Download Slide 1

In 1844 the United States presidential election
was against James Knox Polk and Henry Clay.
The Democratic Party supported Polk and the
Whig Party supported Clay. The Democratic
Party was for Manifest Destiny and for the
annexation of Texas; most farmers supported
this political party. The Whig party was against
annexation because Texas would come into the
Union as a slave state and annexation could
cause problems with Mexico. Most of the voters
however were for annexation and James Polk
won the election.
• Before the election of 1844 the Treaty of
annexation failed. In this treaty of annexation
Texas would come into the union as a territory
and not a state. Texas would also have to give
up some of their land. The Treaty of Annexation
failed because they could not get two thirds
vote of the senate to approve it. Polk was able to
get Texas annexed by a joint resolution. In a
joint resolution a simple majority of congress
would have to approve it. This was successful
and on December 29th 1845 Texas entered the
Union has the 28th and last slave state. Texas
was able to keep its public land and skip the
territorial stage.
• On February 19, 1846 Anson Jones the last
president of the Republic of Texas turned over
the government to James Pinckney Henderson,
the first governor of the state of Texas. The first
two senators of Texas were Sam Houston and
Thomas Rusk. The annexation of Texas caused a
boundary dispute between Mexico and the United
States. The United States wanted the Rio Grande
River to separate the two countries and Mexico
wanted the Nueces, a river further north. The
diplomats could not solve the boundary dispute
and this became one cause of the Mexican War,
which was fought from 1846 through 1848.
• The United States won the Mexican War and with
the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on
February 2, 1848, the United States received the
Mexican Cession and the Rio Grande River
became the official border river of the two
countries. Mexico was paid 15 million dollars for
this land. In 1850, the Pearce Act, which was part
of the compromise of 1850, settled the boundary
dispute of the Rio Grande between New Mexico
and Texas. The Federal government paid Texas 10
million dollars and Texas gave up the disputed
land to New Mexico. The western boundary of
Texas was now established.