Today, we celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Annexation of Texas, a.k.a. the day the Republic of Texas became number twenty-eight of these United States.
Scholars believe people have called Texas home since at least 14,000 BCE, with the Caddo arriving around 800 CE. The first recorded arrival of Europeans did not occur until Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca managed to find himself on Galveston Beach in 1528, decades into the post-Colombian era. Another 70 years passed before Juan de Oñate claimed all territory drained by the Rio Grande for the Spanish Crown in 1598.
Two hundred and twenty-three years passed under Imperial Spanish control. Then, on September 27, 1821, the Mexican Empire, which included Texas, finally established its independence.
The Mexican government allowed Stephen Austin to settle with “the Old Three Hundred” along the Brazos River in 1822. In 1824, Mexico created the state of Coahuila y Tejas, a large but low population area of over 200,000 square miles. In what no doubt seemed like a good idea at the time, the Mexican government passed the Coahuila-Texas Colonization Law, which provided strong immigration incentives.
Perhaps, in retrospect, too strong, since the territory was soon overwhelmed by Anglo settlers, many of whom were pro-slavery and most of whom wanted significantly more liberty for themselves than the Mexican government was interested in providing.
Anti-immigration laws took effect in 1830, but by then it was clear that the Mexican government lacked true control over the situation, and Anglo immigration remained steady despite being illegal.
Having seized control of Mexico earlier that year, Santa Ana dissolved all state governments in October of 1835. This included the government of Coahuila y Tejas. Deeply frustrated and sensing an opportunity, Anglo and Tejano Texans began their revolution that same month. The Republic of Texas declared its independence the following March, and was established that September of 1836, with Sam Houston as its first President.
The young republic thrived by some measures, but also faced numerous challenges. Though Mexico was never able to effectively regain control of the territory, as the years ticked by its military was able to continually force Texas troops into violent confrontations. This proved stressful and expensive.
In 1838, Texas elected Mirabeau Lamar as its President. Undaunted by its tense position between the dueling powers of Mexico and the United States, Lamar believed Texas could establish its own empire, and began plotting to seize Santa Fe. His attempt at expansion went poorly.
Though the Texas Constitution had prevented Sam Houston from running for re-election in 1838, he was eligible to run in 1841, and won a second term. Houston inherited a difficult situation from Lamar, with debts mounting, Mexico gearing up for a renewed invasion, and the United States uninterested in annexation. Faced with financial and military pressure, Houston initiated a strong relationship with Great Britain. This created its own domestic tensions, as Texas was compelled to outlaw slavery against popular sentiment in order to establish an effective trade treaty with Great Britain. England had abolished slavery within the Kingdom in the previous decade.
A long-term benefit, however, was that the United States became nervous Texas was about to become part of the British Empire. Though quite reasonably uninterested up until that point in inheriting Texas’s debt, hostile relationship with Mexico, and uneasy domestic situation, the United States was alarmed by the thought of having to contend with Britain on its southern border as well as its northern border. After all, the United States was barely 50 years into its own existence, and only 30 years past the War of 1812. The British Empire remained quite strong.
Therefore, in early 1844, the United States took serious steps towards annexation, deploying its Navy to the Texas coast. President John Tyler signed a treaty for annexation that April, but the Senate rejected the treaty because the Whig Party was unwilling to bring a new slave state into the union.
However, in the election of the 29th Congress, Democrats retook the Senate. This coincided with the election of Democrat James K. Polk to the Presidency. With the Whigs out of power, the Annexation of Texas was able to proceed.
Throughout the history of the United States, new states are most often established on land already belonging to the union, either as territories (for example, California) or as portions of pre-existing states (for example, West Virginia). However, to this day, Texas and Vermont remain the only states established from previously independent republics.
On December 29, 1845, the Republic of Texas was no more, and the State of Texas was born.
More Resources
The Texas State Historical Association Handbook of Texas
Texas Monthly, “The Battle to Rewrite Texas History”