws of the State are observed and enforced, and use their utmost endeavors to prevent and repress crime of all kind. They shall be invested with the authority belonging to all peace officers, co-extensive with the limits of the State, and shall be empowered to act, either in conjunction with, or independent of, all local officers of the peace. They may, at any time, be detailed by the Governor, either separate or together, to do service in any part of the State.
Sec. 9. The Governor shall have power, at all times, in any emergency, of which he shall be the judge, to assume command of the whole or any part of the municipal police of any town or city, or of the sheriffs, their deputies, constables and marshals of cities or towns, and their deputies, and may authorize the Chief of State Police to command their assistance in executing criminal process, suppressing riots, and in preserving the peace.
Sec. 10. The judge of each judicial district shall be the chief conservator of the peace for his district; and it is hereby made his duty to see to the suppression of lawlessness within the same. To this end, and to enable him to suppress lawless combinations and riotous proceedings, the said judge may call upon such of the State Police as may, at the time, be within his district, and also all sheriffs and their deputies, constables, city or town police, and city or town marshals or their deputies. The said judge is also required to report to the Governor of the State, without delay, all combinations for disturbance of the public peace within his district, too strong for suppression by the local civil authorities.
Sec. 11. That this act be in force from and after its passage.
Approved July 1, 1870.
- Patsy McDonald Spaw, ed., The Texas Senate Volume I: Republic to Civil War, 1836–1861 (College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1990), 127–128. ↩︎
This article is part of Texapedia’s curated primary source collection, which makes accessible both famous and forgotten historical records. Each source is presented with historical context and manuscript information. This collection is freely available for classroom use, research, and general public interest.
Related Books
Dive deeper into this topic by purchasing any of these recommended books. As an Amazon Associate, Texapedia earns a commission from qualifying purchases. Earnings are used to support the ongoing work of maintaining and growing this encyclopedia.
