Republic of Texas & Early Statehood

In this unit you will learn about Texas as an independent Republic, the presidents of Texas, how Texas came to be a part of the United States, and the Mexican-American War.

How Do We Respond To Change?

The Republic Of Texas

Texas After Independence

This is the area of land that Texas claimed to control after winning independence from Mexico in 1836…

…they called it “The Republic of Texas”.

...And THIS is “The

Republic of Texas”

according to the

government of

Mexico...

See the issue?

The Republic of Texas

After winning its Independence from Mexico, Texas granted rights and freedoms to Texas citizens with a Bill of Rights. Freedom of Religion was one of the most cherished rights of Texans after being limited to practicing the Catholic religion for so long.
Also, the population of Texas grew significantly during the 1840's. As more people moved to Texas property laws did change, but only White Men had the right to own land at the time.
Many German immigrants settle in Central Texas between Austin and San Antonio near today's towns of Fredricksburg and Gruene.

The Republic of Texas would last from 1836 to 1845.

Problems In The New Republic

However, as with all new governments, Texas faced problems at the beginning.

Independence was a challenging time for Texas. The young nation’s first presidents had to tackle a number of difficult issues.

These problems affected both Foreign Policy [a country’s plan for getting along with other countries] and Domestic Policy [or its plans for within its own borders].

A year after Texas became its own Republic many Texans would come to want annexation [or becoming part of the United States] as a quick and easy way to fix all of their money problems.

However….

The Annexation Debate

A year after Texas became its own Republic many Texans would come to want Annexation [the act of one country becoming a part of another country] as a quick and easy way to fix all of their money problems. Texas would also get guaranteed protection from Mexico.
However….The U.S. did not move to annex Texas right away [despite pressuring Texas to join the Union in the beginning] for TWO reasons:

One reason was the issue of slavery – Texas had slaves, and would enter the U.S. as a slave state. Slavery was an issue that was already threatening to tear the U.S. apart.

Another reason for delayed annexation was that the U.S. didn’t want to damage relations with Mexico. The U.S. knew that annexing Texas could lead to war with Mexico, since Mexico claimed that Texas still belonged to them.

Sam Houston wanted Texas to become a part of the United States because the deal would eliminate Texas debt to the U.S. Many Americans moved to Texas from the United States to accomplish the goal of Manifest Destiny [belief that America should own all of the land from the Atlantic to the Pacific Oceans].
Most of those settlers brought slaves to South and East Texas, the Coastal Plains region, as the weather there was perfect for growing Cash Crops such as Cotton.
However, slavery was a large barrier to the United States accepting Texas. People in the U.S. were hesitant to include a state with such a large and influential population that supported and allowed slavery.
The U.S. was perfectly balanced between Free & Slave States...if they annexed Texas that balance would fall to the Slave States.

Trouble With Mexico

Despite the Treaty of Velasco, Mexico refused to recognize the Independence of Texas.
This made it harder for Texas to build their own diplomatic relations with other countries...
How could they make their own political moves if everyone thought they still were a part of Mexico?
Mexico and Texas would also fight over their boundary. Both sides disagreed about what belonged to Texas and what belonged to Mexico.

Trouble With Money

Texas incurred a lot of debt fighting for their independence.
Most of this debt was owed to the United States.
Texas would not be respected as country if it did not pay off its debt.

Presidents of Texas

1st President Sam Houston

In 1836, Sam Houston became the first elected president of Texas!

Characteristics of his Presidency would include:

Support of Annexation - Houston wanted Texas to join the United States so they wouldn’t have to pay back their war debt and could be guaranteed protection from Mexico.
Capital - The city of Houston [named after him] was created as the capital of the republic during this time.
His MAIN GOAL was to pay off Texas' debt after the war as quickly as possible.

Problems with Money

Texas incurred a lot of debt fighting for their independence and most of this debt was owed to the United States. Houston wanted to pay off those war debts so that Texas would be respected by the United States.
To save money, Houston wanted to reduce the size of the military and got rid of the expensive Texas Navy.
However, this would anger the people of Galveston as most of their money was made through having the Texas Navy [small as it was] located in their harbor. Getting rid of the Navy would be a huge economic loss for their city.

Relations with Natives

Native Texans stayed out of the Texas Revolution but they were troubled by the massive influx of Anglo-American settlers.
The Texas Rangers served as protection for the citizens of the Republic of Texas against Native American Attacks.
The Comanche were a tribe that had lots of conflicts with the Anglo-American settlers over territory.
Sam Houston had a good relationship with the Cherokee and he worked out a treaty with them that gave them land in East Texas in exchange for them staying out of the Texas Revolution.

Trouble with Mexico

Sam Houston did not want to engage in war with Mexico as Texas did not have a strong enough military to win the fight.
- Texas could also not afford a war due to how much debt they had incurred.
- Fights along the Texas-Mexican border were frequent, but neither country were ready for a full-on war...yet….

New Country, New Capital

Today the Capital of Texas is Austin but it had previously been in other locations.
When the Republic of Texas was first founded the Capital was in the tiny town of Columbia, Texas.
Once the town of Houston was established, Sam Houston relocated the Capital of Texas to Houston.

2nd President Mirabeau B. Lamar

The Election of 1838

The Texas Constitution limited the President of Texas to a two year term and prevented any President from serving consecutive terms in office.
So in 1838 another election was held to choose the 2nd President of Texas.
Sam Houston recommended his Vice President Mirabeau Lamar as he thought that Lamar would share his political views...but that was NOT the case.
Lamar had different ideas about how Texas should be run that conflicted with Sam Houston.
Lamar was always looking for a fight with Mexico and the Native Americans of Texas.
The bold aggressive attitude that is associated with Texans is thought to be attributed to the policies of Mirabeau Lamar.

Mirabeau B. Lamar

In 1838, Mirabeau B. Lamar became the second elected president of Texas.

Characteristics of his Presidency would include:

Opposed to Annexation- Lamar was against the annexation of Texas into the U.S. Instead, he wanted Texas to remain an independent nation and eventually spread all the way to the Pacific Ocean.

Capital - Lamar moved the capital of Texas out of the city of Houston and into a new city called “Austin”.
He increased the size of the military [rebuilding the Navy], which caused a sharp increase in the debt Texas owed, and then he used that military to force many Native Americans out of Texas.

Lamar wanted to build a Texas empire that extended all the way to the Pacific Ocean. In order to due that he wanted to build a large military and Navy to attack Mexico and steal their land.

Money, Military & Movement

Lamar had the Texas Capital moved from Houston to the town of Austin [named after the “Father of Texas”] to spite [deliberately hurt] Sam Houston.
Lamar is also known as the “Father of Education” in Texas. He believed a strong system of education could make Texas a great nation. Lamar specifically set aside land in Texas for public schools….Stolen land from the Cherokee Native Americans.
He INCREASED the debt of Texas by funding military campaigns, reestablishing the Navy, and pushing to expand Texas' territory.

Conflicts with Natives

Due to Lamar's aggressive attitude, Cherokee Natives joined forces with Tejanos to lead a rebellion against Texas known as the Cordova Rebellion.
Lamar also used soldiers to force the Cherokee out of East Texas and into Oklahoma onto Native American Reservations.
In March of 1840 Texans arranged a meeting with Comanche Natives to “peacefully discuss” relations and exchange captives.
The Comanche showed up without weapons out of respect for the peaceful intention of the meeting.
Texans became angry with the Natives because they did not bring all the captives the Texans expected. A fight broke out and the Texans slaughtered the unarmed natives in what became known as the Council House Fight.
President Lamar never intended to actually negotiate peace with the Native Americans. It was a setup. When Houston found out about the slaughter he was FURIOUS.

Tensions with Mexico

In June of 1841 Lamar sent in a group of men in the Santa Fe Expedition to New Mexico to try and convince the people there to break away from Mexico and become Texans. Lamar needed New Mexico in order to push the Western Boundary of Texas further out and increase Texas’ territory.
The people of New Mexico were so uninterested that they told the Mexican authorities [including Santa Anna] about the Santa Fe Expedition.
The Texans were taken prisoner and kept in Mexico city for 8 months before they were released. On the way back home the Texans were constantly attacked by angry Comanches.

3rd President Sam Houston

Sam Houston was re-elected in 1841, becoming the 3^rd President of Texas.
His efforts to reduce the public debt were unsuccessful.
Texas faced serious money problems. The young nation had a large debt, owing millions of dollars to other countries mostly to the U.S.
This shortage of funds made it hard for Texas to build an army and navy, which they would desperately need to fend off attacks from Mexico.
Conflicts with Native Americans in Texas were ongoing. In 1842, Houston signed peace treaties with many Native American groups, ensuring peace for a number of years.

The Archive War

Mexico’s response to the failed Santa Fe Expedition was a brief invasion of the Mexican army – occupying San Antonio and Goliad for a few days. Houston worried that the archives [official documents] in Austin were unsafe and wanted to move them back to the city of Houston.

Austin residents suspected that Houston wanted to move the capital back to Houston permanently, and they fought with government officials to keep the documents in Austin.

After a brief fight, the archives – and the capital – remained in Austin.

The Mier Expedition

On Santa Anna's orders Mexican troops attacked San Antonio (site of the Battle Of The Alamo) and took 67 hostages on the 11th of September, 1842.
Sam Houston sent a militia to fight back and retrieve the hostages.
The Mexican soldiers crossed the Rio Grande back in to Mexico before the Texans could catch them. The Texans hesitated at the border and did not cross into Mexico.
After some fighting amongst themselves the Texans decided to pursue the Mexican army across the river.
The Texas militia stopped in the Mexican town of Mier to get more supplies. While in Mier they were captured and then taken South to Mexico city.
In Mexico City Santa Anna ordered that 1 in 10 of the captured Texans be executed.
The Texan prisoners picked beans from a pot, those who picked out a WHITE bean were allowed to live and those who got a BLACK bean were shot.
The remaining prisoners were released over a year later.

4th President Anson Jones

In 1844, Anson Jones became the 4th and final President of Texas. [Sam Houston’s pick for the next President of Texas]

Characteristics of his Presidency would include:

Support of Annexation - Jones would quietly support the Annexation of Texas into the United States.

Debt - Jones would continue Houston’s policies to reduce the debt of Texas, but unfortunately the debt kept rising.

Native Americans - Jones kept the peace with the Cherokees and other tribes of Texas, just as Houston did before him.

Anson Jones is mostly remembered for successfully negotiating with U.S. President James K. Polk to annex Texas into the United States.

Annexation Revisited

In 1844, the Presidential election in the U.S. came down to Henry Clay against James K. Polk.
The question of Texas annexation [along with the larger issue of Manifest Destiny] would be decided in the election.
Clay was against the annexation of Texas, knowing that it would lead to problems with Mexico and increased tensions between slave states and free states in the United States.
James K. Polk, on the other hand, promised to annex Texas if he was elected, no matter the consequences.
When Polk was elected by the people of the U.S., the annexation of Texas finally happened. On December 29, 1845, President James K. Polk signed the resolution that made Texas the 28^th state in the United States.

Important Individuals of the Republic of Texas

José Antonio Navarro

Served as Bexar’s (San Antonio) representative in the Texas Congress. He tried to protect Tejano land claims and other rights; he was a voice of Tejanos. Supporter of Mirabeau B. Lamar and a critic of Sam Houston. Chosen as one of President Lamar's commissioners to accompany the Texan Santa Fe expedition. Delegate to the Convention of 1845, which decided annexation, and helped write the state constitution. Served in the Texas Senate.

Mary Maverick

She and her husband, Samuel, established a large ranch near the San Antonio area. She recorded her daily life in diaries and journals between the days of the Republic of Texas and the Civil War. Maverick worked hard making sure the history of Texas was preserved.

William Goyens

A free African-American who was a well-to-do businessman. He was a blacksmith, wagon manufacturer, freight hauler, mill owner, landowner, and farmer in Nacogdoches. He was of mixed race and spoke Spanish and several native Texan languages. Goyens was an important negotiator for Texas with the Cherokees.

Jack Coffee Hays

One of the best-known Texas Rangers. A surveyor of the Republic of Texas and a captain of a Texas Ranger company.

Vicente Cordova

After the Texas Revolution, there was an influx of Americans to Nacogdoches, where the population was primarily Mexican. Some Mexicans living in Nacogdoches remained loyal to Mexico. One loyalist was Vicente Cordova. Vicente Cordova, along with Native Americans who were loyal to Mexico, began to organize with almost 400 people along the Angelina River. Before anything happened, the group was defeated, yet the distrust of Mexicans and Native Americans resulted in Lamar’s decision to remove the Cherokee from Texas.

Chief Bowles

During the Lamar administration (1839), Chief Bowles was ordered to lead the Cherokees out of Texas. Bowles refused. Lamar ordered the militia to drive them out by force. Bowles was killed, and the Cherokees were forced to present-day Oklahoma.

Early Statehood

How Do We Normalize After Change?

The Fate of Juan Seguin

Hero of the Revolution, Juan Seguin settled in Texas after the war and even became the Mayor of San Antonio in 1840.
However, he would be caught up in the tensions between the Anglo and Tejano settlers.
His connections with his family in Mexico made the Anglos suspicious of him and he was even blamed for the failure of the Santa Fe Expedition.
In April of 1842 he and his family were run out of San Antonio by an angry Anglo mob.
His family fled to Mexico were he was forced to fight against Texas in the Mexican-American War.
After the war he did return to Texas to live a quiet life, but most Texans would never trust him again. Texas, the land he had fought so hard for, had turned its back on him.
Seguin eventually had to return to Mexico for the remainder of his life because racism against Latinos in Texas made it dangerous for him to live there.
On July 4, 1976 he was finally honored as a Hero of Texas and the town of Seguin was named after him.
His remains were brought back to Texas and buried beside the rest of the heroes of the Alamo.

State of Texas

The Era of Early Statehood in Texas history was marked by an Expansion in Population as Americans rushed to Texas for the cheap land and job opportunities.
The port of Houston was important to the growth in Texas as goods would come through the port to be shipped throughout the rest of the State.
To become a state, Texas had to change its Constitution [legal document listing the laws of the State] since it would no longer be a separate country, but instead a part of the U.S.
On July 4th 1845, 61 Texans met to write a State Constitution.
Only two of those delegates were NOT immigrants from the U.S.:
Jose Antonio Navarro was a native Tejano.
James Powers was an Irish immigrant.
The Texas Constitution included a Bill of Rights to protect individual rights.

Like the Constitution of the Texas Republic, the new state constitution separated the government into three parts:

The Legislative Branch

The Legislative branch makes the laws and is split into two houses [the Senate and the House of Representatives].

The Executive Branch

The Executive branch enforces the laws. The governor is the head of the executive branch and has the power to veto laws, or block them from going into effect.

The Judicial Branch

The Judicial branch interprets the laws, ensuring that they are fair and are aligned with the constitution. The judicial branch has the power to resolve legal disputes and questions.

The Bill of Rights

The first article of the Texas Constitution includes the Bill of Rights, which protects the individual freedoms of regular Texas citizens.

These rights include freedom of speech [right to express yourself], freedom of religion [right to be whatever religion you want], freedom of the press [the right to stay informed], and many more.

Texas Bill of Rights

1) Freedom of speech, press, religion, assembly, and petition.

2) Right to bear arms.

3) Citizens do not have to house soldiers.

4) No unreasonable search or arrest.

5) No double jeopardy or no witness against yourself.

6) Rights of accused in criminal cases to fair trial.

7) Trial by jury.

8) No excessive bail, fines, or cruel and unusual punishment.

9) People get rights not listed in the Constitution.

10) Any rights not given to the federal government are given to the states and people.

Building To War With Mexico

When James K. Polk ran for U.S. President in 1844, he promised to make the U.S. larger. This dream of expansion was part of a popular idea called Manifest Destiny, which held that the U.S. would eventually expand from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.

Bringing Texas into the U.S. had been a first step. Much of the land to the west of Texas, though, belonged to Mexico.

In addition, there was a dispute between Mexico and Texas over the border between them. The U.S. claimed that the Rio Grande was the border between Texas and Mexico. However, Mexico insisted that the Nueces River was [and always had been] the river used to separate Texas from Mexico.

Manifest Destiny was a popular belief that the U.S. would eventually spread from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean occupying all the lands in between [including Texas].
Completing Manifest Destiny was ultimately the reason that America decided to annex Texas.

The Mexican-American War

U.S. President James K. Polk

War Begins

President James K. Polk first tried to buy the land from Mexico. He also tried to discuss settlement of the border dispute. Mexico refused.

In response, Polk sent U.S. soldiers to the disputed area between Texas and Mexico [an area between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande River]. Mexico sent troops, too, to defend their claim to the land.
By April of 1846, the two nations were officially at war.

About 5,000 Texans fought in the Mexican-American War. The U.S. forces were better equipped and better led. In 1847, American soldiers led by Winfield Scott and Zachary Taylor managed to capture Mexico City. The defeated country of Mexico held out for six months, then finally surrendered in early 1848.

On February 2, 1848, the two countries signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
In this treaty Mexico gave up all claims to Texas and accepted the Rio Grande River as the boundary. They also gave up all the land from Texas to the Pacific Ocean in the Mexican Cession. [A Cession is the granting of land by one country to another.] The U.S. paid Mexico $15 million for this land.

"Map of North America in the 1800's"

[Note the Mexican Cession, this is the land that U.S. won after the Mexican-American War]

The Compromise of 1850

Texas would both gain and lose in the Compromise of 1850.
Texas won $10 million in war costs from Mexico and was officially declared a Slave State in the U.S.
However, Texas also lost part of its land to Mexico to even things out.
California was added to the U.S. as a Free State to balance out Texas’ slave state status.

Characteristics of Early Statehood

Immigration

In the mid-19th Century [1850-1900] there was an influx [arrival] of immigrants to Texas, most of which were European.

Problems and hardships back home caused them to leave their countries and hope for a better life in Texas.

These new European immigrants established thriving and successful towns in Texas, increasing the population.

German Immigrants

Germans were the largest immigrant group to come to Texas from Europe. They made up about five percent of Texas population in 1850.

Germans adapted to the larger Texas culture by combining their old traditions with new ones, including the creation of a Texas German dialect [German words combined with Texas-English phrases].

Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte [Black Forest Cake]

Other Immigrant Groups

A small group from Poland built the town of Panna Maria. It was the first permanent Polish colony in the U.S.

People from Switzerland built the town of Vernon. Most were skilled crafts-people.

A book by William Kennedy helped Texas attract settlers from Ireland.

Small groups of people from Norway and Sweden also came to the state. They were mostly farmers.

In 1842, Henri Castro brought people from France to start a colony in Texas. Castro used his own money to help the colony survive.

Population Growth

The population of Texas grew greatly from 1836 to 1850. The promise of land brought thousands of people to Texas.

Legalized slavery and the annexation of Texas in 1845 gave many Americans reason to migrate to our state, as well.

Immigration helped fuel a population boom in Texas. In 1845, there were 125,000 people living in Texas. By 1860, that number had grown to 600,000.

Political & Border Issues

With the Compromise of 1850 Texas finally paid off its debt. Funds for this came when Texas gave up some land to neighboring New Mexico. In return, the state received $10 million.

Also during this era, political parties formed in the state. The most popular party was the Democratic Party – it favored annexation and supported the practice of slavery in Texas.

The issue of slavery continued to trouble national politics. Soon, this national conflict would have a big impact on Texas.

Texans would have to choose a side in the upcoming national conflict over slavery. A conflict that would tear the United States apart….the Civil War.

Page updated

Report abuse