Republic of Texas

For the latter day independence movement surrounding Texas, see Republic of Texas (group).

Republic of Texas
1836–1845
Flag Seal
Capital	Washington-on-the-Brazos Harrisburg Galveston Velasco Columbia Houston Austin
Common languages	English (de facto) Spanish, French, German and Native American languages regionally
Government	Republic
President1
• 1836-1838	Sam Houston
• 1838-1841	Mirabeau B. Lamar
• 1841-1844	Sam Houston
• 1844-1845	Anson Jones
Vice President1
• 1836-1838	Mirabeau B. Lamar
• 1838-1841	David G. Burnet
• 1841-1844	Edward Burleson
• 1844-1845	Kenneth L. Anderson
History
• Independence	March 2 1836
• Annexation	December 29 1845
• Transfer of power	February 19 1846
Area
1840	1,007,935 km2 (389,166 sq mi)
Population
• 1840	70,000
Currency	Republic of Texas Dollar ($)
Preceded by Succeeded by Mexico Texas
1Interim period (16 Mar-22 Oct 1836): President: David G. Burnet, Vice President Lorenzo de Zavala

The Republic of Texas was a sovereign nation in North America between the United States and Mexico that existed from 1836 to 1845. Formed as a break-away republic from Mexico by the Texas Revolution, the nation claimed borders that encompassed an area that included all of the present U.S. state of Texas, as well as parts of present-day New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and Wyoming based upon the Treaties of Velasco between the newly created Texas republic and Mexico. The eastern boundary with the United States was defined by the Adams-Onís Treaty between the United States and Spain, in 1819. Its southern and western-most boundary with Mexico was under dispute throughout the existence of the Republic, with Texas claiming that the boundary was the Rio Grande, and Mexico claiming the Nueces River as the boundary. This dispute would later become a trigger for the Mexican–American War, after the annexation of Texas.

Historical context

Main article: Texas Revolution

Texas was not the only Mexican state to secede from Mexico and declare independence. The Mexican states of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas also withdrew themselves from Mexico and formed their own short-lived federal republic called the Republic of the Rio Grande with Laredo as the capital, which is in the present-day State of Texas. The Mexican state of Yucatán also seceded and formed the Republic of Yucatán. Several other states also went into open rebellion including San Luis Potosí, Querétaro, Durango, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Jalisco and Zacatecas. All the Mexican states that revolted, including Texas, were upset with President Antonio López de Santa Anna over abolishing the Mexican Constitution of 1824, dissolving the Mexican Congress and changing the structure of the Mexican government from a federal one to a centralized one. In fact, Yucatán, in its declaration of independence, expressed its desire to re-accede to the Mexican Union if federalism was to be re-established. Texas was the only seceding Mexican state to retain its independence from Mexico.

However, the context of the Texas rebellion was different from the other Mexican states/provinces attempting to declare independence, because the Texas rebellion was conducted with great assistance by Anglo American immigrants. Mainly because of this fact, Texas was also the only former Mexican state to entertain the idea of joining the United States entirely of its own volition. After gaining their independence, the Texas voters had elected a congress of 14 senators and 29 representatives in September 1836. The Constitution of the Republic of Texas allowed the first president to serve for only two years. It set a three year term for all later presidents.

Diplomatic relations

On March 3, 1837, US President Andrew Jackson appointed Alcée La Branche as chargé d'affaires to the Republic of Texas, thus officially recognizing Texas as an independent republic. France granted official recognition of Texas on September 25, 1839, appointing Dubois de Saligny to serve as chargé d'affaires. Great Britain never granted official recognition of Texas due to its own friendly relations with Mexico, but admitted Texan goods into British ports on their own terms.

Statehood

A map of Mexico, 1835-1846.

On February 28, 1845, the U.S. Congress passed a bill that would authorize the United States to annex the Republic of Texas. 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. Faced with imminent American annexation of Texas, Charles Elliot and Alphonse de Saliny, the British and French ministers to Texas, were dispatched to Mexico City by their governments. Meeting together with Mexico's foreign secretary, they signed a "Diplomatic Act" in which Mexico offered to recognize an independent Texas, with boundaries that would be determined with French and British mediation. Texas President Anson Jones forwarded both offers to a specially elected convention meeting at Austin, and the American proposal was accepted with only one dissenting vote. The Mexican proposal was never put to a vote. Following the previous decree of President Jones, the proposal was then put to a national vote.

On October 13, 1845 a large majority of voters in the Republic approved both the American offer and the proposed constitution that specifically endorsed slavery and the slave trade. This constitution was later accepted by the U.S. Congress, making Texas a U.S. state on the same day annexation took effect, December 29 1845 (therefore bypassing a territorial phase). One of the motivations for annexation (besides the primary one of desiring to be united with their perceived Anglo-American ethno-cultural brethren of the United States and their Anglo-American brethren of "the South" regional-cultural) was that the Texas government had incurred huge debts which the United States agreed to assume upon annexation. In 1852, 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—one that remains is that the resolution granted Texas the explicit right to secede from the Union. This was a right argued by some to be implicitly held by all states at the time, up until the conclusion of the Civil War. The resolution did include two unique provisions: first, it said that up to four additional states could be created from Texas' territory, with the consent of the State of Texas. The resolution did not include any special exceptions to the provisions of the US Constitution regarding statehood. The right to create these possible new states was not "reserved" for Texas, as is sometimes stated.. 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. This also means that the state government has control over oil reserves which were later used to fund the state's public university system. In addition, the state's control over offshore oil reserves in Texas runs out to 3 leagues (10.357 miles, 16.668 km) rather than three miles (4.828 km) as with other states.

Presidents and vice presidents

Presidents and Vice Presidents of the Republic of Texas with election results

From	To	President	Vice president	Presidential candidates	Pres. votes	Vice pres. candidates	V.P. votes
16 March 1836	22 October 1836	David G. Burnet     (interim)	Lorenzo de Zavala     (interim)
22 October 1836	10 December 1838	Sam Houston	Mirabeau B. Lamar	Sam Houston Henry Smith Stephen F. Austin	5119 743 587	Mirabeau B. Lamar
10 December 1838	13 December 1841	Mirabeau B. Lamar	David G. Burnet	Mirabeau B. Lamar Robert Wilson	6995 252	David G. Burnet
13 December 1841	9 December 1844	Sam Houston	Edward Burleson	Sam Houston David G. Burnet	7915 3619	Edward Burleson Memucan Hunt	6141 4336
9 December 1844	19 February 1846	Anson Jones	Kenneth L. Anderson	Anson Jones Edward Burleson	__ __	Kenneth L. Anderson

Notable figures of the republic

Stephen F. Austin, known as the "Father of Texas"

Stephen F. Austin Barnard E. Bee John Birdsall Jim Bowie Edward Burleson David G. Burnet George C. Childress Louis P. Cooke Davy Crockett Green DeWitt Lorenzo de Zavala J. Pinckney Henderson Sam Houston Robert A. Irion Albert Sidney Johnston Anson Jones

Samuel Maverick Mary Maverick Mirabeau B. Lamar José Antonio Navarro James C. Neill William Beck Ochiltree Thomas Jefferson Rusk Juan Seguin Ashbel Smith George Whitfield Terrell William B. Travis Isaac Van Zandt Edwin Waller James Webb William H. Wharton Robert McAlpin Williamson

See also

• Timeline of the Republic of Texas
• History of Texas
• Republic of the Rio Grande
• Republic of Yucatán
• The Texas Legation
• The French Legation
• Texas Navy

References

• Republic of Texas Historical Resources
• Republic of Texas from the Handbook of Texas Online
• The University of Texas/history
• The State of Texas website/history
• Texas: the Rise, Progress, and Prospects of the Republic of Texas, Vol. 1, published 1841, hosted by Portal to Texas History
• Texas: the Rise, Progress, and Prospects of the Republic of Texas, Vol. 2, published 1841, hosted by Portal to Texas History
• Laws of the Republic, 1836-1838 from Gammel's Laws of Texas, Vol. I. hosted by the Portal to Texas History.
• Laws of the Republic, 1838-1845 from Gammel's Laws of Texas, Vol. II. hosted by the Portal to Texas History.
• The Avalon Project at Yale Law School: Texas - From Independence to Annexation

External links

• The Texas Declaration Of Independence TexasBob.com.