January 29, 1845: Congress Approves the Annexation of Texas.
You are there: Ever since the founding of the Republic of Texas in March 1836, the question of whether to admit it to the Union has been a center of political debate in Washington.
Even an expansionist like President Andrew Jackson initially hesitates on the basis that annexation might lead to war with Mexico and reopen regional tensions on slavery threatening the future of the Union.
In the run-up to the election of 1844, the leading Whig candidate, Henry Clay, and the presumptive choice of the Democrats, ex-President Martin Van Buren, both signal their opposition to admitting Texas. But this backfires on Van Buren, and he loses the nomination to the “dark horse,” James Knox Polk. He is a Tennessee man, and a protégé of Jackson.
Polk’s aggressive stance on the annexation has much to do with his election victory – and he hopes that Congress will authorize its go-ahead by the time he is sworn in.
But complexities abound, not the least of which is to clarify the exact territorial boundaries being claimed by the Texans – one vastly larger than the other. Although both are disputed by the Mexican government.
Members of the lame duck session of the 28th Congress are convinced that the public favors annexation, but complexities remain around boundaries, whether it will be a Territory or a State, and, if the latter, a Slave or Free State. Opponents include Abolitionists JQ Adams and Joshua Giddings, with the latter declaring:
Texas is engaged in a war with Mexico and wants us to fight her battles…and a
portion of this House say, we will do it, if, by that means, we can keep up slavery
in Texas and thereby furnish a market for our slave-breeding states to sell their
surplus population.
Tennessee Whig Milton Brown offers a bill immediately admitting Texas as a Slave State but delaying the boundary issue until negotiations take place with Mexico. His bill carries the House on January 25, 1845 by a 120-98 margin, decided along party, not regional, lines – with the vast majority of Democrats in favor and Whigs opposed.
The bill faces two major barriers in the Senate where the Whigs hold the majority and the powerful Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton has so far expressed opposition. But Polk now steps in and suggests that the Free State-Slave State and the boundaries decisions both be delayed so that the annexation itself can be approved.
Benton decides to go along as do two Whigs and the measure is approved by a narrow 27-25 margin on January 29, 1845.
Mexico responds quickly, withdrawing the ambassador to the U.S. on March 6 and severing diplomatic ties. The freeze continues until late December when Minister John Slidell is scheduled to negotiate a solution with Mexican President Herrera. But then Herrera is ousted by the hawkish General Mariano Paredes and the talks stall.
Polk is now out of patience and on January 12, 1846 he orders General Zachary Taylor and a contingent of 3,000 army troops to the Rio Grande opposite the town of Matamoros.
Fighting breaks out on April 24, 1846 and Congress declares war on Mexico on May 13, 1846 by a 40-2 votes in the Senate and 174-14 in the House.
