The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 13, July 1909 - April, 1910 Page: 253
This periodical is part of the collection entitled: Southwestern Historical Quarterly and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the Texas State Historical Association.
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Recognition of the Republic of Texas by the U. S. 253
at near 12 o'clock, he consummated the recognition of the Senate
and the diplomatic appropriation bill of the lower House, by nom-
inating a Mr. Labranche of Louisiana, charge d-affaircs near the
Republic of Texas. He also sent for Gen. Hunt and myself and
requested the pleasure of a glass of wine, and stated that Mr.
Forsyth would see us officially on Monday.1
Thus the long negotiations closed. To the Texans it had seemed
a weary struggle; but the United States had exercised no more
than the proper precaution before assuming the responsibility of ex-
tending to Texas her first recognition. France did not take the
same step until September, 1839, and recognition from England
was not secured until November, 1840.2 But if, after independence
was declared, Texas had been in a position properly to urge her
claims, it seems probable, unless conservatism alone had prevented,
that the first session of the twenty-fourth Congress would have
been inclined to recommend not only recognition, but perhaps
annexation as well. The opportunity was allowed to pass; and
before Texas finally learned the necessary lessons in diplomacy
there had grown up, along with the question of the abolition of
slavery and the right of petition, a sentiment of opposition to an-
nexation, which hitherto had not existed. It is, of course, only by
a study of the annexation movement that one comes to realize the
great significance of this circumstance-the decade of political
strife contingent thereon, the Mexican war, and the acquisition by
the United States of the whole Southwest, from the Rio Grande to
,the Pacific. But its importance in connection with the subject under
discussion lay in the fact that in order to control the political situ-
ation the Van Buren party conceived it to be essential to, assume,
as far as possible, a neutral attitude concerning the whole question
of annexation. Jackson's method in dealing with recognition was,
to a certain extent, at least, a part of this general policy. By this
means, he did succeed in preventing, in some degree, the agitation
of the question of annexation during his administration, and in de-
ferring recognition in a cautious and conservative way until it was
more fully justified. But by so doing he undoubtedly delayed an-
nexation far longer than he had anticipated or desired.
1Wharton to Henderson, March 5, 1837, Garrison, Dip. Cor. Tem., I, 201.
'Worley, "'The Diplomatic Relations of England and the Re.public of
Texas," in TIHE QUARTERLY, IX, 11.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 13, July 1909 - April, 1910, periodical, 1910; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101051/m1/273/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.