The Republic of Texas (2 March 1836-19 February 1846) was a short-lived independent republic in North America that was formed after the Texans gained independence from Mexico following the Texan Revolution of 1836. Texas was admitted to the United States as a slave state in 1846.
History[]
Texas' lands in 1836
The Republic of Texas declared independence from Mexico on 2 March 1836 after evicting the Mexican troops from their garrisons at the start of the Texas Revolution, following Mexico's arrest of Stephen Austin for asking for autonomy for Texas. Texas had only one-third of its present-day lands, with its capital at Austin. The republic's first president was David G. Burnet, the interim leader of the republic until Sam Houston became the first official President later in 1836.
Texas was born from Mexico's womb; it was initially a part of the former province of Spain called Tejas. Texas' desire for independence came from the influx of white settlers from the United States led by Stephen Austin, who had been fighting peacefully for Texan autonomy since 1822. However, clashes between Mexico and Texas led to the stationing of Mexican troops in Texas. They were later withdrawn, but when Austin headed to Mexico City in 1835 to petition for autonomy, he was arrested by President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna and Mexican troops returned to garrison Texas. At Gonzales, a group of Texans that were being disarmed fought against the Mexicans, defeating them. The Battle of Gonzales on 2 October 1835 started the Texan Revolution, and on 11 December 1835 Texan troops captured San Antonio from Martin Perfecto de Cos' Mexican garrison. The Texans now had control over the cities of Lubbock in the northwest, Houston in the north, Austin in the center, and San Antonio in the south. In early 1836, the Texans received much-needed money and supplies after raiding Mexican forts on the border, and the 9,000-strong Army of Texas under Sam Houston was equipped for a real war.
President Santa Anna gathered an army and invaded Texas, but he was repulsed at the First Battle of San Antonio on 6 February 1836, in which his Mexican Army of the North of 9,000 troops suffered 2,682 losses. However, 2,218 Texan troops were lost, and it was a wake-up call to Texas, which showed that the war would not be easy. Santa Anna returned in force with 29,000 Mexican troops, and Martin Perfecto de Cos' Mexican army occupied Lubbock as Santa Anna invaded San Antonio. The Alamo fortress of San Antonio was besieged from 23 February until 6 March 1836, when all but 3 of the 185 defenders of the fortress under William Travis, James Bowie, and Davy Crockett were killed in a massacre by Santa Anna's army of 1,800 troops, of which 600 were dead or wounded. The battle was a show of bravery and determination, and instead of being a blow to Texan morale, it became a rallying cry.
On 2 March 1836, Texas declared its independence while the Alamo was still under siege. Sam Houston was the first President of Texas, while he was still in command of the Texan army. Houston faced a challenge when Mexicans defeated James Fannin's command on the 19-20 March Battle of Coleto and massacred the survivors in the "Goliad Massacre". However, Houston insisted on fighting. On 21 April 1836, Houston and 910 Texan troops and 2 cannons ambushed Santa Anna's 1,360 Mexican troops and 1 cannon near the San Jacinto River as they encamped for siesta (a resting hour), and they drove off the Mexicans. Santa Anna was captured, and he was forced to sign the Treaties of Velasco, which forced the Mexican troops to retreat from Texas and give the republic independence.
Texas as an independent state faced many challenges. They had to put up with the costs of the Texas Rangers to keep out marauding bands of Mexican soldiers, as well as dealing with a near-bankrupt economy and the issues of slavery and the question of statehood as a member of the United States. The USA's slave states were eager to annex Texas as another slave state, while abolitionists feared that the annexation of Texas would throw off the balance of the division of the USA between slave and non-slave states. Texas' annexation was delayed, and in the meantime, Texas held off Mexican assaults and fought against American Indians.
In 1845, President James K. Polk was elected to office due to his goals of annexing Texas and adding the California Territory (California, Nevada, Colorado, western Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona) to the USA. President Polk annexed Texas on 29 December 1845, and on 19 February 1846, Texas's government transferred all of its powers to the USA. It was instantly admitted to the Union as America's 28th state, skipping the process of becoming a territory. Polk controversially extended slavery to Texas to appease the slaveowners there, an unwise move that ultimately led to the American Civil War of 1861, in which Texas seceded from the USA to join the Confederate States. Through the course of 1846-1848, Texas was expanded by the USA during the Mexican-American War, which acquired all of its cores, adding Laredo and El Paso to form the present-day state of Texas.
Culture[]
The population of Texas in 1836
Texas was founded by white settlers that immigrated from the United States in hopes of owning slaves outside of the abolitionist states of the USA. In 1836, the country had a population of 16,010 people, with 65.6% of them being Texans, 22.2% Native Americans, 9.4% African-Americans, and 2.8% Mexicans. 75% of the population was Protestant (the Texan and Afro-American population), 22.2% Animist (the Indians), and 2.8% Catholic (Mexicans).
Politics[]
Although Texas' ideologies were 83.3% conservative, 67.5% of the electorate votes went to the Texan Democratic Party and only 6.6% to the conservative Texan Whig Party. The country's ideologies were 83.3% conservative, 13.8% Liberal, and 2.9% reactionary, corresponding to the 6.6% minority of the Whig Party, the 67.5% majority of the Democratic Party, and 25.8% to the Texan Nationalist Party, the reactionary party of the republic.
In Texas, slavery was legal, which explained the presence of African-Americans. The issue of slavery held the third and fourth positions in the dominant issues of the Republic of Texas, with outlawing slavery having 6.6% support and allowing slavery having 3.7%. However, the main problem was jingoism (66.4%), something that was born out of Texas' desire to become an independent country.