- Alternate use: Republic of Texas
(group)
Republic of Texas. The present-day outlines of the U.S. states are superimposed on the boundaries of 1836-1845
The Republic of Texas was a short lived country roughly corresponding to the present day state of Texas in the United States of America.
The northern boundaries with the United States were defined by the Adams-Onis treaty between the United States and Spain in 1819. The southern boundary with Mexico were under
dispute during the lifetime of the Republic with Texas claiming that the boundary was the Rio Grande and Mexico claiming the Rio Nueces. This dispute
would later become a trigger for the Mexican War between
Mexico and the United States after the U.S.A.'s annexation of
Texas.
Before Mexican independence in 1821, Texas was a part of the Spanish colony of New Spain. Texas then belonged to Mexico (as
a part of the state of Coahuila y Tejas) until the Texas Revolution. The first declaration of independence for Texas was
signed in Goliad on December 20, 1835. The Texas Declaration of Independence was enacted at Washington-on-the-Brazos on March 2, 1836, effectively creating the Republic of
Texas.
Four days later, the two-week long Battle of the Alamo
ended as Mexican General Antonio López de Santa
Anna's forces defeated the nearly 200 Texans defending the small mission (which would eventually become the center of the
city of San Antonio). "Remember the Alamo" became the battle cry of the Texas Revolution. The Battle of San Jacinto was fought on April 21, 1836, near the present-day city of Houston. General
Santa Anna's entire force of 1,600 men was killed or captured by Texas General Sam Houston's army of 800 Texans; only nine Texans died. This decisive battle resulted in Texas' independence from Mexico.
Sam Houston, a native of Virginia, was President of the Republic of Texas for two separate terms, 1836-1838 and 1841-1844. He also was
Governor of the state of Texas from 1859 to 1861.
The first Congress of the Republic of Texas convened October 1836 at Columbia (now West Columbia). Stephen F. Austin, known as the Father of Texas, died December 27, 1836, after serving two months as Secretary of State for the new Republic.
In 1836, five sites served as temporary capitals of Texas (Washington-on-the-Brazos, Harrisburg, Galveston,
Velasco and Columbia) before Sam Houston moved the capital to Houston in 1837. In 1839, the
capital was moved to the new town of Austin.
Internal politics of the Republic were based on the conflict between two factions. The nationalist faction, led by Mirabeau B. Lamar advocated the continued independence of Texas, the
expulsion of the Native Americans, and the expansion of Texas to the
Pacific Ocean. Their opponents, led by Sam Houston, advocated the
annexation of Texas to the United States and peaceful coexistence with Native Americans.
The Presidents of the Republic were
The Republic received diplomatic recognition from the United States, France, the
United Kingdom, and The
Republic of Yucatan.
On February 28, 1845 the United States Congress passed a bill that would authorize the
United States to annex the Republic of Texas and on March 1 U.S. President John Tyler signed
the bill. The legislation set the date for annexation for December 29 of the
same year. On October 13 of the same year, a majority of voters in the Republic
approved a proposed constitution that was later accepted by the US Congress, making Texas
a U.S. state on the same day annexation took effect (therefore bypassing a
territorial phase). One of the primary motivations for annexation was that the Texas government had incurred huge debts which the
United States agreed to assume upon annexation. In 1850, in return for this assumption of debt, a large portion of Texas-claimed
territory, now parts of Colorado, Kansas,
Oklahoma, New Mexico, and
Wyoming, was ceded to the Federal government.
The annexation resolution has been the topic of some incorrect historical beliefs. First the resolution was not a treaty between sovereign states, and it did not give Texas the right to secede from the union.
Nevertheless the resolution did include two unique provisions. First, the resolution gave the new state of Texas the right to
divide itself into as many as five states with approval of its legislature. Texas retains this right today. Second, Texas did not
have to surrender its public lands to the federal government. While Texas did cede all territory outside of its current area to
the federal government in 1850, it did not cede any public lands within its current boundaries. This means that generally, the
only lands owned by the federal government within Texas have actually been purchased by the government, and is also signficant
with respect to offshore oil leases.
Notable Republic of Texas figures include:
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