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Republic of Texas

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Alternative use: Republic of Texas (group)
Republic of Texas
Flag of the Republic of Texas
The "Lone Star Flag"
(Second national Flag of Texas) 		Republic of Texas Seal
Republic of Texas Seal
LocationRepublicOfTexas.png
Official language
English (de facto)

Spanish, French, German and Native American languages regionally

Capital Washington-on-the-Brazos (1836)
Harrisburg (1836)
Galveston (1836)
Velasco (1836)
Houston (1837–1839)
Austin (1839–1845)
Largest city San Antonio de Béxar
Presidents David G. Burnet, Sam Houston, Mirabeau B. Lamar, Anson Jones
Area 261,797 square miles (678,051 km²)
Population Approximately 70,000 (1840)
Independence March 2, 1836
Annexation December 29, 1845 by the United States of America
Transfer of Power February 19, 1846 to the State of Texas and the United States of America
Currency Republic of Texas Dollar ($)
National anthem Unknown

The Republic of Texas was a short-lived country in North America between the United States and Mexico that existed from 1836 to 1845. Formed as a break-away republic from Mexico as a result of 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. The eastern boundary with the United States was defined by the Adams-Onis Treaty between the United States and Spain in 1819. Its southern and western-most boundary with Mexico was under dispute throughout the lifetime 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 between Mexico and the United States after the annexation of Texas.

History[edit]

Template:Texas History See Mexican Texas for the events leading to the Texas Revolution.

The first Texas provisional government was formed at San Felipe de Austin on November 7, 1835. This council passed a declaration of support for the 1824 Mexican constitution, and appointed a governor and other officials. This council stopped short of declaring Texas independence. The first declaration of independence for modern Texas, by both Anglo-Texian settlers and local Tejanos, was signed in Goliad on December 20, 1835. The Convention of 1836 was convened at Washington-on-the-Brazos with Richard Ellis presiding, and the Texas Declaration of Independence was enacted on March 2, 1836, effectively creating the Republic of Texas.

Four days later, the thirteen day Siege of the Alamo ended as Mexican General Antonio López de Santa Anna's forces defeated the 183 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 were 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.

Texas claimed the Rio Grande as its southern and western limit, according to the Treaties of Velasco of May 1836. Mexico rejected the treaty as invalid and refused to recognize the existence of the Republic of Texas, although it was recognized by every other major power. Mexico insisted that Texas remained its province. Texas tried to gain recognition from Mexico as an independent state, putting the Nueces as the territorial limit in the negotiation table, to no avail. The British tried to mediate but the Mexican government refused to accept mediation. In 1845, the United States agreed to uphold Texas' claims upon the Rio Grande if it agreed to join the U.S. Mexico threatened war if annexation took place.


Republic of Texas. The present-day outlines of the U.S. states are superimposed on the boundaries of 1836–1845

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 in 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 starting with Velasco (Now Freeport) and also including Washington-on-the-Brazos, Harrisburg, Galveston, and Columbia (Now West 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 first flag of the republic was the "Burnet Flag" (which was inspired by the Bonnie Blue Flag), followed shortly thereafter by official adoption of the Lone Star Flag.

The Republic received diplomatic recognition from the United States, France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, and the Republic of Yucatán.

Historical Context[edit]

Texas was not the only Mexican state to secede from Mexico and declare independence. The Mexican states of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, and Tamaulipas would also withdraw themselves from Mexico and would form their own 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 seceeded 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. Texas, however, was the only seceeding Mexican state to retain its independence.

All the Mexican states that revolted, including Texas, were upset with Santa Anna over the abolishing of the Mexican Constitution of 1824, disolving the Mexican Congress and changing the structure of the Mexican government from a federal one to a centralized one.

See Texas Revolution for a more detailed account on what lead to the formation of the Republic of Texas.

Statehood[edit]

On February 28, 1845, the U.S. 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 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—chiefly, that the resolution was a treaty between sovereign states, and 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. However, no such right was explicitly enumerated in the resolution. The resolution did include two unique provisions: first, it gave the new state of Texas the right to divide itself into as many as five states with approval of its legislature. 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.

Presidents of the Republic[edit]

Vice Presidents of the Republic[edit]

Results of the Elections[edit]

1836


1838


1841

Pres.

Vice Pres.


1844

Notable figures of the Republic[edit]

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

See also[edit]

Further reading[edit]

  • Campbell, Randolph B. Sam Houston and the American Southwest. New York: Harper-Collins, 1993.
  • Campbell, Randolph B. An Empire for Slavery: The Peculiar Institution in Texas, 1821–1865. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1989.
  • Friend, Llerena B. Sam Houston: The Great Designer. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1954.
  • Gambrell, Herbert P. Mirabeau Bonaparte Lamar: Troubadour and Crusader. Dallas: Southwest Press, 1934.
  • Hardin, Stephen L. Texian Iliad: A Military History of the Texas Revolution, 1835–1836. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994.
  • Lack, Paul D. The Texas Revolutionary Experience: A Political and Social History, 1835–1836. College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1992.
  • Lowrie, Samuel H. Culture Conflict in Texas, 1821–1835. New York: Columbia University Press, 1932.
  • Montejano, David. Anglos and Mexicans in the Making of Texas, 1836–1986. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1987.
  • Nance, Joseph Milton. After San Jacinto: The Texas-Mexican Frontier, 1836–1841. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1963.
  • Nance, Joseph Milton. Attack and Counterattack: The Texas-Mexican Frontier, 1842. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1964.
  • Poyo, Gerald E., ed. Tejano Journey, 1770–1850. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1996.
  • Reséndez, Andrés. “National Identity on the Shifting Border: Texas and New Mexico in the Age of Transition, 1821–1846.” Journal of American History 86 (September 1999): 668–688. in JSTOR
  • Siegel, Stanley: “A Political History of the Texas Republic 1836 - 1845” Haskell House Publisher Ltd., New York, NY 10012, 1973
  • Weber, David J. The Mexican Frontier, 1821–1846: The American Southwest under Mexico. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1982.
  • Winders, Bruce. Crisis in the Southwest: The United States, Mexico, and the Struggle over Texas. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 2002.

External links[edit]

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