US History

U.S. History Study Guide

10.22 Texas Annexed into the Union During the 1820’s, Americans streamed into Texas, then into the Mexican territory, often receiving land grants from the Mexican government. Mexico gave these grants in the hopes of promoting the region’s trade and development. By 1830, about seven thousand Americans lived in Texas, outnumbering Hispanic settlers. Such a disparity between the population numbers alarmed the Mexican government. In 1834 rebel Texan leaders, most of them American, declared their independence from the Mexican dictatorship. After two years of fighting, Texas became an independent republic, although the Mexican government refused to officially acknowledge its independence. Because most Texan settlers were American, the question immediately arose of Texas’ potential statehood. In 1844, James K. Polk won the presidential election on a platform to admit Texas into the Union and one month into his presidency, Congress voted to annex Texas. In 1845, Texas was admitted into the Union as the twenty-eighth state. Mexico, still refusing to recognize Texas’ independence, threatened war over the annexation. 10.23 The Lead-up to War with Mexico American interests had been growing in the western lands which were then held by Mexico: • Since the l820’s Americans had been trading with Santa Fe and other Mexican settlements along the Rio Grande by the Santa Fe Trail. The trade aroused American interest in the area. • American “mountainmen” trappers who sought beaver pelts in the streams of the Rockies, had explored the mountains of the Far West, opening new trails and discovering fertile lands. They served as guides for settlers moving west. • At the same time whaling ships and other American vessels had carried on a thriving trade with the Mexican settlements on the coast of California. • Beginning in 1841, American settlers came overland to California by means of the California Trail, a branch of the Oregon Trail which turned southwest. By 1846 several hundred Americans lived in California. Conflict with Mexico The steady buildup of American pioneers in Mexican held areas led to conflicting territorial desires and was the underlying cause of the Mexican War. Despite this fundamental cause there were several more immediate causes: • Mexico's unstable government was unable to protect the lives and property of American citizens in Mexico during the country’s frequent and recurring revolutions and repeatedly declined to pay American claims for damages. • Mexico had not accepted the loss of Texas and considered its annexation by the U.S. a hostile act.

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