146-458: Indigenous people lived in what is now Texas more than 10,000 years ago, as evidenced by the discovery of the remains of prehistoric Leanderthal Lady . In 1519, the arrival of the first Spanish conquistadors in the region of North America now known as Texas found the region occupied by numerous Native American tribes. The name Texas derives from táyshaʼ , a word in the Caddoan language of
292-412: A National Historic Landmark . The Spanish introduced European livestock, including cattle, horses, and mules, to Texas as early as the 1690s. These herds grazed heavily on the native grasses, allowing mesquite , which was native to the lower Texas coast, to spread inland. Spanish farmers also introduced tilling and irrigation to the land, further changing the landscape. Texas eventually adopted much of
438-473: A "loan plot" by American abolitionists, in league with Lord Aberdeen , British Foreign Secretary, to provide funds to the Texans in exchange for the emancipation of its slaves. Minister Everett was charged with determining the substance of these confidential reports alleging a Texas plot. His investigations, including personal interviews with Lord Aberdeen, concluded that British interest in abolitionist intrigues
584-622: A House amendment on January 13, 1845, that was designed to enhance slaveowner gains in Texas beyond those offered by the Democratic-sponsored Tyler-Calhoun treaty bill. The legislation proposed to recognize Texas as a slave state which would retain all its vast public lands, as well as its bonded debt accrued since 1836. Furthermore, the Brown amendment would delegate to the U.S. government responsibility for negotiating
730-521: A compromise that excluded Spain from the lower Columbia River drainage basin , but established southern boundaries at the Sabine and Red Rivers , "legally extinguish[ing]" any American claims to Texas. Nonetheless, Texas remained an object of fervent interest to American expansionists, among them Thomas Jefferson , who anticipated the eventual acquisition of its fertile lands. The Missouri crisis of 1819–1821 sharpened commitments to expansionism among
876-616: A convention on July 4, 1845, to consider the annexation and a constitution. On June 23, the Texan Congress accepted the US Congress's joint resolution of March 1, 1845, annexing Texas to the United States, and consented to the convention. On July 4, the Texas convention debated the annexation offer and almost unanimously passed an ordinance assenting to it. The convention remained in session through August 28, and adopted
1022-475: A corridor through which both free and enslaved African-Americans could be "diffused" southward in a gradual exodus that would ultimately supply labor to the Central American tropics, and in time, empty the United States of its slave population. This "safety-valve" theory "appealed to the racial fears of northern whites" who dreaded the prospect of absorbing emancipated slaves into their communities if
1168-439: A crash in the price of cotton, the country's main export commodity. The situation led to labor shortages, reduced tax revenue, large national debts and a diminished Texas militia. The Anglo-American immigrants residing in newly independent Texas overwhelmingly desired immediate annexation by the United States. But, despite his strong support for Texas independence from Mexico, then-President Andrew Jackson delayed recognizing
1314-502: A day after achieving a preliminary treaty draft agreement with the Texas Republic. The Princeton disaster proved a major setback for Texas annexation, in that Tyler expected Secretary Upshur to elicit critical support from Whig and Democratic Senators during the upcoming treaty ratification process. Tyler selected John C. Calhoun to replace Upshur as Secretary of State and to finalize the treaty with Texas. The choice of Calhoun,
1460-831: A group of 72 people, including 10 families, into Texas in April 1718, where they settled along the San Antonio River . Within the next week, the settlers built mission San Antonio de Valero and a presidio, and chartered the municipality of San Antonio de Béxar, now San Antonio , Texas. The following year, the War of the Quadruple Alliance pitted Spain against France, which immediately moved to take over Spanish interests in North America. In June 1719, seven Frenchmen from Natchitoches took control of
1606-471: A highly regarded but controversial American statesman, risked introducing a politically polarizing element into the Texas debates, but Tyler prized him as a strong advocate of annexation. With the Tyler-Upshur secret annexation negotiations with Texas near consummation, Senator Robert J. Walker of Mississippi, a key Tyler ally, issued a widely distributed and highly influential letter, reproduced as
SECTION 10
#17327839309871752-521: A letter to the US Minister to Great Britain, Edward Everett , conveying his displeasure with Britain's global anti-slavery posture, and warning their government that forays into Texas's affairs would be regarded as "tantamount to direct interference 'with the established institutions of the United States ' ". In a breach of diplomatic norms, Upshur leaked the communique to the press to inflame popular Anglophobic sentiments among American citizens. In
1898-599: A living partially through raiding and violence, along with hunting/gathering, especially buffalo hunting, the Comanche empire also supported a commercial network with long-distance trade. Dealing with subordinate Indians, the Comanche spread their language and culture across the region. In terms of governance, the Comanche were made up of allied bands with a loosely hierarchical social organization within bands. Their empire collapsed when their camps and villages were repeatedly decimated by epidemics of smallpox and cholera in
2044-663: A number of northern delegates, blocked anti-expansion candidate Martin Van Buren at the convention, which instead nominated the pro-expansion champion of Manifest Destiny, James K. Polk of Tennessee. Polk unified his party under the banner of Texas and Oregon acquisition. In August 1844, in the midst of the campaign, Tyler withdrew from the race. The Democratic Party was by then unequivocally committed to Texas annexation, and Tyler, assured by Polk's envoys that as president he would effect Texas annexation, urged his supporters to vote Democratic. Polk narrowly defeated Whig Henry Clay in
2190-470: A pamphlet, making the case for immediate annexation. In it, Walker argued that Texas could be acquired by Congress in a number of ways – all constitutional – and that the moral authority to do so was based on the precepts for territorial expansion established by Jefferson and Madison , and promulgated as doctrine by Monroe in 1823. Senator Walker's polemic offered analysis on the significance of Texas with respect to slavery and race. He envisioned Texas as
2336-521: A part of the newly independent nation without any violence or physical conflict, ending the period of Spanish Texas. Spanish control of Texas was followed by Mexican control of Texas, and it can be difficult to separate the Spanish and Mexican influences on the future state. The most obvious legacy is that of the language; every major river in modern Texas, including the Red River, which was baptized by
2482-619: A presidio were established in East Texas. Accompanying the soldiers were the first recorded female settlers in Spanish Texas. The new missions were over 400 miles (644 km) from the nearest Spanish settlement, San Juan Bautista. Martín de Alarcón , who had been appointed governor of Texas in late 1716, wished to establish a way station between the settlements along the Rio Grande and the new missions in East Texas. Alarcón led
2628-529: A second term in the White House, and it became a deeply personal obsession for the president, who viewed the acquisition of Texas as the "primary objective of his administration". Tyler delayed direct action on Texas to work closely with his Secretary of State Daniel Webster on other pressing diplomatic initiatives. With the Webster–Ashburton Treaty ratified in 1843, Tyler was ready to make
2774-649: A state of the Union upon provisions authorized in the Constitution. Tyler's cabinet was split on the administration's handling of the Texas agreement. Secretary of War William Wilkins praised the terms of annexation publicly, touting the economic and geostrategic benefits with relation to Great Britain. Secretary of the Treasury John C. Spencer was alarmed at the constitutional implications of Tyler's application of military force without congressional approval,
2920-735: A takeover of Texas by the United Kingdom. When Tyler confirmed in September that the British Foreign Secretary Aberdeen had encouraged détente between Mexico and Texas, allegedly pressing Mexico to maneuver Texas towards emancipation of its slaves, Tyler acted at once. On September 18, 1843, in consultation with Secretary Upshur, he ordered secret talks opened with Texas Minister to the United States Isaac Van Zandt to negotiate
3066-563: A vast slave-holding region — into the volatile political climate of the pro- and anti-slavery sectional controversies in Congress. Moreover, they wished to avoid a war with Mexico, whose government had outlawed slavery and refused to acknowledge the sovereignty of its rebellious northern province. With Texas's economic fortunes declining by the early 1840s, the President of the Texas Republic, Sam Houston , arranged talks with Mexico to explore
SECTION 20
#17327839309873212-506: A violation of the separation of powers. Refusing to transfer contingency funds for the naval mobilization, he resigned. Tyler submitted his treaty for annexation to the Senate, delivered April 22, 1844, where a two-thirds majority was required for ratification. Secretary of State Calhoun (assuming his post March 29, 1844) had sent a letter to British minister Richard Packenham denouncing British anti-slavery interference in Texas. He included
3358-753: Is remembered as "the Father of German Immigration to Texas." Many Germans, especially Roman Catholics who sided with Mexico, left Texas for the rest of present-day Mexico after the U.S. defeated Mexico in the Mexican–American War in 1848. A few Mexican Irish communities existed in Mexican Texas until the Texas Revolution . Many Irish then sided with Catholic Mexico against Protestant pro-U.S. elements. The first empresarial grant had been made under Spanish control to Moses Austin . The grant
3504-549: The 1844 United States presidential election approaching, the leadership in both the Democratic and Whig parties remained unequivocally opposed to the annexation of Texas. Texas-Mexico treaty options under consideration included an autonomous Texas within Mexico's borders, or an independent republic with the provision that Texas should emancipate its slaves upon recognition. Van Zandt, though he personally favored annexation by
3650-529: The 1844 presidential election . In December 1844, lame-duck President Tyler called on Congress to pass his treaty by simple majorities in each house. The Democratic-dominated House of Representatives complied with his request by passing an amended bill expanding on the pro-slavery provisions of the Tyler treaty. The Senate narrowly passed a compromise version of the House bill, designed to provide President-elect Polk
3796-549: The General Colonization Law , which enabled all heads of household, regardless of race or immigrant status, to claim land in Mexico. Mexico had neither manpower nor funds to protect settlers from near-constant Comanche raids and it hoped that getting more settlers into the area could control the raids. The government liberalized its immigration policies, allowing for settlers from the United States to immigrate to Texas. The German settlement in Mexico goes back to
3942-617: The Gulf of Mexico coast (near modern Inez, Texas ), even before the establishment of New Orleans . The colony was killed off by Native Americans after three years, but Spanish authorities felt pressed to establish settlements to keep their claim to the land. Several Roman Catholic missions were established in East Texas ; they were abandoned in 1691. Twenty years later, concerned with the continued French presence in neighboring Louisiana , Spanish authorities again tried to colonize Texas. Over
4088-701: The Hasinai , which means "friends" or "allies." In the recorded history of what is now the U.S. state of Texas, all or parts of Texas have been claimed by six countries : France, Spain, Mexico, the Republic of Texas , the Confederacy during the Civil War , and the United States of America. The first European settlement was established in 1681, along the upper Rio Grande river, near modern El Paso . The settlers were exiled Spaniards and Native Americans from
4234-632: The Lipan Apache , who transferred their enmity to Spain and began raiding San Antonio and other Spanish areas. A temporary peace was finally negotiated with the Apache in 1749, and at the request of the Indians a mission was established along the San Saba River northwest of San Antonio. The Apaches shunned the mission, but the fact that Spaniards now appeared to be friends of the Apache angered
4380-540: The Mexican War for Independence severed the control that Spain had exercised on its North American territories, and the new country of Mexico was formed from much of the lands that had comprised New Spain , including Spanish Texas . The 1824 Constitution of Mexico joined Texas with Coahuila to form the state of Coahuila y Tejas . The Congress did allow Texas the option of forming its own state "as soon as it feels capable of doing so." The same year, Mexico enacted
4526-575: The Narváez expedition , including Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca and Estevanico , spent six and a half years in Texas as slaves and traders among various native groups. Cabeza de Vaca was the first European to explore the interior of Texas. In 1543, the Hernando de Soto expedition entered Texas from the east, becoming the first Europeans to visit the Caddo peoples. Searching for an overland path to Mexico,
History of Texas - Misplaced Pages Continue
4672-544: The Panic of 1837 . The Texas "escape route" conceived by Walker promised to increase demand for slaves in fertile cotton-growing regions of Texas, as well as the monetary value of slaves. Cash-poor plantation owners in the older eastern South were promised a market for surplus slaves at a profit. Texas annexation, wrote Walker, would eliminate all these dangers and "fortify the whole Union." Walker's pamphlet brought forth strident demands for Texas from pro-slavery expansionists in
4818-666: The Pueblo of Isleta after the Pueblo Revolt , from Santa Fe de Nuevo México (the northern part of present-day New Mexico ). In 1685, Robert de La Salle (1643–1687), established a French colony at Fort Saint Louis , after sailing down and exploring the Mississippi River from New France (modern Canada) and the Great Lakes . He planted this early French presence at Fort Saint Louis near Matagorda Bay , along
4964-691: The Republic of Mexico on March 2, 1836. It applied for annexation to the United States the same year, but was rejected by the United States Secretary of State . At that time, the majority of the Texian population favored the annexation of the Republic by the United States. The leadership of both major U.S. political parties (the Democrats and the Whigs ) opposed the introduction of Texas —
5110-619: The Rocky Mountains and included the entire watershed of the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers and their tributaries, and that the southern border was the Rio Grande. Spain maintained that Louisiana extended only as far as Natchitoches, and that it did not include the Illinois Territory . Texas was again considered a buffer province, this time between New Spain and the United States. The disagreement would continue until
5256-600: The confrontation in Gonzales , turned public sentiment in Mexican and Anglo Texans towards revolution. Santa Anna's invasion of the territory after putting down the rebellion in Zacatecas provoked conflict in 1836, and between 1835 and 1836, the Texian forces fought and won the Texas Revolution . Although not recognized as such by Mexico, Texas declared itself an independent nation, the Republic of Texas . Attracted by
5402-423: The panhandle region. Beginning during the 4th millennium BC , the population of Texas increased despite a changing climate and the extinction of giant mammals . Many pictograms from this era, drawn on the walls of caves or on rocks, are visible in the state, including at Hueco Tanks and Seminole Canyon. Native Americans in East Texas began to settle in villages shortly after 500 BC, farming and building
5548-424: The " Texas Oil Boom ", permanently transforming and enriching the economy of Texas. Agriculture and ranching gave way to a service-oriented society after the economic boom years of World War II . Segregation would end in the 1960s due to federal legislation. Politically, Texas changed from virtually a one-party Democratic state achieved following disenfranchisement policies, to a highly contested political scene, until
5694-553: The "preservation of all [Texas] property as secured in our domestic institutions." Upon the signing of the treaty, Tyler complied with the Texans' demand for military and naval protection, deploying troops to Fort Jesup in Louisiana and a fleet of warships to the Gulf of Mexico. In case the Senate failed to pass the treaty, Tyler promised the Texas diplomats that he would officially exhort both houses of Congress to establish Texas as
5840-518: The 1844 presidential campaigns. Now, northern Democrats found themselves vulnerable to charges of appeasement of their southern wing if they capitulated to Tyler's slavery expansion provisions. On the other hand, Manifest Destiny enthusiasm in the north placed politicians under pressure to admit Texas immediately to the Union. Constitutional objections were raised in House debates as to whether both houses of Congress could constitutionally authorize admission of territories, rather than states. Moreover, if
5986-623: The Anglo-American legal system, but some Spanish legal practices were retained, including homestead exemption , community property , and adoption . From the 1750s to the 1850s, the Comanche were the dominant group in the Southwest, and the domain they ruled was known as Comancheria . Confronted with Spanish, Mexican, and American outposts on their periphery in New Mexico, Texas, and Coahuila and Nueva Vizcaya in northern Mexico,
History of Texas - Misplaced Pages Continue
6132-439: The Anglo-American settlers. In particular, the prohibitions against slavery and forced labor, as well as the requirement that all settlers be Catholic or convert to Catholicism were ignored. Mexican authorities, perceiving that they were losing control over Texas and alarmed by the unsuccessful Fredonian Rebellion of 1826, abandoned the policy of benign rule. New restrictions were imposed in 1829–1830, outlawing slavery throughout
6278-546: The Apache enemies, primarily the Comanche, Tonkawa, and Hasinai tribes, who promptly destroyed the mission. In 1762, France finally relinquished their claim to Texas by ceding all of Louisiana west of the Mississippi River to Spain as part of the treaty to end the Seven Years' War . Spain saw no need to continue to maintain settlements near French outposts and ordered the closure of Los Adaes, making San Antonio
6424-612: The Comanche killed many of the Karankawa in the area and drove the others into Mexico. In January 1790, the Comanche also helped the Spanish fight a large battle against the Mescalero and Lipan Apaches at Soledad Creek west of San Antonio. The Apaches were resoundingly defeated and the majority of the raids stopped. By the end of the 18th century, only a small number of the remaining hunting and gathering tribes within Texas had not been Christianized. In 1793, mission San Antonio de Valero
6570-538: The Comanche worked to increase their own safety, prosperity and power. The population in 1810–1830 was 7,000 to 8,000. The Comanche used their military power to obtain supplies and labor from the Americans, Mexicans, and Indians through thievery, looting and killing, tribute, and kidnappings. There was much violence committed by and against Comanche, before and after the European settlement of Texas. Although they made
6716-685: The House of Representatives to consider other constitutional means to authorize passage of the treaty. Congress adjourned before debating the matter. The same Senate that had rejected the Tyler–Calhoun treaty by a margin of 2:1 in June 1844 reassembled in December 1844 in a short lame-duck session . (Though pro-annexation Democrats had made gains in the fall elections, those legislators – the 29th Congress – would not assume office until March 1845.) Lame-duck President Tyler, still trying to annex Texas in
6862-696: The House-amended treaty. The fact that Senator Foster had drafted the House amendment under consideration improved prospects of Senate passage. Anti-annexation Senator Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri had been the only Southern Democrat to vote against the Tyler-Texas measure in June 1844. His original proposal for an annexed Texas had embodied a national compromise, whereby Texas would be divided in two, half slave-soil and half free-soil. As pro-annexation sentiment grew in his home state, Benton retreated from this compromise offer. By February 5, 1845, in
7008-476: The Jeffersonian precepts of territorial and commercial growth as a national goal to counter the rise of sectional differences over slavery. His "diffusion" theory declared that with Missouri open to slavery, the new state would encourage the transfer of underutilized slaves westward, emptying the eastern states of bondsmen and making emancipation feasible in the old South. This doctrine would be revived during
7154-511: The Mexican army at the Battle of San Jacinto . In June 1836 while held prisoner by the Texians, Santa Anna signed an agreement for Texas independence, but the Mexican government refused to ratify the agreement made under duress. Texians, now de facto independent, recognized that their security and prosperity could never be achieved while Mexico denied the legitimacy of their revolution. In
7300-507: The November election. The victorious Democrats were poised to acquire Texas under President-elect Polk's doctrine of Manifest Destiny, rather than on the pro-slavery agenda of Tyler and Calhoun. As a treaty document with a foreign nation, the Tyler-Texas annexation treaty required the support of a two-thirds majority in the Senate for passage. But in fact, when the Senate voted on the measure on June 8, 1844, fully two-thirds voted against
7446-673: The Packenham Letter with the Tyler bill, intending to create a sense of crisis in Southern Democrats. In it, he characterized slavery as a social blessing and the acquisition of Texas as an emergency measure necessary to safeguard the "peculiar institution" in the United States. In doing so, Tyler and Calhoun sought to unite the South in a crusade that would present the North with an ultimatum: support Texas annexation or lose
SECTION 50
#17327839309877592-407: The Republic of Texas into emancipating its slaves, forecasting a dangerous destabilizing influence on southwestern slaveholding states. The pamphlet characterized abolitionists as traitors who conspired with the British to overthrow the United States. A variation of the Tyler's "diffusion" theory, it played on economic fears in a period when slave-based staple crop markets had not yet recovered from
7738-414: The Republic of Texas, a nation in its own right, were admitted as a state, its territorial boundaries, property relations (including slave property), debts and public lands would require a Senate-ratified treaty. Democrats were particularly uneasy about burdening the United States with $ 10 million in Texas debt, resenting the deluge of speculators, who had bought Texas bonds cheap and now lobbied Congress for
7884-407: The Rio Grande & Pecos river were part of an extensive civilization of tribes that lived in what are now the states of Texas, New Mexico, Colorado & Utah. While the northernmost Ancestral Pueblo groups faced a cultural collapse due to drought, many of the southern tribes survive to the present. North of the Pueblos were the Apache peoples, who included several tribes with distinct languages. By
8030-411: The Rio Grande River, including Laredo. Anglo-American immigrants, primarily from the Southern United States , began emigrating to Mexican Texas in the early 1820s at the invitation of the Texas faction of the Coahuila y Tejas state government, which sought to populate the sparsely inhabited lands of its northern frontier for cotton production . Colonizing empresario Stephen F. Austin managed
8176-400: The Senate special session had adjourned on March 20, 1845, no names for US commissioners to Texas had been submitted by him. Polk denied charges from Senator Benton that he had misled Benton on his intention to support the new negotiations option, declaring "if any such pledges were made, it was in a total misconception of what I said or meant." On May 5, 1845, Texas President Jones called for
8322-438: The South, than southern Democrats." The bill also served to distinguish them from their northern Whig colleagues who cast the controversy, as Calhoun did, in strictly pro- versus anti-slavery terms. While almost all Northern Whigs spurned Brown's amendment, the Democrats quickly co-opted the legislation, providing the votes necessary to attach the proviso to Tyler's joint resolution, by a 118–101 vote. Southern Democrats supported
8468-417: The South. President Tyler expected that his treaty would be debated secretly in Senate executive session. However, less than a week after debates opened, the treaty, its associated internal correspondence, and the Packenham letter were leaked to the public. The nature of the Tyler-Texas negotiations caused a national outcry, in that "the documents appeared to verify that the sole objective of Texas annexation
8614-482: The South; in the North, it allowed anti-slavery expansionists to embrace Texas without appearing to be aligned with pro-slavery extremists. His assumptions and analysis "shaped and framed the debates on annexation but his premises went largely unchallenged among the press and public. The Tyler-Texas treaty, signed on April 12, 1844, was framed to induct Texas into the Union as a territory, following constitutional protocols. To wit, Texas would cede all its public lands to
8760-496: The Spaniards as Colorado de Texas, has a Spanish or Anglicized name, as do 42 of the state's 254 counties . Numerous towns also bear Spanish names. An additional obvious legacy is that of Roman Catholicism . At the end of Spain's reign over Texas virtually all people living there were members of the Roman Catholic church, and Roman Catholicism is still the primary religion there today. The Spanish missions built in San Antonio to convert Indians to Catholicism have been restored and are
8906-450: The Spanish launched ten expeditions—both land and sea—over the next three years. The last expedition discovered a French deserter living in Southern Texas with the Coahuiltecans . The Frenchman guided the Spanish to the French fort in late April 1689. The fort and the five crude houses surrounding it were in ruins. Several months before, the Karankawa had become angry that the French had taken their canoes without payment and had attacked
SECTION 60
#17327839309879052-537: The Texas House bill. House Democrats, at an impasse, relinquished the legislative initiative to the southern Whigs. Anti-Texas Whig legislators had lost more than the White House in the general election of 1844. In the southern states of Tennessee and Georgia, Whig strongholds in the 1840 general election, voter support dropped precipitously over the pro-annexation excitement in the Deep South—and Clay lost every Deep South state to Polk. Northern Whigs' uncompromising hostility to slavery expansion increasingly characterized
9198-523: The Texas annexation controversy. When Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821, the United States did not contest the new republic's claims to Texas, and both presidents John Quincy Adams (1825–1829) and Andrew Jackson (1829–1837) persistently sought, through official and unofficial channels, to procure all or portions of provincial Texas from the Mexican government, without success. Spanish and indigenous immigrants, primarily from northeastern provinces of New Spain , began to settle Texas in
9344-430: The Texas lands – three likely to qualify as slave states – Brown's plan would permit Texas state lawmakers to configure a total of five states from its western region, with those south of the 36°30’ Missouri Compromise line pre-authorized to permit slavery upon statehood, if Texas designated them as such. Politically, the Brown amendment was designed to portray Southern Whigs as "even more ardent champions of slavery and
9490-431: The United States in 1861 to join the Confederate States of America. Only a few battles of the American Civil War were fought in Texas; most Texas regiments served in the east. When the war ended, enslaved African Americans were freed after ratification of the Emancipation Proclamation . Texas was subject to Reconstruction after the Civil War was over. Later on, White Democrats gained political dominance and passed laws in
9636-400: The United States unsuccessfully combined to declare Texas and Mexico independent. Spanish troops reacted harshly, looting the province and executing any Tejanos accused of having Republican tendencies. By 1820 fewer than 2,000 Hispanic citizens remained in Texas. The situation did not normalize until 1821, when Agustin de Iturbide launched a drive for Mexican Independence . Texas became
9782-476: The United States, J.Res. 8, enacted March 1, 1845, 5 Stat. 797 ). Senate and House legislators who had favored Benton's renegotiated version of the Texas annexation bill had been assured that President Tyler would sign the joint house measure, but leave its implementation to the incoming Polk administration. But, during his last full day in office, President Tyler, with the urging of his Secretary of State Calhoun, decided to act decisively to improve
9928-423: The United States, and the federal government would assume all its bonded debt, up to $ 10 million. The boundaries of the Texas territory were left unspecified. Four new states could ultimately be carved from the former republic – three of them likely to become slave states. Any allusion to slavery was omitted from the document so as not to antagonize anti-slavery sentiments during Senate debates, but it provided for
10074-611: The United States, was not authorized to entertain any overtures from the US government on the subject. Texas officials were at the moment deeply engaged in exploring settlements with Mexican diplomats, facilitated by Great Britain. Texas's predominant concern was not British interference with the institution of slavery – English diplomats had not alluded to the issue – but the avoidance of any resumption of hostilities with Mexico. Still, US Secretary of State Upshur vigorously exhorted Texas diplomats to begin annexation talks, finally dispatching an appeal to President Sam Houston in January 1844. In
10220-402: The Whig party, quickly began to organize a third party in hopes of inducing the Democrats to embrace a pro-expansionist platform. By running as a third-party candidate, Tyler threatened to siphon off pro-annexation Democratic voters; Democratic party disunity would mean the election of Henry Clay, a staunchly anti-Texas Whig. Pro-annexation delegates among southern Democrats, with assistance from
10366-404: The White House in 1841. William Henry Harrison , Whig Party presidential nominee, defeated US President Martin Van Buren in the 1840 general election. Upon Harrison's death shortly after his inauguration, Vice-President John Tyler assumed the presidency. President Tyler was expelled from the Whig party in 1841 for repeatedly vetoing their domestic finance legislation. Tyler, isolated and outside
10512-463: The agreement with popular approval from Texians. The bill was signed by President Polk on December 29, 1845, accepting Texas as the 28th state of the Union. Texas formally joined the union on February 19, 1846, prompting the Mexican–American War in April of that year. First mapped by Spain in 1519, for over 300 years Texas was part of the vast Spanish Empire seized by the Spanish conquistadores from its indigenous people . The US-Spain border along
10658-592: The annexation measure stalled in the US Senate, Texas could face a war alone against Mexico. Because only Congress could declare war, the Tyler administration lacked the constitutional authority to commit the US to support of Texas. But when Secretary Upshur provided a verbal assurance of military defense, President Houston, responding to urgent calls for annexation from the Texas Congress of December 1843, authorized
10804-520: The annexation of Texas his "top priority". Representative Thomas W. Gilmer of Virginia was authorized by the administration to make the case for annexation to the American electorate. In a widely circulated open letter, understood as an announcement of the executive branch's designs for Texas, Gilmer described Texas as a panacea for North-South conflict and an economic boon to all commercial interests. The slavery issue, however divisive, would be left for
10950-494: The annexation of Texas. Face-to-face negotiations commenced on October 16, 1843. By the summer of 1843 Sam Houston's Texas administration had returned to negotiations with the Mexican government to consider a rapprochement that would permit Texas self-governance, possibly as a state of Mexico, with Great Britain acting as mediator. Texas officials felt compelled by the fact that the Tyler administration appeared unequipped to mount an effective campaign for Texas annexation. With
11096-587: The anti-slavery northern Whig opposition – especially if annexation provoked a war with Mexico. Presented with a formal annexation proposal from Texas minister Memucan Hunt Jr. in August 1837, Van Buren summarily rejected it. Annexation resolutions presented separately in each house of Congress were either soundly defeated or tabled through filibuster . In 1838, Texas President Mirabeau B. Lamar withdrew his republic's offer of annexation over these failures. Texians were at an annexation impasse when John Tyler entered
11242-439: The appeal, Upshur assured Houston that the political climate in the United States was currently amenable to Texas statehood and that a two-thirds majority in Senate could be obtained to ratify a Texas treaty. Texans were hesitant to pursue a US-Texas treaty without a written commitment of military defense from America, since a full-scale military attack by Mexico seemed likely when the negotiations became public. If ratification of
11388-402: The bill almost unanimously (59–1), while Northern Democrats split strongly in favor (50–30). Eight of eighteen Southern Whigs cast their votes in favor. Northern Whigs unanimously rejected it. The House proceeded to approve the amended Texas treaty 120–98 on January 25, 1845. The vote in the House had been one in which party affiliation prevailed over sectional allegiance. The bill was forwarded
11534-439: The building of a new Spanish fort Nuestra Señora del Pilar de Los Adaes , located near present-day Robeline, Louisiana , only 12 mi (19 km) from Natchitoches. The new fort became the first capital of Texas, and was guarded by six cannons and 100 soldiers. The six East Texas missions were reopened, and an additional mission and presidio were established at Matagorda Bay on the former site of Fort Saint Louis. In
11680-535: The constitutional requirement of a two-thirds majority in the Senate. Bringing the House of Representatives into the equation boded well for Texas annexation, as the pro-annexation Democratic Party possessed nearly a 2:1 majority in that chamber. By resubmitting the discredited treaty through a House-sponsored bill, the Tyler administration reignited sectional hostilities over Texas admission. Both northern Democratic and southern Whig Congressmen had been bewildered by local political agitation in their home states during
11826-557: The country's slaveholding interests, when the so-called Thomas proviso established the 36°30' parallel , imposing free-soil and slave-soil futures in the Louisiana Purchase lands. While a majority of southern congressmen acquiesced to the exclusion of slavery from the bulk of the Louisiana Purchase, a significant minority objected. Virginian editor Thomas Ritchie of the Richmond Enquirer predicted that with
11972-463: The details below. Request from 172.68.168.150 via cp1114 cp1114, Varnish XID 925496422 Upstream caches: cp1114 int Error: 429, Too Many Requests at Thu, 28 Nov 2024 08:52:11 GMT Texas Annexation The Republic of Texas was annexed into the United States and admitted to the Union as the 28th state on December 29, 1845. The Republic of Texas declared independence from
12118-665: The disputed Texas-Mexico boundary. The issue was a critical one, as the size of Texas would be immensely increased if the international border were set at the Rio Grande River, with its headwaters in the Rocky Mountains, rather than the traditionally recognized boundary at the Nueces River, 100 miles to the north. While the Tyler-Calhoun treaty provided for the organization of a total of four states from
12264-416: The dual alternative treaty bill. On February 27, 1845, less than a week before Polk's inauguration, the Senate voted 27–25 to admit Texas, based on the Tyler protocols of simple majority passage. All twenty-four Democrats voted for the measure, joined by three southern Whigs. Benton and his allies were assured that Polk would act to establish the eastern portion of Texas as a slave state; the western section
12410-406: The early 1970s when it shifted to becoming solidly Republican. The population of Texas continued to grow rapidly throughout the 20th century, becoming the second-largest state in population in the United States by 1994. Also during the 20th century, the state continued to become economically highly diversified, with a growing economic base in emerging technologies in the 21st century. Texas lies at
12556-557: The early debates on the Brown-amended House bill, he advanced an alternative resolution that, unlike the Brown scenario, made no reference whatsoever to the ultimate free-slave apportionment of an annexed Texas and simply called for five bipartisan commissioners to resolve border disputes with Texas and Mexico and set conditions for the Lone Star Republic's acquisition by the United States. The Benton proposal
12702-423: The early years of colonization. The first European to see Texas was Alonso Álvarez de Pineda , who led an expedition for the governor of Jamaica , Francisco de Garay, in 1520. While searching for a passage between the Gulf of Mexico and Asia, Álvarez de Pineda created the first map of the northern Gulf Coast . This map is the earliest recorded document of Texas history. Between 1528 and 1535, four survivors of
12848-458: The economy, along with railroad construction. After 1870, railroads were a major factor in the development of new cities away from rivers and waterways. Toward the end of the 19th century, timber became an important industry in Texas as well. In 1902, a petroleum discovery at Spindletop Hill , near Beaumont, was developed as the most productive oil well the world had ever seen. The wave of oil speculation and discovery that followed came to be known as
12994-581: The emancipation of slaves in Texas, which would undermine slavery in the United States . Through secret negotiations with the Houston administration, Tyler secured a treaty of annexation in April 1844. When the documents were submitted to the U.S. Senate for ratification, the details of the terms of annexation became public and the question of acquiring Texas took center stage in the presidential election of 1844 . Pro-Texas-annexation southern Democratic delegates denied their anti-annexation leader Martin Van Buren
13140-401: The entire Mississippi River Valley for France. The following year, he convinced King Louis XIV to establish a colony near the Mississippi, essentially splitting Spanish Florida from New Spain. La Salle's colonization expedition left France on July 24, 1684, and soon lost one of its supply ships to Spanish privateers . A combination of inaccurate maps, La Salle's previous miscalculation of
13286-427: The expedition turned back to the Mississippi River after leaving Caddo territory and finding nomadic tribes without food stores to sustain the Spanish. Although Álvarez de Pineda had claimed the area that is now Texas for Spain, the area was essentially ignored for over 160 years. Its initial settlement by Europeans occurred by accident. In April 1682, French nobleman René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle had claimed
13432-450: The final months of his administration, wished to avoid another overwhelming Senate rejection of his treaty. In his annual address to Congress on December 4, he declared the Polk victory a mandate for Texas annexation and proposed that Congress adopt a joint resolution procedure by which simple majorities in each house could secure ratification for the Tyler treaty. This method would avoid
13578-602: The first burial mounds . They were influenced by the Mississippian culture , which had major sites throughout the Mississippi basin. In the Trans-Pecos area, populations were influenced by Mogollon culture . Early Ceramics date back to ca. 500 BC. In Eastern Texas, the Tchefuncte tradition of ceramics flourished from around 500 to 100 BC. Local hunters adopted bows and arrows around the 8th century, replaced
13724-402: The institution of slavery collapsed in the South. This scheme for racial cleansing was consistent, on a pragmatic level, with proposals for overseas colonization of blacks , which were pursued by a number of American presidents, from Jefferson to Lincoln. Walker bolstered his position by raising national security concerns, warning that in the event annexation failed, Great Britain would maneuver
13870-601: The juncture of several major cultural areas of Pre-Columbian North America : the Southwestern , Southern Plains , Southeastern Woodlands , and Aridoamerica . Several major precontact groups with ties to Texas, known from Indigenous oral history , linguistics, and archaeology , include: The Paleo-Indians who lived in Texas between 9200 and 6000 BC may have links to Clovis and Folsom cultures; these nomadic people hunted mammoths and bison latifrons using atlatls . They extracted Alibates flint from quarries in
14016-500: The late 1720s, the viceroy of New Spain closed the presidio in East Texas and reduced the size of the garrisons at the remaining presidios, leaving only 144 soldiers in the entire province. With no soldiers to protect them, the East Texas missions relocated to San Antonio. Although the missionaries had been unable to convert the Hasinai tribe of East Texas, they did become friendly with the natives. The Hasinai were bitter enemies of
14162-727: The late 17th century, in Texas Panhandle region, the Comanches settled and later expanded their territories. Native Americans determined the fate of European explorers and settlers depending on whether a tribe was kind or warlike. Friendly tribes taught newcomers how to grow indigenous crops, prepare foods, and hunting methods for the wild game . Warlike tribes made life difficult and dangerous for explorers and settlers through their attacks and resistance to European conquest. Many Native Americans died of new infectious diseases , which caused high fatalities and disrupted their cultures in
14308-656: The late 17th century. The Spanish constructed Catholic missions and presidios in what is today Louisiana, east Texas, and south Texas. The first missions were designed for the Tejas Indians, near Los Adaes . Soon thereafter, the San Antonio Missions were founded along the San Antonio River. The City of San Antonio , then known as San Fernando de Bexar, was founded in 1718. In the early 1760s, José de Escandón created five settlements along
14454-527: The late 1840s, and in bloody conflict with settlers, the Texas Rangers, and the U.S. Army. The population plunged from 20,000 to just a few thousand by the 1870s. The Comanche were no longer able to deal with the U.S. Army, which took control of the region after the Mexican–American War ended in 1848. The long-term imprint of the Comanche on the native and Hispanic culture has been demonstrated by scholars such as Daniel J. Gelo and Curtis Marez. In 1821,
14600-409: The late 19th century creating second-class status for blacks in a Jim Crow system of segregation which included disenfranchising them from voting in 1901 through passage of a poll tax . Black residents were excluded from the formal political system until after passage of federal civil rights legislation in the mid-1960s. In early Texas statehood, things such as cotton, ranching, and farming dominated
14746-435: The latitude of the mouth of the Mississippi River, and overcorrecting for the Gulf currents led the ships to be unable to find the Mississippi. Instead, they landed at Matagorda Bay in early 1685, 400 miles (644 km) west of the Mississippi. In February, the colonists constructed Fort Saint Louis. After the fort was constructed, one of the ships returned to France, and the other two were soon destroyed in storms, stranding
14892-482: The legislation to Polk's discretion when he took office. In private and separate talks with supporters of both the Brown and Benton plans, Polk left each side with the "impression he would administer their [respective] policy. Polk meant what he said to Southerners and meant to appear friendly to the Van Burenite faction." Polk's handling of the matter had the effect of uniting Senate northern Democrats in favor of
15038-399: The long-distance but less accurate atlatl . Native peoples hunted bison for food, clothing, shelter, and more. They imported obsidian from suppliers in Mexico and the Rocky Mountains . After Spanish explorers entered the area, Texas was largely divided between six cultural groups. Caddoan language -speaking peoples occupied the area surrounding the entire length of the Red River, and at
15184-524: The mission San Miguel de los Adaes from its sole defender, who did not know that the countries were at war. The French soldiers explained that 100 additional soldiers were coming, and the Spanish colonists, missionaries, and remaining soldiers fled to San Antonio. The new governor of Coahuila and Texas, the Marquis de San Miguel de Aguayo , drove the French from Los Adaes without firing a shot. He then ordered
15330-408: The mission cattle and horses and showed little respect to the priests. When Terán left Texas later that year, most of the missionaries chose to return with him, leaving only three religious people and nine soldiers at the missions. The group also left behind a smallpox epidemic. The angry Caddo threatened the remaining Spaniards, who soon abandoned the fledgling missions and returned to Coahuila . For
15476-527: The nation and terminating further American immigration to Texas. Military occupation followed, sparking local uprisings. Texas conventions in 1832 and 1833 submitted petitions for redress of grievances to overturn the restrictions, with limited success. In 1835, an army under Mexican President Santa Anna entered its territory of Texas and abolished self-government. Texians responded by declaring their independence from Mexico on March 2, 1836. On April 20–21, rebel forces under Texas General Sam Houston defeated
15622-540: The negotiations. In tandem with moving forward with Texas diplomats, Upshur was secretly lobbying US senators to support annexation, providing lawmakers with persuasive arguments linking Texas acquisition to national security and domestic peace. In early 1844, Upshur assured Texas officials that 40 of the 52 members of the Senate were pledged to ratify the Tyler-Texas treaty — more than the two-thirds majority required for ratification. In his annual address to Congress in December 1843, Tyler maintained his silence with respect to
15768-408: The new provincial capital. The residents of Los Adaes were relocated in 1773. After several attempts to settle in other parts of the province, the residents returned to East Texas without authorization and founded Nacogdoches . The Comanche agreed to a peace treaty in 1785. The Comanche were willing to fight the enemies of their new friends, and soon attacked the Karankawa. Over the next several years
15914-479: The new republic until the last day of his presidency to avoid raising the issue during the 1836 general election. Jackson's political caution was dictated by northern concerns that Texas could potentially form several new slave states and undermine the North-South balance in Congress. Jackson's successor, President Martin Van Buren , viewed Texas annexation as an immense political liability that would empower
16060-537: The next 110 years, Spain established numerous villages, presidios , and missions in the province. A small number of Spanish settlers arrived, in addition to missionaries and soldiers. Spain signed agreements with colonists from the United States, bordering the province to the northeast ever since their Louisiana Purchase from the Emperor Napoleon I and his French Empire (France) in 1803. When Mexico won its independence from Spain in 1821 , Mexican Texas
16206-476: The next 20 years, Spain again ignored Texas. After a failed attempt to convince Spanish authorities to reestablish missions in Texas, in 1711 Franciscan missionary Francisco Hidalgo approached the French governor of Louisiana for help. The French governor sent representatives to meet with Hidalgo. This concerned Spanish authorities, who ordered the reoccupation of Texas as a buffer between New Spain and French settlements in Louisiana. In 1716, four missions and
16352-519: The nomination at their party's convention in May 1844. In alliance with pro-expansion northern Democratic colleagues, they secured the nomination of James K. Polk , who ran on a pro-Texas Manifest destiny platform. In June 1844, the Senate, with its Whig majority, soundly rejected the Tyler–Texas treaty. Later that year, the pro-annexation Democrat Polk narrowly defeated anti-annexation Whig Henry Clay in
16498-446: The northern frontier of Texas took shape in the 1817–1819 negotiations between Secretary of State John Quincy Adams and the Spanish ambassador to the United States, Luis de Onís . The boundaries of Texas were determined within the larger geostrategic struggle to demark the limits of the United States' extensive western lands and of Spain's vast possessions in North America. The Florida Purchase Treaty of February 22, 1819 emerged as
16644-461: The odds for the immediate annexation of Texas. On March 3, 1845, with his cabinet's assent, he dispatched an offer of annexation to the Republic of Texas by courier, exclusively under the terms of the Brown–Foster option of the joint house measure. Secretary Calhoun apprised President-elect Polk of the action, who demurred without comment. Tyler justified his preemptive move on the grounds that Polk
16790-406: The options of immediate annexation of Texas or new talks to revise the annexation terms of the House-amended bill. On March 1, 1845, President Tyler signed the annexation bill, and on March 3 (his last full day in office), he forwarded the House version to Texas, offering immediate annexation. When Polk took office at noon the following day, he encouraged Texas to accept Tyler’s offer. Texas ratified
16936-525: The party, and southern members, by association, had suffered from charges of being "soft on Texas, therefore soft on slavery" by Southern Democrats. Facing congressional and gubernatorial races in 1845 in their home states, a number of Southern Whigs sought to erase that impression with respect to the Tyler-Texas bill. Southern Whigs in the Congress, including Representative Milton Brown and Senator Ephraim Foster , both of Tennessee, and Representative Alexander Stephens of Georgia collaborated to introduce
17082-528: The possibility of securing official recognition of independence, with the United Kingdom mediating. In 1843, U.S. President John Tyler , then unaligned with any political party, decided independently to pursue the annexation of Texas in a bid to gain a base of support for another four years in office. His official motivation was to outmaneuver suspected diplomatic efforts by the British government for
17228-538: The promise of a throne in central Italy. Although the agreement was signed on October 1, 1800, it did not go into effect until 1802. The following year, Napoleon sold Louisiana to the United States. The original agreement between Spain and France had not explicitly specified the borders of Louisiana, and the descriptions in the documents were ambiguous and contradictory. The United States insisted that its purchase also included most of West Florida and all of Texas. Thomas Jefferson claimed that Louisiana stretched west to
17374-421: The proviso restrictions, the South would ultimately require Texas: "If we are cooped up on the north, we must have elbow room to the west." Representative John Floyd of Virginia in 1824 accused Secretary of State Adams of conceding Texas to Spain in 1819 in the interests of Northern anti-slavery advocates, and so depriving the South of additional slave states. Then-Representative John Tyler of Virginia invoked
17520-471: The regional affairs of the mostly American-born population – 20% of them slaves – under the terms of the generous government land grants. Mexican authorities were initially content to govern the remote province through salutary neglect , "permitting slavery under the legal fiction of 'permanent indentured servitude', similar to Mexico's peonage system. A general lawlessness prevailed in the vast Texas frontier, and Mexico's laws went largely unenforced among
17666-463: The reopening of annexation negotiations. As Secretary Upshur accelerated the secret treaty discussions, Mexican diplomats learned that US-Texas talks were taking place. Mexican minister to the U.S. Juan Almonte confronted Upshur with these reports, warning him that if Congress sanctioned a treaty of annexation, Mexico would break diplomatic ties and immediately declare war. Secretary Upshur denied any knowledge of these reports and pressed forward with
17812-527: The rich lands for cotton plantations and ranching, tens of thousands of immigrants arrived from the U.S. and from Germany as well. In 1845, Texas joined the United States , becoming the 28th state, when the United States annexed it. Only after the conclusion of the Mexican–American War, with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848, did Mexico recognize Texan independence. Texas declared its secession from
17958-535: The same day Congress would end its session. With his arrival in the capital, he discovered the Benton and Brown factions in the Senate "paralyzed" over the Texas annexation legislation. On the advice of his soon-to-be Secretary of the Treasury Robert J. Walker , Polk urged Senate Democrats to unite under a dual resolution that would include both the Benton and Brown versions of annexation, leaving enactment of
18104-556: The same day to the Senate for debate. By early February 1845, when the Senate began to debate the Brown-amended Tyler treaty, its passage seemed unlikely, as support was "perishing". The partisan alignments in the Senate were near parity, 28–24, slightly in favor of the Whigs. The Senate Democrats would require undivided support among their colleagues, and three or more Whigs who would be willing to cross party lines to pass
18250-505: The secret negotiations so as not to damage relations with the wary Texas diplomats. Throughout, Tyler did his utmost to keep the negotiations secret, making no public reference to his administration's single-minded quest for Texas. The Tyler-Texas treaty was in its final stages when its chief architects, Secretary Upshur and Secretary of the Navy Thomas W. Gilmer , died in an accident aboard USS Princeton on February 28, 1844, just
18396-466: The settlement sparing only four children. News of the destruction of the French fort "created instant optimism and quickened religious fervor" in Mexico City. Spain had learned a great deal about the geography of Texas during the many expeditions in search of Fort Saint Louis. In March 1690, Alonso De León led an expedition to establish a mission in East Texas. Mission San Francisco de los Tejas
18542-531: The settlers. La Salle and his party searched overland for the Mississippi River, traveling as far west as the Rio Grande and as far east as the Trinity River . Disease and hardship laid waste to the colony, and by early January 1687, fewer than 45 people remained. That month, a third expedition launched a final attempt to find the Mississippi. The expedition experienced much infighting, and La Salle
18688-455: The signing of the 1819 Adams–Onís Treaty , at which point Spain gave Florida to the United States in return for undisputed control of Texas. During much of the dispute with the United States, governance of New Spain was in question. In 1808, Napoleon forced the Spanish king to abdicate the throne and appointed Joseph Bonaparte as the new monarch. A shadow government operated out of Cadiz during Joseph's reign. Revolutionaries within Mexico and
18834-456: The spring of 1843, the Tyler administration had sent executive agent Duff Green to Europe to gather intelligence and arrange territorial treaty talks with Great Britain regarding Oregon; he also worked with American minister to France, Lewis Cass , to thwart efforts by major European powers to suppress the maritime slave trade. Green reported to Secretary Upshur in July 1843 that he had discovered
18980-692: The states to decide as per the US Constitution. Domestic tranquility and national security, Tyler argued, would result from an annexed Texas; a Texas left outside American jurisdiction would imperil the Union. Tyler adroitly arranged the resignation of his anti-annexation Secretary of State Daniel Webster, and on June 23, 1843 appointed Abel P. Upshur , a Virginia states' rights champion and ardent proponent of Texas annexation. This cabinet shift signaled Tyler's intent to pursue Texas annexation aggressively. In late September 1843, in an effort to cultivate public support for Texas, Secretary Upshur dispatched
19126-639: The time of European contact, they formed four collective confederacies of the Wichita , Natchitoches , the Hasinai , and the Kadohadocho . Along the Gulf Coast region were the Atakapa tribes. Southward from the Atakapa, along the Gulf Coast to the Rio Grande river, at least one Coahuiltecan tribe (a culture group primarily from Northeast Mexico) was located. The Puebloan peoples, situated largely between
19272-504: The times they settled Texas when it was under Spanish rule, but the first permanent settlement of Germans was at Industry, in Austin County, established by Friedrich Ernst and Charles Fordtran in the early 1830s, then under Mexican rule. Ernst wrote a letter to a friend in his native Oldenburg, which was published in the newspaper there. His description of Texas was so influential in attracting German immigrants to that area that he
19418-419: The treaty (16–35). The vote went largely along party lines: Whigs had opposed it almost unanimously (1–27), while Democrats split, but voted overwhelmingly in favor (15–8). The election campaign had hardened partisan positions on Texas among Democrats. Tyler had anticipated that the measure would fail, largely because of the divisive effects of Secretary Calhoun's Packenham letter. Undeterred, he formally asked
19564-597: The two-party mainstream, turned to foreign affairs to salvage his presidency, aligning himself with a southern states' rights faction that shared his fervent slavery expansionist views. In his first address to Congress in special session on June 1, 1841, Tyler set the stage for Texas annexation by announcing his intention to pursue an expansionist agenda so as to preserve the balance between state and national authority and to protect American institutions, including slavery, so as to avoid sectional conflict. Tyler's closest advisors counseled him that obtaining Texas would assure him
19710-442: The years following independence, the migration of white settlers and importation of black slave labor into the vast republic was deterred by Texas's unresolved international status and the threat of renewed warfare with Mexico. American citizens who considered migrating to the new republic perceived that "life and property were safer within the United States" than in an independent Texas. In the 1840s, global oversupply had also caused
19856-415: Was ambushed and killed somewhere in East Texas . The Spanish learned of the French colony in late 1685. Feeling that the French colony was a threat to Spanish mines and shipping routes, King Carlos II 's Council of war recommended the removal of "this thorn which has been thrust into the heart of America. The greater the delay the greater the difficulty of attainment." Having no idea where to find La Salle,
20002-436: Was completed near the Hasinai village of Nabedaches in late May, and its first mass was celebrated on June 1. On January 23, 1691, Spain appointed the first governor of Texas, General Domingo Terán de los Ríos . On his visit to Mission San Francisco in August, he discovered that the priests had established a second mission nearby, but were having little luck converting the natives to Christianity. The Indians regularly stole
20148-464: Was intended to calm northern anti-slavery Democrats (who wished to eliminate the Tyler-Calhoun treaty altogether, as it had been negotiated on behalf of the slavery expansionists), and allow the decision to devolve upon the soon-to-be-inaugurated Democratic President-elect James K. Polk. President-elect Polk had expressed his ardent wish that Texas annexation should be accomplished before he entered Washington in advance of his inauguration on March 4, 1845,
20294-446: Was likely to come under pressure to abandon immediate annexation and reopen negotiations under the Benton alternative. When President Polk took office on (at noon EST) March 4, he was in a position to recall Tyler's dispatch to Texas and reverse his decision. On March 10, after conferring with his cabinet, Polk upheld Tyler's action and allowed the courier to proceed to Texas with the offer of immediate annexation. The only modification
20440-548: Was part of the new nation. To encourage settlement, Mexican authorities allowed organized immigration from the United States, and by 1834, over 30,000 Anglos lived in Texas, compared to 7,800 Mexicans. After Santa Anna 's dissolution of the Constitution of 1824 and his political shift to the right, issues such as lack of access to courts, the militarization of the region's government (e.g., response to Saltillo-Monclova problem ), and self-defense issues resulting in
20586-737: Was passed to his son Stephen F. Austin , whose settlers, known as the Old Three Hundred , settled along the Brazos River in 1822. The grant was later ratified by the Mexican government. Twenty-three other empresarios brought settlers to the state, the majority from the United States of America. Native American tribes in Texas Too Many Requests If you report this error to the Wikimedia System Administrators, please include
20732-685: Was secularized, and the following year the four remaining missions at San Antonio were partially secularized. During the American Revolution , Texas and the Tejanos helped the Americans in the fights in British West Florida . Unlike East Florida , Texas supported U.S. independence by also fighting in New Orleans and other campaigns in the Gulf of Mexico . In 1799, Spain gave Louisiana back to France in exchange for
20878-446: Was the preservation of slavery." A mobilization of anti-annexation forces in the North strengthened both major parties' hostility toward Tyler's agenda. The leading presidential hopefuls of both parties, Democrat Martin Van Buren and Whig Henry Clay, publicly denounced the treaty. Texas annexation and the reoccupation of Oregon territory emerged as the central issues in the 1844 general election. In response, Tyler, already ejected from
21024-405: Was to exhort Texans to accept the annexation terms unconditionally. Polk's decision was based on his concern that a protracted negotiation by US commissioners would expose annexation efforts to foreign intrigue and interference. While Polk kept his annexation endeavors confidential, Senators passed a resolution requesting formal disclosure of the administration's Texas policy. Polk stalled, and when
21170-549: Was to remain unorganized territory, not committed to slavery. On this understanding, the northern Democrats had conceded their votes for the dichotomous bill. The next day, in an almost strict party line vote, the Benton-Milton measure was passed in the Democrat-controlled House of Representatives. President Tyler signed the bill the following day, March 1, 1845 (Joint Resolution for annexing Texas to
21316-449: Was weak, contradicting Secretary of State Upshur's conviction that Great Britain was manipulating Texas. Though unsubstantiated, Green's unofficial intelligence so alarmed Tyler that he requested verification from the US minister to Mexico, Waddy Thompson Jr. John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, a pro-slavery Democrat , counseled Secretary Upshur that British designs on American slavery were real and required immediate action to preempt
#986013