The
Texas Annexation of
1845 was the voluntary
annexation of the
Republic of Texas by the
United States of America as
Texas, the 28th state. The new state of Texas included all of present-day Texas, plus portions of
New Mexico,
Oklahoma,
Kansas,
Wyoming, and
Colorado.
In 1837, the Republic of Texas, having just won its independence from Mexico, voted to consent to its annexation by the U.S. Initially, when the Texas minister (ambassador) in Washington, D.C., proposed annexation to the administration of Martin Van Buren in August 1837, the request was refused since the administration anticipated that it would lead to war with Mexico. Texas withdrew the annexation offer in 1838, and chose to exist as an independent nation, recognized by the United States, United Kingdom, France and The Netherlands. In 1843, Britain opposed annexation, but President John Tyler decided to support annexation. Despite the fact that Mexican dictator Antonio López de Santa Anna warned that annexation would be "equivalent to a declaration of war," Tyler signed the treaty of annexation with Texas in April 1844. The Senate overwhelmingly rejected it on June 8 35 to 16. The Constitution requires a two-thirds majority vote in the Senate to confirm a treaty.
After extensive negotiation by the American chargé d'affaires to Texas, Andrew Jackson Donelson, nephew of former president Andrew Jackson, Republic of Texas President Anson Jones, former Texas president Sam Houston, and the Texas congress consented to the annexation. Texas ratified the Treaty on July 4. On 29 December 1845, President Polk approved Texas's admission to the Union as a state.
A factor in the Texas annexation discussions in the United States was the realization of the northern states that there would be two new slave state Senators when Texas was admitted. Although Mexico had outlawed slavery completely years prior to Texas independence, slavery was allowed to continue in Mexican Texas, and continued to exist in Texas during its years as an independent Republic.
