CH 10
STATEHOOD
1845 - 1861
Early Government
1845
Texas State Government
Texas must write their first state
constitution to join the U.S.
 Writers of the Texas state constitution
included Thomas Rusk, Hiram Runnels,
Abner Libscomb and Jose Antonio Navarro
 Navarro was the only native Texan
 Navarro was one of three Mexican Texans
to sign the Declaration of Independence
– Navarro, Ruiz and de Zavala
 Borrowed from constitutions of U.S.,
Louisiana and Tennessee

Thomas Rusk
Jose Antonio
Navarro
Framework
Law allowed only men 21 years or older to
vote
 No women, African Americans or Native
Americans could vote
 Constitution gave women certain rights:
– Women could own property
– Married man could not sell property
without wife’s consent

Framework
Constitution of 1845 had 3 branches
 Legislative – makes laws
– House of Representatives
– Senate
 Executive – carries out the laws
– Veto power – prevent passage of law
 Judiciary – resolves legal disputes and
hands out justice; oversees courts
– Governor chose judges in higher courts

Leaders of State
Texas held their first state election
 James Pinckney Henderson elected state’s
first governor
 John Hemphill became first chief justice of
the state supreme court
 Sam Houston and Thomas Rusk became
first U.S. senators from Texas
 David Kaufman and Timothy Pillsbury
became first U.S. House of
Representatives from Texas

James Pinckney Henderson
First Governor of Texas
War with Mexico
1846 - 1848
Who was Involved?
vs
Manifest Destiny

The U.S. believed they had the right and duty
to expand to the Pacific Ocean, but Mexico
owned all the land past Texas
Manifest Destiny
President James Polk wanted to fix the
southern boundary of Texas
 Texas claimed the Rio Grande River as the
southern boundary during the Republic
 Mexico claimed the Nueces River as the
southern boundary
 Mexico still angry with U.S. for annexing
Texas
 U.S. agreed with Texas that Rio Grande River
was the southern boundary

Boundary Issues
Negotiation

President Polk sent diplomat John Slidell
to Mexico, but Mexico refused to meet with
him
The War Begins
Polk had already anticipated war
 He sent Zachary Taylor and 4,000 troops to
Corpus Christi; he moved the troops to the
Rio Grande
 Taylor’s troops built Fort Texas on the site
that is now present-day Brownsville
 Fighting began in April 1846
 Palo Alto was first major battle on May 8
 Congress declared war on May 13, 1846

Mexican War
Texans supported the war
 5,000 Texans fought in the war

Texans and the Mexican War
Mirabeau Lamar and Governor Henderson
fought in battle
 The Texas Rangers won fame for their skill
in battle under Major McCulloch
– Gathered vital information for U.S. forces
– Protected U.S. supply lines
 Samuel Walker introduced the “Walker Colt
Revolver” and improvement on the Colt
Revolver gave Texas an advantage in battle

Texas Women and the
Mexican War
Sarah Bowman joined troops as a cook
 Brown was known as the “heroine of Fort
Brown” she loaded guns and carried
wounded men off battlefield
 Jane Cazneau was Texas land agent and
reporter who was sent by President Polk on a
secret peace mission to Mexico
 Cazneau was the only journalist to report/spy
from behind enemy lines

Jane Cazneau
American Journalist
Results of Mexican War
War ends September 1847
 Mexico lost the war
 The two nations signed the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in
1848
1. Mexico recognized Texas as
part of US
2. Rio Grande River was
established as the southern
border of Texas

Mexican Cession
The U.S. received a large amount of land
from Mexico as part of a cession in the
treaty
 cession – granting of land by one country
to another
 U.S. paid Mexico $15 million for the land
 U.S. finally reached the Pacific Ocean and
fulfilled their manifest destiny!
 U.S. gained land in present day:
California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada,
Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming

Mexican Cession
Politics of
Statehood
Politics
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was
supposed to settle the border dispute
 Rio Grande, known as the Rio Bravo del
Norte, formed the boundary line
 Mexico still fighting for territory
 Leaders had to focus on protection from
Indians
 State had debts to pay off
 State needed to pay for new railroads,
schools and a capitol

Governors
George T. Wood (2), Peter H. Bell (3), J.W.
Henderson (4)
 Elisha M. Pease (5) - 1853
 Pease supported public education
 His efforts led to the permanent school fund
– provides money for public schools
 Pease ordered construction of government
buildings, including capitol
 He pushed for railroad construction
 Greatest accomplishment – erasing state debt

Elisha M. Pease
Texas Governor
Governors
Hardin R. Runnels (6) – 1857
 Tried to end violence between settlers and
Indians but failed
 Lost reelection to Sam Houston (7)
 Houston had served as General, President,
Senator and now Governor of Texas!
 Houston had to leave governor post before
his term was up…..

Political Parties and Population
Democrats dominated Texas politics in the
late 1840s
 Democrats stood up for farmers and
laborers
 Democrats rival were the Whig Party
 Whig were weak, won few elections and
disagreements over slavery hurt party
 Republican Party replaced Whigs and were
determined to stop slavery
 By 1860, population grew to 600,000

Compromise of 1850
Congress acted in 1850
 Created a plan that set western border to
current border
 Texas received $10 million to give up its
claim to New Mexico land
 California would enter Union as a free
state; no slavery allowed
 All other land in West would allow state to
decide slavery issue by popular
sovereignty

Spending $10 Million
The majority of the $10 million was used
to pay off debt
 Texas built a new capitol and governor’s
mansion in Austin
 Built new roads and improved older roads
 Created a permanent school fund
 $2 million put in escrow – interest used
to build public schools

Growth and
Expansion
Native Americans
Violence between settlers and Native
Americans continued to be a problem
 U.S. imported dozens of camels to help
fight Apaches and Comanches
 Native Americans believed that the land
belonged to the people as a whole
 Texas tried to set up reservations for
Native Americans to end the raids
 Robert Neighbors served as the Texas
agent to the Apaches, Tonkawas and
Comanches

Robert Neighbors
Texas Agent to Indians
Native Americans
By 1859, Texas and U.S. decided
reservation policy had failed
 Texans failed to understand and recognize
the individual Indian groups
 Some Native Americans moved to
Oklahoma
 Texas allowed one group to stay –
Alabama–Coushatta
 Reservation is still there today in Polk
County
