page_title: History of vice in Texas
section_title: Early Texas and the Republic of Texas
hierarchical_section_title: History of vice in Texas / Early Texas and the Republic of Texas
context_page_description: The history of vice in the U.S. state of Texas has been an important part of the state's past and has greatly influenced its development. Vice activities, such as gambling and prostitution, have historically been a significant facet of both the state's culture and its economy.
  Law enforcement organizations have traditionally defined vice as including prostitution, gambling, alcohol and narcotics, and pornography. These activities, though always controversial, represented major influences in the state with some enterprises at times holding legendary status. The legal status of the individual activities has fluctuated substantially over time. Additionally during some periods individual communities and public officials have been accepting of many of these activities, even when they were illegal, because of corruption, because the activities were seen as inevitable, or often because the activities were economically important.
  Though these vices have existed throughout the state's history, their prevalence has varied greatly over time.
context_section_description: Before the arrival of the European settlers in Texas, the plant peyote (peyotl in Nahuatl) had become a popular hallucinogenic among tribes in the Rio Grande Valley as well as parts of West Texas and Chihuahua. Tribes in the area included the Carrizo Coahuiltecan and later the Lipan and Mescalero Apache, and even the Karankawa and the Caddo tribes. The plant came to be used for both recreational and ritual usage. Its hallucinogenic effects were regarded with suspicion among the Spaniards and the drug was never widely used outside the Native American communities.
  Gambling was a popular pastime in many parts of early Mexico including its northern territory of Texas. In some communities it was such an accepted norm that even children were known to participate with the adults.
  As early as 1817 records show the presence of prostitution in the Spanish region which would become Texas. Prostitution at this time clearly met with official disapproval though it still took place.
  As settlers from the United States moved into the Mexican Texas, new settlements typically had saloons and gambling halls before churches were ever established. The pre-Civil-War era was a period of especially liberal alcohol consumption in Texas. The city of Houston was particularly well-known at this time as a center of vice with businesses that sold liquor representing one of the largest business sectors. Nearby Fort Bend County for a time registered more liquor licenses than all other businesses combined.
  Opium had become a popular drug worldwide and was regarded by many as having medicinal qualities. Many people at all levels of Texas society are reported to have been addicts including Texas General Samuel Houston and Mexican President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, the leaders of the opposing forces in the Texas Revolution.
caption: The peyote plant, used by Native American tribes in Texas for its hallucinogenic properties
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