Annexation of Texas

This article explores the history and controversy surrounding the annexation of Texas to the United States. It discusses the concept of Manifest Destiny and its role in the expansion of American territories. The article also delves into the reasons behind Texas becoming the 28th state of the United States.

Running head: Annexation of Texas
Annexation of Texas
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1Annexation of Texas
Introduction:
In the words of the Late Ambrose Bierce, “God alone knows the future, but only an Historian
can alter the past”, shows how historians have an important role in maintaining the
knowledge of the past (Wynne p202). The paper aims to explore this understanding in the
history of Texas, the second largest state in the U.S. it has been pointed out that the history
around the annexation of Texas is far from being put to rest and several mysteries and
unanswered questions still remain on how Mexico lost this big state to United States. The
writing would also focus on the Manifest Destiny through which the annexation if Texas
would be viewed.
The concept of annexation of a territory is the idea that inhabitants of one territory take over -
other territories spreading their habitat in those regions (Cox p70-71). The American Union
was) involved in annexation of territories since a long time But until 1845 no concrete steps
had ever been taken for annexation. The growth of British influence during 1844 on the
Republic of Texas have resulted in a shift of power due to which Texas ultimately became a
part of USA. During this event, Texans and Americans showed a mutual interest to be a part
of the same country and the Presidential candidate James Konx Polk supported the
annexation of Texas as well as Oregon to United States (Wright p100). Despite the protest
from the Mexican Government, the annexation took place and the Mexican Government
broke all diplomatic ties with United States even though it was a reason sufficient enough for
Mexico to start a war (Van Wagenen p923-925).
Discussion:
In 1841 during August a rebellion occurred against the Government of Anastasio
Bustamante, in Mexico, by General Mariano Paredes Arrillaga. The rebellion was not to set
up a new Government but to make changes against certain policies (Thurmond and Robert

2Annexation of Texas
p269-310). By October 11th, Santa Anna was put as the President of the Republic and along
with Paredes Arrillaga set up a constituent congress which by 1842, got disbanded. Setting up
arbitrary acts and prosecuting people throughout the country both Paredes and Santa Anna
became dictators of the country. In the meantime discussions were being made by the S
Congress about the possible Annexation of Texas. During these conversations a significant
challenge was found to be the debate that existed between northern and southern territories of
United States on slavery. Slavery was not a practice common in the north while in the south it
was a common practice to own slaves to run plantations (Combs p96-118). The Southern
Americans wanted Texas to be included as a slave state where they can safely own and
practice slavery. While such a view was strongly opposed by the Northern States who
demanded Texas to be a free state in operations. Both sides understood the potential of the
influence of this debate in the National politics because the winning party would have a
considerable hand over the running power. An agreement was reached between the US
Congress and the dictators which approved the admission of Texas into the American Union.
Even though the act was against the agreement signed with the Government of Mexico. This
was considered to be an insult to the Mexican Government and would later on ignite a war
between the two countries (Salinas p163).
Santa Anna in 1843 commissioned a new constitutional basis known as the Organic Basis
through which Santa Anna was declared the President for the next term. In the same Santa
Anna also retired to his estate that was located in Manga DeClavo, in Veracouz. He returned
there when Paredes Arrillaga led a rebellion against Santa Anna. However, since Arrillaga
had several supporters from many parts of the country, he was able to persuade Santa Anna to
resign. The country of Mexico was then under the Presidential rule of Jose Joaquin de
Herrera moments before United States signed a treaty to annex Texas (Fields p20-35).

3Annexation of Texas
The annexation created a vast inner turmoil within Mexico as a result of which the
conservatives wanted to break away from the Governing body as sign up protest against the
action of United States thereby leading to a collapse of the Mexico Government. The
President Jose Joaquin de Herrera tried very hard and all the possible options to prevent
Texas from being annexed by United States. He wanted to sign a treaty that would provide
recognition to the Texas Government if United States decided not to annex it and recognize
its border with the country of Mexico (Winders p196). Diplomats and politicians were
engaged in heavy negotiation but it was made clear by the American Government that they
had no intentions to give up their plan to annex Texas. Due to this, the President of Mexico
suspended all negotiations with US who at the moment seemed to be determined to wage a
war whatever the outcomes may be. The President of Mexico, Jose Joaquin de Herrera sort
for a loan if 15 million dollars from Mexican Congress to develop a strong defense for the
nation and prevent the annexation. His loan was cancelled and its decision to suspend
negotiation with America was heavily criticized by the opposition. Regardless, Herrera set up
and army of 6000 people under the charge of Mariano Paredes Arrillaga (Stauffer p507-508).
The army was ill equipped and were fighting the American forces who were better trained
and had more expensive equipment. The American troops were already located in Texas on
the banks of River Nueces. The army under Arrillaga did not intercept the American forces
on the River banks but instead led a rebel against the President Jose Joaquin de Herrera. The
President was defeated on 1845, December 14th. While Paredes Arrillaga named himself the
President, Rio Grande was crossed by the US Troops thereby annexing the borders. During
this time General Rafael Tellez also rebelled against Paredes Arrillaga who instead of going
to California to protect it led a rebellion against Arrilaga leaving California unprotected
against the American invasion. Santa Anna meanwhile was also able to persuade Mariano

4Annexation of Texas
Salas, the leader of the local garrison to rebel against Arrillaga. This lead to Mariano Salas
becoming the interim President (Martinez p125-130).
It was however too late for Mexico to act as more than 10000 men were already marched into
capital Matamoros in Tamaulipas under the US General Zachary Taylor. As the turmoil
within Mexico grew stronger it also fell victim to a ruthless foreign invasion which within a
matter of month nearly reached the center of the country. Under Stephen Kearny the Northern
territories of Alta, California was occupied. Southwards the states of Monterrey was being
occupied by Zachery Taylor after a gruesome battle. When the American army understood
that some of the Mexican territories would be difficult to take over they prepared for a sea
invasion on the city of Veracruz. Despite of a heroic attempt the city fell to the intense
bombing in 1846 and under the command of Winnfield General Scot who was leading a
much superior army took control of the city thereby landing the American forces at the heart
of the nation (Faragher p157-158).
The situation deteriorated further in Mexico City when Santa Anna with the support of many
liberals was elected as the President. He started gathering troops to fight against Taylor’s
army who were garrisoned at Nuevo Leon . In the ensuing battle of Buena vista Mexican
troops lost and retreated to the center of the nation. During the period of absence of the
President , Santa Anna, the administrative affairs of Gomez Farias was taken over and a new
reformation was declared followed by the confiscation of all property owned by church. Due
to this, the conservatives as well as the Church stopped their support for Mexican army.
During the battle of Angosutra when Santa Anna was fighting south of Saltillo, a survey was
made by Mexico City on the guard of the President since his opposition to the reforms made
by the President. The Vice President was demoted after Santa Anna came back to Mexico
City. Due to this move the clergy started supporting him and he received funds from the
church to equip his troops who returned back to fight with the Americans who were currently

5Annexation of Texas
marching towards the Mexico Valley. The ensuing battle of Cerro Gordo was a gruesome one
and the American Army was able to disperse the Mexican troops who fled the field. Under
General Scot a free passage was created to the center of the nation through Winnfield. By
1846, the armies of America were already position within Mexico Valley and they started to
charge all the army garrisons at the edge of the city. One of the targets of the American was
Casa Mata and Molino Del Rey. Within a few days the city was stormed by the American
troops and Santa Anna was removed from his position as Chairman. A new provisional
Government was set up in Toluca in Queretaro. This made it very evident that Mexico was
defeated in the war and any form of resistance against the American forces was now a futile
attempt (Nichols p112-114).
As the invading American troops took over some of the major cities on Mexico, the
government of Mexico under Pena y Pena tried to initiate peace talks. These talks were being
engaged with Nicholas Trist who was sent by President James K. Polk. A meeting was held
between Trist and the foreign minister of Mexico, Louis de la Rosa. The negotiation process
was long drawn at the end of which Trist threatened de la Rosa that Queretara would be
conquered by the US which was a provisional seat of the Government, if Mexico failed to
accept the terms set by the US. Eventually a treaty was signed by de la Rosa which was
called The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on 1848, February 2nd. Under this treaty New
Mexico as well as Northern California was under United States and declared the war between
the two Governments to be formally over. This continued the disposition of lands of Mexico
and within a year of the treaty United States moved towards the expansion of its territory to
occupy the entire California (Faragher p157-158).
The annexation of Texas needs to be considered from two opposing sides before drawing an
understanding of the situation. The concept of the Manifest Destiny in relation to the
Annexation of Texas also needs to be considered in this discussion. During the 1830’s and

6Annexation of Texas
40’s the concept of the manifest slowly began to evolve with the westward expansion of
American territories. The Manifest Destiny had its origins within the concepts of democratic
traditions and led to the notion amongst the Americans that they were the forbearers of
freedom and had a divine right towards it. The idea of the Americans being selected by the
God further added to the strong sense of nationalism as evangelist preachers further spread
the idea to the American masses. Soon the American people started believing that they had a
divine duty of spreading democracy and Protestantism that spread from one coast of America
to another. This resulted in the American people needing to and wanting to control as many
territories as they could which were connected to the Northern part of America and thereby
“liberate” the people there. This belief that the Americans had that United States should keep
on increasing its birders to save others from oppression by helping them establishing
democracy allowed the American Government to keep on expanding its territories, annexing
new lands as a very justified action. After the death of President William Harrison in 1941,
the idea of the expansion of the United States through annexation of new lands in the South
started to grow as John Tyler became the next President succeeding Harrison (Stauffer p507-
508).
While being a Vice President Tyler already had the early ideas but after becoming the
President he made the idea of the Manifest Destiny to fusion and popularity. Thus started the
notion that America should conquer more land, annex Texas and expand its territory. The
Manifest Destiny also proposed the transformation of Texas through American annexation. In
1836, the intention of the Republic of Texas to break away from Mexico already became
evident. This coupled with the expressed interest of the Republic to join United States started
to create a torsion that slowly pulled Texas away from Mexico. This resulted in the Republic
declaring its independence from Mexico and United States thereby acquired large land thus
addressing their need for global expansion. This acquisition of new land south of the border

7Annexation of Texas
then further transformed the ideas of the Manifest destiny as the Republic of Texas wanted to
be a part of the United States instead of a forced acquisition. Some controversy still existed
regarding the annexation of Texas regardless of the manifest destiny and the intention of the
American troops to expand its territory. This controversy created a short divide between the
democrats and the republicans in America. Additionally, the rift was made even more
significant with the addition of the issue of slavery that was slowly heating up throughout the
nation (Combs p96-118).
In 1845, December 29th, the Republic of Texas officially became a part of The United States
of America as the 28th state after declaring independence from Mexico in 1836. The support
of people of Texas to this annexation was one of the key reasons this territory was lost from
Mexican control and became a part of United States. Even though major political leaders
from the major parties of the United Sates sowed opposition to the idea of introducing Texas,
the negotiation between Sam Houston, the President of Texas Republic with United States
and a mediation from United Kingdom allowed Texas to become and official part of United
States (Salinas p163).
Conclusion:
The increasing population of American settlers during the 1830’s in the area of Rio Grande
and a drive amongst the American population to increase its territory to support their
nationalistic pride and the Manifest Destiny successfully led to a drive that caused
independence to Texas from Mexican Government and its annexation as soon as the state
became independent from Mexico. This strategy provided a direct conflict between Mexico
and USA as Texas already declared its autonomy from Mexico and during the American
annexation of Texas it was no longer a part of the Mexican soil. However, several conditions
under which the annexation took place including the invasion of the American forces into the

8Annexation of Texas
Mexican territory a long lasting rift between Mexico and United States. With either sides of
the contradictory parties, a common ground exists of preserving the national territory. The
controversy is still far from being resolved as the scars of the annexation is still borne my
Mexico while America still holding to its firm ideas of Manifest Destiny. IT can be added
that the annexation took place with the consent of the people of Texas who were the ones
being affected by the process which gives United States the ground of claiming the land of
Texas as their territory. Thus, a moral high ground in this controversy is hard to be convened
as both the sides has logical and national reasons for their behavior.
References:
Combs, Jerald A. "Territorial Expansion: Texas, Oregon, California, and the Mexican
War." The History of American Foreign Policy: v. 1: To 1920. Routledge, 2015. 96-118.
Cox, Graham B. "Contested Empire: Rethinking the Texas Revolution ed. by Sam W. Haynes
and Gerald D. Saxon." Great Plains Quarterly 37.1 (2017): 70-71.
Faragher, John Mack. "Seeds of Empire: Cotton, Slavery, and the Transformation of the
Texas Borderlands, 1800–1850 by Andrew J. Torget." Journal of Southern History 83.1
(2017): 157-158.
Fields, Jess, and James Quintero. "Ending Forced Annexation in Texas." (2015).
Martinez, Hilarion. A Case Study on the Annexation of the North Forest Independent School
District by the Houston Independent School District. Diss. 2017.
Nichols, James. "Seeds of Empire: Cotton, Slavery, and the Transformation of the Texas
Borderlands, 1800–1850." (2017): 112-114.

9Annexation of Texas
Salinas, Alejandra C. "Cleaning Up the Colonias: Municipal Annexation and the Texas
Fracking Boom." BC Envtl. Aff. L. Rev. 42 (2015): 163.
Shoup, Kate. Texas and the Mexican War. Cavendish Square Publishing, LLC, 2015.
Stauffer, Brian A. "Texas Land Grants, 1750–1900: A Documentary History by John Martin
Davis Jr." Southwestern Historical Quarterly 120.4 (2017): 507-508.
Thurmond, James, and Robert Yehl. "From new town to new governance: The Woodlands,
Texas." International Journal of Organization Theory and Behavior 20.03 (2017): 269-310.
Van Wagenen, Michael Scott. "Contested Empire: Rethinking the Texas Revolution ed. by
Sam W. Haynes and Gerald D. Saxon." Journal of Southern History 82.4 (2016): 923-925.
Winders, Richard Bruce. "Texas rangers." Imperialism and Expansionism in American
History: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia and Document Collection [4
volumes]: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia and Document Collection (2015):
196.
Wright, Brian. "Southern Whigs, a “British Conspiracy,” and the Annexation of Texas."
(2018).
Wynne, Ben. "See also: Mexican-American War; Polk, James Knox; Texas, Annexation
of." Imperialism and Expansionism in American History: A Social, Political, and Cultural
Encyclopedia and Document Collection [4 volumes]: A Social, Political, and Cultural
Encyclopedia and Document Collection(2015): 202.