independence, adopted a constitution, and established a government, to act till the constitution could be brought into full operation.' David G. Burnett was made President. On April 21 the battle of San Jacinto was fought. General Houston, the Texan commander, with a force of seven hundred men, met Santa Anna, the Mexican President, who commanded five thousand troops, fresh from work of devastation in the region beyond the Rio Grande. But Santa Anna was defeated and made a prisoner of war. He acknowledged the independence of Texas and obtained release.

On October 3, 1836, the first Congress of Texas met at the town of Columbia, and, on the 22d, General Houston, the hero of San Jacinto, was formally installed as President of the new Republic. In March of the following year the United States acknowledged the independence of Texas. This diplomatic course was followed by England and other European powers.

FINAL ANNEXATION OF TEXAS.

In August, 1837, Texas made an application to the United States for admission into the Union, but was refused. Meanwhile Texas had sold off her public lands, the chief source of her revenue. Land speculators and Southern politicians

became now the advocates of the Texas annexation. In 1843 the question evolved into a national issue. In 1844 Mr. Polk was selected as the Democratic candidate for President upon the platform of annexing Texas. In April of the same year Calhoun, then Secretary of State in President Tyler's Cabinet, concluded an annexation treaty with Texas, but it was rejected in the Senate by a vote of 35 to 16. The Southern States of the Union favored annexation, but the North opposed it. It was an issue between slavery and free soil. Annexation was spoken of by Southern politicians as

1 W. M. Gouge. Fiscal History of Texas, 49.

"re-annexation," for they regarded Texas as having been ceded to Spain by the treaty of 1819. Opponents to annexation regarded it as a virtual declaration of war against Mexico, for, by admitting Texas into the Union, a large tract of disputed territory would be incorporated into the United States, and, moreover, Mexico did not consider the recognition of Texan independence by Santa Anna as binding upon her.

The questions involved in the annexation of Texas may be briefly summarized as follows:1

1. The constitutional power of the Federal Government to admit independent foreign States into the American Union. 2. The effect of such annexation, if constitutional, in relations between the United States, Mexico, and other foreign powers.

3. The effect of the annexation as an extension of the territory of the United States and upon their commercial interests.

4. The effect of the annexation upon slavery.

5. The effect of the annexation upon the Union.

It is impossible here to discuss in detail any of these points. Suffice it to say that the Texas annexation was one of the most significant events in the history of the territorial expansion of the United States.

The Congress of the United States passed, March 1, 1845, a joint resolution for the annexation of the Republic of Texas. On July 4, 1845, Texas assented to annexation. Section 2, Article II, of the resolution provided that Texas "shall retain all the vacant and unappropriated lands lying within its limits to be applied to the payments of the debts and liabilities of Texas, and the residue of said lands, after discharging said debts and liabilities, to be disposed of as

'Cf. a pamphlet entitled "Thoughts on the Proposed Annexation of Texas," by "T. S." First published in the New York Evening Post, under the signature of "Veto." New York, 1844.

said State may direct; but in no event are said debts and liabilities to become a charge upon the Government of the United States." This was the most important clause. Thereby Texas retained all her public land, and guaranteed the United States against all claims on account of her State debts. But it was soon found necessary for the United States to assume certain Texan obligations, and to purchase from her a disputed territory.

FINANCIAL CONDITION OF TEXAS.

When Texas revolted against Mexico her finances were in a most deplorable condition. We can better illustrate the general fact by quoting a report of the General Council which assembled November 3, 1835, at San Felipe de Austin. It says: "We authorized a contract for a loan of one hundred thousand dollars of the citizens of New Orleans, and appointed T. F. McKinney an agent to repair to New Orleans, and to carry it into effect. Our finances arising from the receipt of dues for lands, as will appear on file in Mr. Gail Borden's report, marked F, which were in his hands, are fifty-eight dollars and thirty cents. This money has been exhausted, and an advance by the President of the Council of thirty-six dollars. There were also several hundred dollars. in the hands of Mr. Money, the alcalde of the municipality of Austin. Upon this money several advances have been made by Mr. Cochran, and probably will nearly cover the amount of money in the alcalde's hands; as such, you may consider that at this moment the Council is out of funds."

Thus the revolutionists in Texas undertook war with an empty chest. All they had was land. They pledged public lands and public revenue in payment for loans. In the annexation treaty, therefore, public lands were retained by Texas. But she was deprived of import duties, which were

'Public Domain, 122.

9 W. M. Gouge. Fiscal History of Texas, 18.

an important source of public revenue. The United States Government was therefore under some obligation to compensate Texas for this loss of economic resources in the discharge of her public debts.

There was, moreover, a boundary question to be settled between the United States and Texas. Texas claimed all the lands east of the Rio Grande which are now in the Territory of New Mexico. The people in New Mexico declared that they were not in the jurisdiction of Texas. During the Mexican War, New Mexico was captured by General Kearney. The United States had therefore the right of conquest over that disputed territory, but Texas had a claim to at least a part of the conquered land.

On September 9, 1850, the "Boundary Act" was passed by Congress. It was an act proposing to Texas: 1. The establishment of her northern and western boundaries; 2. The relinquishment of all territory claimed by her beyond the said boundaries, and of all claims upon the United States; and 3. The organization of New Mexico as a new territory. The territory to be ceded by this act was situated to the north of 30° 30' north latitude, west of the one hundred and third meridian of longitude west from Greenwich, and north of the thirty-second parallel of north latitude, and to extend to the Rio Grande River. In consideration of this cession of territory, and the relinquishment of all claims upon the United States, the act proposed to pay to Texas $10,000,000 in bonds bearing five per cent. interest and running for fourteen years. This bargain was virtually a sale of public lands by Texas to the United States, in order to redeem old pledges to her creditors. General Houston, who was the Senator from Texas, said that "it was the best sale ever made of land of a worthless quality and a disputable title."2

Texas called a special session of the Legislature, and on

1 Statutes at Large, Vol. IX, 446.

2 Quoted by Gouge. Fiscal History of Texas, 180.

November 25, 1850, accepted the proposed Act of Congress. On December 13, 1850, the Act of September 9, 1850, became operative, and the territory came into the jurisdiction of the United States. The cession embraced an area of 96,707 square miles, and the entire cost, including principal and interest, amounted to $16,000,000.1

THE MEXICAN CESSIONS.

By the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, February 2, 1848, the United States obtained a most valuable acquisition of territory from Mexico. This was one of the economic results of the Mexican War. We are not here concerned with the military history of that war. Neither can we enter into a discussion of the political questions therein involved. Suffice it to say, the incorporation of Texas was the main cause of the war. In the disputed territory between the Nueces and the Rio Grande Rivers occurred the first hostile collision between the two countries. It was alleged that American blood had been shed on American soil. Therefore, on May 13, 1846, Congress declared that "war existed by the act of Mexico."

POLICY OF THE POLK ADMINISTRATION.

From the beginning, the administration of President Polk did not enter seriously into war with Mexico. It believed that Mexico would be compelled to succumb by very weakness, and that war would soon terminate in a treaty accomplishing the political object of the United States-viz.: a cession of territory. The recall of Santa Anna from exile, his restoration to power in Mexico, and his supposed friendship for the United States, were secret springs relied upon by Polk's administration to secure speedy peace from Mexico. War was declared not for the sake of war, but for advan

1 Public Domain, 135.