The Final Round

Negotiations for annexation of Texas went smoothly until 1844.  John Calhoun became Secretary of State and said that the US had a duty to annex Texas to protect the South against a British plot to end slavery.  All of a sudden, antislavery factions saw Texas as proof of a conspiracy of slaveholders.  Northern support vanished and on June 8, the annexation treaty was defeated in the Senate 35 to 16. 

In the Presidential campaign of 1844, Van Buren thought annexation would lead to war with Mexico which cost him the nomination.  The new president, James Polk, was a Tennessee expansionist, and clearly expansionism had won the day.

Outgoing President Tyler wanted the credit for adding Texas to the Union, so he requested that Congress approve annexation by joint resolution (not requiring 2/3 majority).  The resolution passed in February 1845, signed by Tyler on March 1, three days before he left office. 

The resolution required Texas to adopt a state constitution to be submitted to the President no later than 1845. On December 29, 1845, Texas officially became a part of the United States.  Ceremonies in Austin in February 1846, included Anson Jones, the last president of the Republic, formally turning over power to J. Pickney Henderson, the first governor of the state of Texas.  Jones said "the Republic of Texas is no more."

In the past three centuries  six flags have flown over Texas - Spanish, French, Mexican, Confederate, but only two represented Texas - the Lone Star flag (first Republic flag), and the Stars and Stripes.

Next time...moving west to the Pacific
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Today in Pioneer History:  On November 14, 1851, Moby-Dick, a novel by Herman Melville about the voyage of the whaling ship Pequod, is published by Harper & Brothers in New York.

The British Question

Retaliation against Mexico so far had been a major fail except in one respect - it did revive US interest in Texas and the whole annexation question.  The best hope for Texas' survival lay in the United States and Houston knew that, but how was he to prove that to an uncertain country who often voted against anything to do with Texas?

Houston became a shrewd diplomat, creating the impression that Britain was exerting considerable influence on him in wanting Texas as a territory.  The US expansionists who were always eager for adding territory to the US would take notice, he figured.

Britain was interested in Texas but wanted Texas to remain independent.  British industrialists wanted cheap cotton and a market without US tariffs on manufactured goods.  They also wanted to persuade Texas to ban slavery.  This was the main point...In 1843 President Tyler (photo right), a southern sympathizer, heard of the slavery ban pressure by Britain and begin to get nervous.

In 1843, Santa Anna, in the middle of his own rebellion in the Yucatan sent word to Houston that he wanted to open peace negotiations.  Houston read Santa Anna's terms - Mexico would cease hostilities if Texas would acknowledge Mexico's sovereignty in controlling the internal affairs - and Houston refused.

But, he didn't tell Santa Anna right away.  he allowed the British to intercede in the negotiations.  When the peace treaty was signed in June of 1843, Houston made it a point of advertising his gratitude to the British.

Washington was alarmed.  "For the safety of New Orleans, the prosperity of the great valley of the Mississippi and our whole union, require the annexation of Texas".  President Tyler sent word to Houston that the US would not oppose annexation if Texas would submit her request to join the Union. 

Houston smiled - the plan had worked beautifully!

Next time...The Final Round
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Today in Pioneer History:  On November 10, 1808, in a decision that would eventually make them one of the wealthiest surviving Indian nations, the Osage Indians agree to abandon their lands in Missouri and Arkansas in exchange for a reservation in Oklahoma.