Texas Almanac, 1998-1999 Page: 52
672 p. : col. ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this book.
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Texas Almanac 1998-1999
War fever reached a high pitch in Texas in 1842, and
Houston grew increasingly unpopular because he would
not launch an offensive war against Mexico.
In March 1842, Gen. Rafael Visquez staged guer-
rilla raids on San Antonio, Victoria and Goliad, but
quickly left the Republic.
A force of 3,500 Texas volunteers gathered at San
Antonio demanding that Mexico be punished. Houston
urged calm, but the clamor increased when Mexican
Gen. Adrian Woll captured San Antonio in September.
He raised the Mexican flag and declared the reconquest
of Texas.
Ranger Capt. Jack Hays was camped nearby.
Within days 600 volunteers had joined him, eager to
drive the Mexican invaders from Texas soil. Gen. Woll
withdrew after the Battle of Salado.
Alexander Somervell was ordered by Houston to
follow with 700 troops and harass the Mexican army. He
reached Laredo in December and found no Mexican
troops.
Somervell crossed the Rio Grande to find military
targets. A few days later, the commander returned home,
but 300 soldiers decided to continue the raid under the
command of William S. Fisher. On Christmas day, this
group attacked the village of Mier, only to be defeated
by a Mexican force that outnumbered them 10-to-1.
After attempting mass escape, the survivors of the
Mier expedition were marched to Mexico City where
Santa Anna, again in political power, ordered their exe-cution. When officers refused to carry out the order, it
was amended to require execution of one of every 10
Texans. The prisoners drew beans to determine who
would be shot; bearers of black beans were executed.
Texans again were outraged by the treatment of prison-
ers, but the war fever soon subsided.
As Houston completed his second term, the United
States was becoming more interested in annexation.
Texas had seriously flirted with Great Britain and
France, and the Americans did not want a rival republic
with close foreign ties on the North American continent.
Houston orchestrated the early stages of the final steps
toward annexation. It was left to his successor, Anson
Jones, to complete the process.
The Republic of Texas' main claim to fame is simply
endurance. Its settlers, unlike other Americans who had
military help, had cleared a large region of Indians by
themselves, had established farms and communities and
had persevered through extreme economic hardship.
Adroit political leadership had gained the Republic
recognition from many foreign countries. Although
dreams of empire may have dimmed, Texans had estab-
lished an identity on a major portion of the North Amer-
ican continent. The frontier had been pushed to a line
running from Corpus Christi through San Antonio and
Austin to the Red River.
The U.S. presidential campaign of 1844 was to make
Texas a part of the Union. ATexas: Annexation to 1920
Annexation
Annexation to the United States was far from auto-
matic for Texas once independence from Mexico was
gained in 1836. Sam Houston noted that Texas "was
more coy than forward" as negotiations reached a cli-
max in 1845.
William H. Wharton was Texas' first representative
in Washington. His instructions were to gain diplomatic
recognition of the new Republic's independence.
After some squabbles, the U.S. Congress appropri-
ated funds for a minister to Texas, and President Andrew
Jackson recognized the new country in one of his last
acts in office in March 1837.
Texas President Mirabeau B. Lamar (1838-41)
opposed annexation. He held visions of empire in which
Texas would rival the United States for supremacy on
the North American continent.
During his administration, Great Britain began a
close relationship with Texas and made strenuous efforts
to get Mexico to recognize the Republic.
This relationship between Great Britain and Texas
raised fears in the United States that Britain might
attempt to make Texas part of its empire.
Southerners feared for the future of slavery in Texas,
which had renounced the importation of slaves as a con-
cession to get a trade treaty with Great Britain.
And, American newspapers noted that trade with
Texas had suffered after the Republic received recogni-
tion from European countries.In Houston's second term in the Texas presidency,
he instructed Isaac Van Zandt, his minister in Washing-
ton, to renew the annexation negotiations.
Although U.S. President John Tyler and his cabinet
were eager to annex Texas, they were worried about rat-
ification in the U.S. Senate. The annexation question
was put off.
In January 1844, Houston again gave Van Zandt
instructions to propose annexation talks. This time the
United States agreed to Houston's standing stipulation
that, for serious negotiations to take place, the United
States must provide military protection to Texas. U.S.
naval forces were ordered to the Gulf of Mexico and
U.S. troops were positioned on the southwest border
close to Texas.
On April 11, 1844, Texas and the United States
signed a treaty for annexation.
Texas would enter the Union as a territory, not a
state, under terms of the treaty. The United States would
assume Texas' debt up to $10 million and would negoti-
ate Texas' southwestern boundary with Mexico.
On June 8, 1844, the U.S. Senate rejected the treaty
with a vote of 35-16, with much of the opposition com-
ing from the slavery abolition wing of the Whig Party.
But westward expansion became a major issue in
the U.S. presidential election that year. James K. Polk,
the Democratic nominee, was a supporter of expansion,
and the party's platform called for adding Oregon and
Texas to the Union.Texas: Annexation to 1920
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Ramos, Mary G. Texas Almanac, 1998-1999, book, 1997; Dallas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth162515/m1/52/: accessed May 21, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.