Texans can claim an impressive list of things to brag about—what we call braggin’ rights. Things like the biggest, the first, the only, etc. . . Let’s take a look at six things for which Texans rightly brag.

• Brag #1

Texas is the first (and only) state to be an independent nation before becoming a state. From 1836 until 1846, when the actual transfer of governance took place, Texas was a Republic with Sam Houston as its president. Texas is also the only state to enter the United States by treaty instead of by territorial annexation. As part of the annexation agreement, Texas negotiated the right to fly its flag at the same height as the US Stars and Stripes. In addition, the 1845 joint congressional resolution admitting Texas to the US allows for the state to break itself up into a total of five states should it choose to do so. The actual language in the document says, “New states of convenient size—not exceeding four in number, in addition to said state of Texas—and having sufficient population, may hereafter by the consent of said state, be formed out of the territory thereof, which shall be entitled to admission under the provisions of the Federal Constitution.” In plain language this provision makes Texas the only state that can divide itself into a total of five new states without anyone’s permission and the US would have to accept the states as part of the US.