Download Statehood for Texas

Statehood for
Texas
1845-1851
Texas:
The Twenty-Eighth State
When Texas accepted the offer to become a state of
the United States, the first task was to form the state
government. In 1845 delegates from across Texas
met to write a state constitution. Later that year,
Texans elected their state officers.
In its first years as a state, Texas established the
framework for its laws and government today.
The State Constitution
• Delegates to the constitution studied the U.S.
Constitution and the constitutions of other states.
• Some parts of the Constitution of the Republic of
Texas were kept.
• They kept Texas’s homestead laws.
• They did not allow ministers and priests to serve in
the legislature.
Legislature: a government
body that has the power to
make or pass laws.
What are Homestead Laws?
Citizens of Texas cannot have their homes taken to
pay their debts.
Constitution Provisions
• Protected homesteads from being taken to pay debts.
• Did not allow ministers or priests to serve in the
legislature
• Allowed settlers to continue bringing slaves into the
state
• Protected women’s right to own land
• Outlined 3 branches of government.
• Created the legislature (House of Representatives and
Senate)
• Set up a state court system
• Created offices for the governor and the lieutenant
governor
The Election of 1845
• The first elections of the State of Texas were held
on December 15, 1845.
• James Pinckney Henderson was elected
the first governor. (executive)
• Albert C. Horton was elected the first
lieutenant governor. (executive)
• The legislature selected Thomas J. Rusk and
Sam Houston as U.S. senators. (legislative)
The Election of
1845
• Governor Henderson served only one
term, but it was an important one.
• He established the state government of
Texas.
• He governed during the war with
Mexico that resulted when Texas was
admitted to the Union.
There were three branches of
government for Texas:
• Legislative branch – the part of
government that makes the laws
• Executive branch – the part of
government that carries out the laws.
• Judicial branch – the part of government
that interprets the laws and applies these
laws in the court system.
The United States and
Mexico at War
Soon after Texas became a state, war broke out
between Mexico and the United States. Both
countries claimed Texas as part of their nation, and
the United States wanted control of other territories
under Mexican rule.
The War with Mexico determined Texas’s
present-day southern border.
Mexican and U.S. Policy on Texas
• Under the Treaties of Velasco Santa Anna
had promised to recognize the
independence of Texas.
• The government in Mexico, though,
refused to honor that treaty and claimed
that Santa Anna had only signed it because
he was afraid he was going to be killed.
Mexico considered the Nueces River
the boundary between Mexico and
Texas
http://www.texassportfishing.com/Region_Rivers_Main/nueces_river.htm
Tensions Between
Mexico and the United
States
•Mexico still considered Texas a
part of their country.
•They claimed that if Texas was
annexed by the United States,
they would go to war.
• The United States and Mexico were also
in conflict over the land between Texas
and the Pacific Ocean.
• Americans were moving west and they
wanted control over the land from Texas
to California.
• This idea was known as Manifest Destiny
or Westward Expansion.
• Mexico did not want to give up this land.
“American Progress” by John Gast, 1872
• Mexico threatened war when Texas was annexed.
• To avoid war the U.S. President, James K. Polk tried to
negotiate with the Mexican government.
• Polk sent John Slidell to Mexico to make a deal.
• Slidell offered to pay Mexico’s debts to U.S. citizens in
exchange for all the land between Texas and California.
• The Mexican government was offended that the United
States offered to buy this land.
Tensions Between Mexico and the
United States
• Not all citizens in the United States
wanted to annex the land between Texas
and California.
• Slavery was dividing the country and the
land in the Southwest would have
allowed slavery.
• People in New England and the Midwest
did not like the idea of adding states that
would have allowed slavery.
Fighting Breaks Out
• General Zachary Taylor was ordered by President Polk
to station troops along the Nueces border.
• The Mexican general, Mariano Arista, stationed
troops along the Rio Grande.
• When negotiations between Slidell and the Mexican
government failed, Taylor ordered the American
troops down to the Rio Grande.
Fighting Breaks Out
• Major Jacob Brown was stationed at Fort Texas (near
modern day Brownsville).
• Both armies patrolled the area between the Nueces
River and the Rio Grande.
• Both countries claimed this land as their own.
• On April 24, 1846 more than 60 U.S. troops clashed
with Mexican troops.
• Both armies claimed to have been fired upon.
The War with Mexico
• The American troops engaged in battle with the
Mexican troops at Palo Alto and Resca de la Palma.
• The Americans claimed victory at each battle and
soon President Polk urged Congress to declare war
on Mexico.
• The United States declared war on Mexico on May
13, 1846.
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/mexican-war-maps.htm
http://www.dmwv.org/mexwar/images/prints/bvista.jpg
The War with Mexico
• American troops marched to Fort
Chapultepec (outside Mexico City) and
were victorious.
• The Mexican troops fought to the last
man.
• To this day Mexicans celebrate September
15th as los ninos heros in honor of the
young heroes of Mexico who sacrificed
their lives.
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
• The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the MexicanAmerican War.
• It was signed on February 2, 1848.
“There shall be firm and universal peace between
the United States of America and the Mexican
republic, and between their respective countries,
territories, cities, towns, and people, without
exception of places or persons.”
The Treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo
• Mexico agreed that Texas was now a
part of the United States.
• Mexico surrendered all land between
Texas and the Pacific Ocean.
• This transfer of land was known as
the Mexican Cession.
• The United States paid Mexico $15
million.
A New Western Border
After the War with Mexico, the Rio Grande was made
the southern border of Texas. However,
disagreement arose over Texas’s western border. This
issue, along with others, was resolved by the
Compromise of 1850.
The Compromise of 1850 established the
present-day western border of Texas.
The Texas-New Mexico Border
Dispute
• The southern border of Texas had been established as
the Rio Grande under the Treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo.
• There was still disagreement, though about the
western border of Texas.
• Texans thought their western border should follow
the Rio Grande all the way to Santa Fe.
• Most citizens in New Mexico, however still thought of
themselves as Mexican and were still angry over
Mirabeau B. Lamar’s attempt to control the area.
Disagreements over Slavery
and Territories
• In 1848 Zachary Taylor (the hero of the
Mexican-American War) became the
president of the United States.
• He faced the challenge of slavery in
Americas states and territories.
• America had a balance between states
that allowed slavery and those that did
not allow slavery.
http://www.latinamericanstudies.org/mex-war/mex-war-map.jpg
Disagreements over Slavery and
Territories
• California wanted to join the Union as a free state
(a state that outlawed slavery).
• If California became a free state, though, it would
have meant that there were more free states than
slave states (states where slavery was legal).
• Pro-slavery states did not want California to
become a state.
What were President Taylor’s
thoughts on slavery?
• President Taylor had promised the
residents of California that they
would become a state.
• He was also concerned about
lawlessness in the California
because many people were moving
there in search of gold.
An abolitionist is a person who wants
to end slavery.
• Abolitionists wanted to limit the size of Texas since
it was a slave state.
• Abolitionists also wanted to outlaw slavery in
Washington, D.C.
• Residents of New Mexico and Utah were asking to
be admitted into the Union.
• President Taylor and the U.S. Congress could not
agree on a solution to
these problems.
www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/ 1898/slaves.html
What did the U.S. Congress
think?
• Congress wanted to settle the issue of
slavery in the territories before admitting
new states to the Union.
• Southern members of Congress also
wanted a federal law to help pay for
finding runaway slaves.
• This law became known as
the
Fugitive Slave Law.
http://www.swagga.com/gifs/slaves.jpg
Fugitive Slave Law
• Require American citizens to help police offices in
capturing enslaved people who had run away from their
owners.
• Gave harsh punishments to people who helped slaves
escape.
• Gave harsh punishments to runaway slaves.
• Denied recovered slaves a jury or the right to testify at
their trial.
• Often returned slaves to their owners.
The Compromise of 1850
•Zachary Taylor died while in office
and was succeeded by his vice
president, Millard Fillmore.
•Henry Clay left congress and was
replaced by Senator Stephen
Douglas from Illinois.
The Compromise of 1850
In the Compromise of 1850 Congress and
President Fillmore agree to:
1. the annexation of California
2. making territories of Utah and New
Mexico
3. ending the slave trade (but not slavery)
in Washington, D.C.
4. the Fugitive Slave Law in the south