The Annexation Of The United States

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

Southern territorial tensions linked to slavery in the mid 1800's. (Doc D) Opposition to annexation of Texas occurred because of avoidance to the problem of Texas being a free or slave state. The Wilmot Proviso provoked huge controversy about the status of the land gained after the Mexican War, the bill would be called upon and debated on furiously for decades to come. Popular sovereignty began to appear in some alternate plans for deciding slavery in the Louisiana Territory. Polk's plan, which proposed to extend the slavery line in the Missouri Compromise to the pacific, aroused further debates for the North and the South. California and New Mexico raised even more questions about the implementation of

The Manifest Destiny beliefs clearly explained how Texas annexation was a natural expansion of the United States-a logical sequel to the Louisiana Purchase. Controversy arose from the annexation of a huge section of Mexico and the fears these lands meant the expansion of slavery. John Quincy Adams, a member of the House of Representatives, stated, "We hesitate not to say that annexation of Texas, effected by any act or proceeding of the Federal Government, or any of its departments, would be identical with dissolution. It would be a violation of our national compact, its objects, designs, and the great elementary principles with entered into its formation, of a character so deep and fundamental, and would be an attempt to authorize an institution and a power of a nature so unjust in themselves, so injurious to the interests and abhorrent to the feelings of the people of the Free States, as, in our opinion, not only inevitably to result in a dissolution of the Union, but fully to justify it; and we not only assert that the people of the Free States 'ought not to submit to it,' but

The United States became further united due to the continuous desire and procurement of new territories. In President James Polk’s 1845 Inaugural Address, he shared his opinion of the “danger to [the nation’s] safety and future peace” if Texas remained an independent

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 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.

U.S. War with Mexico had many effects on both countries. Even though American’s gained a considerable amount of land, it leads to a great deal of sectional tension. The two governments agreed to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which confirmed the annexation of Texas and ceded California and present day México, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah to the United States (Foner,474). With this huge land acquisition, the issue of slavery in the new territories was raised. The new land caused a great deal of conflict, and created great political sectionalism in America. Gaining this much land at a time seemed like a good idea until Americans had to deal with the political issues that went along with it. Residents from both the North and the South wanted

The Annexation of Texas was one of the most debatable events in American history. The question at hand would deeply impact the United States for generations to come. There was on one side a long list of reasons for why to not allow annexation, but there was the same kind of list on the other side for reasons to push forward for annexation. Some of these reasons of both sides were slaves, war, manifest destiny, politics , and constitutional rights. Also the way Texas began in a way said that they should be apart of the United States In the end there were more important reasons for annex Texas into the union, than to leave Texas the was she was.

Mexican President Jose Herrera refused to negotiate (Stevenson 2009). After failed negotiations with Mexico, Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor to position his troops in the disputed territory, north of the Rio Grande River. Mexico, seeing this as an act of aggression struck first and killed several of Tyler’s men. After receiving word of the skirmish, President Polk petitioned congress, claiming Mexico “has invaded our territory, and shed American blood upon the American soil” (Tindall & Shi 2010, p. 401). In response, congress unanimously passed the resolution and on May 13, 1846, the United States declared war (Tindall & Shi 2010).

In 1845 Texas was annexed as a state, however disputes between America and Mexico remained concerning where the border would be located. President Polk at the time had no choice but to send troops due south to defend Texas and the Thornton affair, won by the Mexicans, would force congress to declare war on Mexico.

The Mexican-American war fought between 1846 and 1848 remains a topic of much contention amongst modern historians. Differing accounts and conclusions of the war are often presented and one must remain pragmatic when analysing both primary and secondary sources regarding the war. There is a clear time line of events that led to the outbreak of the war, but there is one major event, and one minor action, which directly resulted in the declarations of war on both sides of the conflict between Mexico and the United States. Most scholars agree that the annexation of the Republic of Texas by

Such a resolution required only a majority vote in both houses of Congress, which avoided the necessity for the two-thirds Senate majority vote required for treaty ratification (Bender214). The strategy worked, on March 1, 1845 Lame-duck President John Tyler signed the joint Resolution inviting Texas to join the Union. This was the first of this procedure to acquire a territory. The issue of whether to admit Texas remained divisive, with opponents of slavery condemning the admissions of Texas as a territorial grab intended to create a new slave state.

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.

The Annexation of Texas was the process of transitioning Texas into being a part of the United States. While Mexico objected the idea of Texas being

Annexation of Texas: making Texas a state after it was its own republic (page 394)