The Lone Star Republic

1. The Lone Star Republic Chapter 12

2. Sam Houston’s Government Section 1

3. Houston Forms a Government • A. In September 1836 Texans elected Sam Houston president and Mirabeau B. Lamar as vice president. • B. Texans approved the Constitution of 1836 and proposed that Texas join the United States. • C. Houston was chosen as the capital for three years.

4. Houston Faces Trouble with the Army • A. Army commander Felix Huston wanted to invade Mexico. • B. President Houston intervened and sent most of the soldiers home.

5. The United States Delays Annexation • A. Texans wanted annexation to the United States because most Texans had emigrated from the United States and wanted its protection. • B. Annexation was delayed because the United States did not want to damage relations with Mexico. • C. Antislavery groups in the United States did not want Texas to join the Union as a slave state.

6. Recognition as a Nation • A. On March 3, 1837, President Andrew Jackson granted official recognition of Texas as a nation. • B. Houston appointed J. Pinckney Henderson ambassador. • C. Henderson arranged trade treaties with France and Great Britain.

7. Native American and Texan Conflicts • A. Native Americans resented Anglo Americans settling in Central Texas. • B. They led a series of raids from 1836 to 1837. • C. In the 1836 treaty, the Cherokees promised to remain peaceful during • Texas’s fight for freedom; negotiators promised the Cherokees title to their land. • D. Later, however, the Senate of the Republic of Texas refused to accept the treaty, and each day more settlers took Cherokee land.

8. Texas Debt Soars • A. Texas also had unpaid bills from the revolution. • B. To raise money, congress placed a tariff on imported goods. • C. It also imposed property taxes, business taxes, and land title fees. • D. The taxes were difficult to collect, and the government continued to spend more than it collected.

9. The Release of Santa Anna • A. Santa Anna was released in November 1836. • B. He returned to Mexico and renounced the promises he had made in Texas. • C. Mexico still did not recognize Texas’s independence.

10. Lamar Becomes President Section 2

11. Mirabeau Lamar Becomes President • A. Texans elected Lamar president when Houston’s term ended in 1838. • B. Improving education was one of Lamar’s goals. • C. Congress set aside nearly 18,000 acres of land in each county to support public schools. • D. Later governments substituted land in West Texas, the value of which multiplied when oil was discovered there in the early 1900s.

12. The Capital Is Moved to Austin • A. In 1839 Congress approved Waterloo on the Colorado as the site of a permanent capital. • B. The new capital was named Austin, in honor of Stephen F. Austin.

13. Lamar’s Policy toward Native Americans • A. Lamar reversed Houston’s policy toward Native Americans, saying Cherokees had no fair claim to Texas lands they occupied. • B. In 1839 he ordered Cherokees removed from Texas. • C. Surviving Cherokees were forced from their land and moved across the Red River out of Texas.

14. Raids Lead to Council House Fight • A. After raiding several settlements, the Comanches agreed to meet with Texas authorities. • B. The Comanches promised to bring their Anglo captives, but produced only one girl, Matilda Lockhart. • C. The angered Texans tried to take the Comanches hostage, but they resisted. • D. In what was called the Council House Fight, 7 Texans and 35 Comanches died. • E. The Council House Fight has been called “the greatest blunder in the history of Texan-Native American relations.”

15. Texas Rebuilds Its Navy • A. Lamar ordered a newly restored navy into Mexican waters. • B. He thought Mexico would recognize Texas in exchange for the promise that the navy would not invade Mexico. • C. Sam Houston regained the presidency in 1841 and recalled the navy.

16. The Santa Fe Expedition • A. Texans wanted control of Santa Fe, a trading center on the upper Rio Grande in present-day New Mexico. • B. In 1841 Lamar sent an expedition to Santa Fe to control the region and open up trade. • C. The Santa Fe expedition was plagued by misfortune and hardship; heat, shortages of water and food, and attacks by Native Americans led to suffering. • D. The expedition was confronted by a Mexican army that forced the Texans to march 1,000 miles to Mexico City. • E. The Santa Fe expedition was a failure.

17. Financial Difficulties • A. Lamar’s maintenance of the navy and campaigns were expensive. • B. Texas was deeply in debt when Lamar left office.

18. Houston Regains Presidency Section 3

19. A Policy of Economy • A. Houston eliminated government positions and cut the size of the army. • B. Houston sold navy ships to Galveston citizens who gave them back as gifts.

20. A Temporary Peace • A. Houston tried to renew peaceful and fair dealings with the Native Americans. • B. Treaties signed with various Native Americans guaranteed calm for several years.

21. Invasion Triggers the Archives War • A. A Mexican army of 500 occupied San Antonio, Goliad, and Refugio. • B. Houston ordered the government archives moved to Houston. • C. A group of Austin residents engaged in a skirmish called the Archives War with officials who tried to take away the archives. • D. The archives and the capital stayed in Austin.

22. Woll Invades Texas • A. In 1842 Mexican forces invaded Texas. • B. The Texas militia and the Texas Rangers drove them out of Texas.

23. The Mier Expedition • A. In November, 750 militia members were sent to patrol the area from San Antonio to Laredo. • B. There were no signs of Mexican troops, so Somervell ordered his soldiers back to Gonzales. • C. About 300 of them refused and moved down the Rio Grande and attacked Mier in Mexico. • D. The Texans surrendered to a large army of Mexicans on December 26.

24. The Drawing of the Black Beans • A. The Mexican army marched the captives to Mexico City. • B. Santa Anna had ordered every 10th Texan in captivity executed. • C. A prisoner drawing a black bean would be executed while those who drew a white bean would be imprisoned in Mexico City.

25. Feuds Lead to Unrest in East Texas • A. Two groups of settlers, the Regulators and the Moderators, had been fighting for years in the Neutral Ground Territory. • B. Houston sent soldiers into the Neutral Ground Territory to bring peace. • C. Houston persuaded the settlers that Texans should not be fighting each other.

26. Texas Becomes a State Section 4

27. The Texas Question • A. The push for annexation again became a priority during Houston’s second term as president. • B. Those against annexation believed it would benefit Southern slaveholders and spark war with Mexico; thousands of American immigrants helped to increase the popularity of annexation and strengthen ties with the United States. • C. In 1844 Texas and United States representatives signed a treaty making Texas a United States territory. • D. Texas would give its public lands to the United States, and the United States would pay all the Republic of Texas’s debts. However, the U.S. Senate rejected the treaty.

28. Polk Wins Election • A. James K. Polk, the Democratic presidential candidate from Tennessee, favored annexation, while Henry Clay of Kentucky, the Whig Party candidate, was against it. • B. Polk’s close victory showed most of the voters favored annexation. • C. Growing support for annexation came from settlers who wanted to live on fertile land in Western states, including Texas. • D. Most Americans believed the United States was destined to expand to the western coast. This belief was called manifest destiny. • E. Even before Polk took office, President John Tyler asked Congress to reconsider annexation.

29. Congress and Texas Approve Annexation • A. On February 28, 1845, Congress passed a joint resolution for annexation. • B. The terms were more favorable than those of the 1844 treaty. • C. Texas could keep its public lands but should sell some to pay its debts. • D. Texas also could be divided into up to five states, but only with the approval of both Texas and the United States. • E. Anson Jones, elected Texas president in 1844, called a special session of Congress, which approved annexation. • F. On October 13, 1845, Texas approved annexation by a landslide vote. • G. The U.S. Congress approved a new Texas Constitution in December 1845, and President Polk signed a resolution making Texas a state.

30. Mexico Offers Recognition • A. Under pressure from Britain and France, which opposed annexation, Mexico offers to recognize Texas’s independence. • B. Texans reject the offer and vote for annexation.

31. “The Republic of Texas Is No More” • A. In a ceremony in front of the capitol, Anson Jones, turned over the government to J. Pinckney Henderson, the first governor of the state. • B. Jones declared, “the Republic of Texas is no more.” • C. Texas became the twenty-eighth state.