The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 50, July 1946 - April, 1947 Page: 49

he AHCeXatioH of rexras
EUGENE C. BARKER
THOUGH the precise date at which the Republic of Texas
was merged with the United States is of no practical
importance, it is a topic of intermittent popular discussion and
antiquarian interest. Puzzlement arises from the fact that the
process of annexation is confused with the dramatic ceremony
that accompanied the transition of the government from repub-
lic to state.
Briefly, the Congress of the United States passed the annex-
ation resolution on March 1, 1845. President John Tyler ap-
proved it and instructed Andrew Jackson Donelson, American
minister in Texas, to present it to the Texan authorities and
urge its prompt acceptance.
President Anson Jones called a special session of the Texas
Congress to meet in June and a convention of duly elected
delegates to assemble at Austin on July 4. Both Congress and
convention formally accepted the terms offered by the United
States, and the convention proceeded to frame the first state
constitution.
The constitution was ratified by popular vote in October and
was accepted by the Congress of the United States on Decem-
ber 29, 1845. By this act Texas became the twenty-eighth state
of the Union.
Following the admission of Texas, it was necessary for the
people to elect state officers. This being done, the legislature
assembled on February 16, and on February 19, 1846, President
Jones, in an impressive ceremony, delivered the government to
Governor J. Pinckney Henderson and declared, "The Republic
of Texas is no more." Calling attention to the happy merging
of the two republics, "not by violence and disorder, but by the
deliberate and free choice of its citizens," he closed his speech
with an eloquent peroration.
*Editor's Note: This brief sketch of the movement for the annexation
of Texas was written at the request of the University of Texas news
service, for publication in weekly newspapers. The purpose was to com-
memorate the centennial of Texas statehood. Space requirements of the
papers made it necessary to present the story in twenty installments of
from three hundred to five hundred words each, as they here appear.