Question

Explain the reason behind why counties in West Texas have a different shape than those in East Texas.

(Please try to answer in a complete sentence, thank you)

Answer 1

The reason counties in East and West Texas have different shapes is because of the requirements outlined in the Constitution of 1876. It required that counties were at least 900 square miles and that they were in the shape of a square whenever possible. The majority of the counties in West Texas and near the panhandle are in the shape of squares because they were created after the Constitution of 1876 was written while those in East Texas have different shapes because they were created prior to the Constitution of 1876.

Step-by-step explanation:

^^^^ Sample Response^^^^

Answer 2

The map of Texas, you can see that the counties of East Texas are shaped very differently from the counties of West Texas. And the reason why is after 1876 under the new constitution of the state of Texas, counties had to be at least 900 square miles, and they had to be square shaped whenever possible. So all of the counties in the west and up in the Panhandle were all formed after 1876. County governments again were outlined in the Constitution of 1876, and the same county government is found throughout the state of Texas today. New counties again had to be at least 900 square miles and square-shaped whenever possible. Currently, there are 254 counties in the state of Texas, and the responsibility of county government includes collecting taxes, holding elections, and offering other types of services.

Step-by-step explanation:

This was in my notes and i took the test