Changes And Change Of A State

Ever since the Manifest Destiny became the United States’ holy goal, Texas had always been in the sight of the United State, for the location and size of the territory were extremely attractive for the expansion. In addition, the state offered the Rio Grande River which promised great trade in the future. These factors made Texas a key component in fulfilling the sacred duty, so when news spread that Texas became independent, there was no time wasted from the United States in integrating them into the union. Even before Texas gained their independence, the United States had become intertwined with the culture of Texas by having hundreds of American citizens immigrating into the territory and spreading American values across the land. As many historians have said “Throughout the United States, especially in the South, support for Texas was warm and widespread. Men, money, and

Texans revolted against their Mexican government to seek for independence. This caused the Texas annexation and revolution.

The battle for Texas’ independence was a hard battle. Many lives were taken, home destroyed, and families were torn apart. Texas residents wanted to break away from Mexico and become a self-governing republic inside of Mexico because they did not like Santa Anna’s laws. Mexico did not allow slave immigration, so Texas wanted to be a part of the United States that allowed slavery. But the main reason was that Mexico would not change or consider any government ideas that the Anglos and Mexicans had for Texas, and resulted in Santa Anna ruling and making all the laws and decisions. Santa Anna also overthrew the Mexican government and made himself the Mexican dictator. Stephen Austin came to try and settle the trouble caused by the suggestion of Texas’ constitution, but instead Santa Anna imprisoned him for a year.

Incidentally, a few years later the discussion of the annexation of Texas to the United States had begun, but required years of debate before the final decision came in December of 1845 where Texas joined the Union as a slave state. This issue of slavery caused much of the debate in whether or not to accept Texas into the Union as doing so may have further disrupted the status quo by upsetting the political balance in Congress and in the country. All the while, Mexico remained another source of concern as people thought the annexation of Texas would cause some sort of trouble with them. Despite all of this, Texas was eventually annexed with its own new state government and constitution to go along with it. Although it had already been defeated by Texas in their revolt, Mexico remained angry at the annexation of Texas and began the Mexican-American War spanning all of 2 years, from 1846 to 1848 bested by the American army. This resulted in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, establishing the Rio Grande as the United States-Mexican border. Along with the establishing of set borders, Mexico accepted the United States annexation of Texas and it agreed to sell California and the rest of the territory north of the Rio Grande to the U.S.

The annexation of Texas was a path that many Texans wanted. Nearly ninety percent of Texans wanted to become part of the United States. “People hadn’t come to Texas to become part of the British Empire; most were particularly incensed by the British insistence on emancipation of the slaves; responding to public sentiment, the Texas Senate demanded that President Houston give them a full accounting of his dealings with Great Britain”. Before annexation, The Republic of Texas was a sovereign nation that existed for nearly ten years. The annexation process was proposed by John Tyler. Unfortunately, President Martin Van Buren struck down the annexation of Texas out of fear that this would expand slave territory and ensue war with Mexico. The Treaty of Annexation, Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, Mexican-American War and Joint Resolution of Congress all impacted the annexation process.

Since the United States was founded as an independent nation from Great Britain, its people had confronted many economic, political, and social problems. The United States started to expand its territory in the western part of the country. Some examples are the Louisiana purchase from1803 and the Spanish Florida annexation. One of the most significant and controversial in the antebellum years was the Texas annexation which was a result of the War between Mexico and the war of independence by Texan rebels on the late 1830’s and 1840’s. Therefore, the annexation of the Republic of Texas existed from 1836-1845 produced controversy and consequences on both sides of the border.

Why did the annexation of Texas cause political, military, economic, cultural, and moral controversy in the United States?

In 1836, the Texans declared its independence from Mexico. Texas had declared their independence from Mexico because the Texans had trouble being a part of Mexico and wanted their own independence because the Texans had objected Mexico’s way of governing. The Texans were justified in declaring their independence, and they were honorable men fighting for their freedom. One reason is that the government had not exactly listened to the Texans. Another reason is that the Texans should have a choice for their independence since the original 13 colonies had also declared independence when they felt they had been treated unfairly. And third, Mexico had not been treating the Texans nicely, causing the Texans to rebel. All in all, the Texans had declared

Over the next 9 years, Texas applied twice to become part of the United States. Congress said no both times because the northeast didn’t want another large slave state and Congress did not want to anger Mexico. When Polk became President, he annexed Texas. They asked to buy California from Mexico in 1845 but this angered Mexico very much. After Mexicans and Americans had a little border dispute, Polk decided he had a reason to go to war.

may recall this historic event as the "Mexican War", in Mexico it is referred to as "The U.S. Invasion." (Doc. 3). The U.S. troops led by Genreral Zachary Taylor did not have the rights to cross the border along the Nueces River and open fire against the Mexicans when the U.S. government knew the southern Texas area was clearly still being considered who's territory it is (Background). There was no clear establishment of the land being owned by the U.S. at the time. Even if they did think the land was owned by the U.S., they should have considered the Mexican perspective as they believed their border was marked by the Nueces River in contrast to the Rio Grande River (Background Map). The Mexican government ordered attacks on the U.S. only for their "defense" as any country would do if their land was being invaded. Also, Mexico saw Texas’s action to join the United States as a real big threat. The Mexican perspective is shown by Jesus Velasco-Marquez as he says,” The Annexation of Texas to the United States was inadmissible for both legal and security reasons.” (Doc. C). Nobody would want a very powerful and strong country right on their border. Mexico took Texas’s action as a “declaration of war” as it shows the U.S.' inconsideration and complete ignorance of the Mexican

Texas Revolution, a rebellion in late 1835 and early 1836 by residents of Texas, then a part of northern Mexico, against the Mexican government and military. The rebellion led to the establishment of the independent Republic of Texas. The short-lived republic was annexed by the United States as a state in 1845. These events were among the causes of the Mexican War between the United States and Mexico, after which Mexico relinquished all claims to Texas and much of the present-day southwestern United States.

After the Midwest had been substantially developed, the national focus turned toward the far west. The territory of Texas, controlled by the Spanish, was settled by Americans, who eventually undertook the Texas Rebellion in efforts to win independence. When the United States admitted Texas to the Union in 1845, the Mexican government was outraged, and from 1846 to 1848, the two nation's squared off in the Mexican War. With a resounding victory, the United States gained control of Texas, New Mexico, and California. The Oregon territory was annexed in 1846 as well, and the US controlled the land all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

In 1836 Texas received independence from Mexico, James K. Polk had a plan he offered to buy the territory from Mexico but they declined it. Then Mexico heard about the U.S mission and got worried about losing control of the rest of their territory. They started making rules that U.S could not come on their land. Polk still had a back up plan after he heard about the new rule. On April 25, 1846 Americans stepped foot on Mexican land to fight in battle. Americans barrage in on Mexican cities

In 1821, Mexico invited Americans to Tejas so the population would increase. The United States was okay with this idea because then they could grow cotton on Mexico’s fertile soil. Americans disagreed with some of Mexico’s rules, making them upset. After a lot of fighting, between the Texans and Mexico, Texas became independent. President Polk said, “The Congress of Texas, by its act of December 19, 1836, had declared the Rio del Norte to be the boundary of that republic...”

Many problems had occurred with the state of Texas. Texans thought it would be best to interest security and economic stability to petition to the United States for annexation. In 1837 at the time President Martin Van Buren was against the idea of having Texas annexed because of concerns that it would become another slave state in the United States. Another reason why he did not want to annex Texas was because he did not want to start any problems with Mexico. Things changed in 1843 when President James Tyler examined the annexation issue again. A treaty was sent to Senate but because of anti-expansionist the treaty was denied. When Polk became president he too was in favor of having Texas annexed