Delegates at Washington-on-the-Brazos adopted the Texas Declaration of Independence, establishing the Republic of Texas and setting the stage for a decade of diplomacy and debates over potential U.S. annexation.
Sam Houston’s forces defeated Santa Anna’s army at the Battle of San Jacinto, a decisive military outcome that enabled Texas to press for independence and later seek international recognition and annexation.
Texas officials and Santa Anna signed the public and secret Treaties of Velasco, providing for an end to hostilities and Mexican troop withdrawal; Mexico later rejected the treaties, leaving Texas’s status contested despite de facto independence.
Sam Houston took office as the first president of the Republic of Texas; the new government pursued security and legitimacy, including efforts to join the United States.
The United States and the Republic of Texas concluded an annexation treaty (the Tyler–Texas treaty), proposing Texas enter the Union as a territory and addressing issues like debt and land—an approach that soon faced strong opposition in the U.S. Senate.
The Senate voted down the Tyler–Texas treaty, blocking annexation by treaty and pushing annexation supporters toward the alternative route of a congressional joint resolution.
After intense debate, the Senate approved the joint resolution consenting to Texas’s annexation and laying out conditions for admission, clearing the key congressional hurdle for annexation without a treaty.
Congress’s Joint Resolution for Annexing Texas to the United States became law, formally offering U.S. consent to create a State of Texas and specifying major terms (including boundary questions and the possibility of forming additional states).
A convention meeting in Austin voted to accept the U.S. annexation proposal and drafted an annexation ordinance and a proposed state constitution for submission to Texas voters.
Delegates at the 1845 convention adopted the Constitution of the State of Texas, a required step for admission under the joint-resolution framework.
Texas voters ratified the annexation ordinance and the proposed state constitution, signaling popular approval for entering the United States under the negotiated terms.
By joint resolution, the United States admitted Texas to the Union as the 28th state, transforming the Republic of Texas into a U.S. state (with major implications for sectional politics and U.S.–Mexico relations).
In Austin, President Anson Jones lowered the Republic of Texas flag and raised the U.S. flag, marking the practical end of the Republic’s independent government after statehood.
Annexation of the Republic of Texas and U.S. Integration (1836–1846)
