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#   Entered Union   Year Settled

28th    Dec. 29, 1845      1682

 

Nickname

Lone Star State

 

Rank      Population

2nd         24,326,974

 

Rank      Square Miles

2nd         268,581

 

State Bird

Northern Mockingbird

 

State Flower

Bluebonnet

 

State Tree

Pecan

 

State Motto

Friendship

 

The Republic of Texas achieved its independence from Mexico in 1836, the same year as the famous siege of the Alamo in which pioneers Jim Bowie and Davy Crockett were slain. The "Lone Star State" was the 28th state to join the Union, admitted in 1845. The name Texas is a Spanish name, which comes from an Indian word meaning "friends" or "allies."

 

Texas is the second-largest state in the Union in area, after Alaska. Although it has a wild, frontier history, today Texas is a major producer of oil and has important centers of industry and finance. A Texas state historian has said that the state flower, the bluebonnet, "is to Texas what the shamrock is to Ireland."

 

Sam Houston and the Battle for Texas Independence

"Remember the Alamo" is a well-known phrase. Do you know what it means?

 

Sam Houston had already served in the U.S. House of Representatives and as governor of Tennessee when he moved to Texas in 1832. At the time he arrived, Texas was part of Mexico and the site of rising tensions and violent disturbances between Mexican authorities and Anglo settlers from the United States. Voicing his support for a separate state of Texas, Houston emerged as a leader among the settlers. In 1835, he was chosen commander in chief of the Texas army.

 

The Alamo was an 18th century Franciscan Mission in San Antonio, Texas, which was the location of an important battle for Texans fighting for independence from Mexico. In 1836, a small group of Texans was defeated by Mexican General Santa Anna.

 

When Houston received word of the defeat at the Alamo, he was inspired to begin a month-long retreat to regroup and replenish the Texas army's strength. Remembering how badly the Texans had been defeated at the Alamo, on April 21, 1836, Houston's army won a quick battle against the Mexican forces at San Jacinto and gained independence for Texas. Soon after, Houston was elected president of the Republic of Texas. He continued to serve as senator and governor after Texas became part of the United States in 1845.

 

Sam Houston died in 1863 in Huntsville, Texas, where a 67-foot-tall memorial statue of him now stands. After a lifetime of service to his country, the event for which he is most well known is his role in the independence of Texas.

 

Expanding the Nation

Because James Polk vowed to serve only one term, he tried to achieve specific goals quickly. Many of these goals were centered on his campaign platform of expanding the United States westward.

 

Polk oversaw the annexation of Texas; settlement of the Oregon boundary dispute with Great Britain, which led to the acquisition of territory that became Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and parts of Montana and Wyoming; acquisition of territory from Mexico that eventually became California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming; and reestablishment of an independent treasury system. What happened when Polk initially tried to acquire California and New Mexico?

 

Polk ended up starting a war with Mexico when he tried to implement the congressionally approved annexation of Texas (which had declared its independence from Mexico in 1836) and acquire California and New Mexico.

Mexico refused to receive Polk's envoy (diplomat), John Slidell, who offered up to $40 million to settle the whole deal through territorial purchase, including resolving the dispute over Texas's western border with Mexico. Mexico's president had been willing to settle, but when it came time to finalize the deal a number of Mexican army officers revolted against him.

Polk sent General Zachary Taylor and 4,000 U.S. soldiers to the Rio Grande River and after a small group of Mexican troops crossed the river to engage the Americans, Congress followed Polk's wishes by declaring war on May 13, 1846.

On February 2, 1848, after many battles, Mexico finally agreed to a peace treaty and $15 million from the United States in exchange for ownership of the contested land. This acquisition increased the size of the nation by 25 percent.

How did Polk avoid war with Britain in order to acquire the Oregon Territory?

 

Polk avoided war with the British by agreeing to settle on a border along the 49th parallel (the northern border of Washington state), across the Rockies to the Pacific instead of rallying round the "54'40' or fight!" motto of his presidential campaign, which referred to a border as far north as the 54th parallel (in present-day Canada).

Polk's expansionist ambitions held great appeal when many Americans thought it their right and destiny to occupy as much land as possible on the North American continent. Also driving the acquisition of Oregon, though, was the need to balance Texas as a slave state with a free state in the north.

 

Juneteenth Celebration

Do you know what Juneteenth is?

 

It is the name for a holiday celebrating June 19, 1865, the day when Union soldiers arrived in Texas and spread the word that President Lincoln had delivered his Emancipation Proclamation. News traveled so slowly in those days that Texas did not hear of Lincoln's Proclamation, which he gave on January 1, 1863, until more than two years after it was issued!

 

The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." Thus, the Emancipation Proclamation was limited in many ways. It applied only to states that had seceded from the Union, leaving slavery untouched in the loyal border states. It also expressly exempted parts of the Confederacy that had already come under Northern control. Most important, the freedom it promised depended upon Union military victory.

 

Although Juneteenth has been informally celebrated each year since 1865, it wasn't until June 3, 1979, that Texas became the first state to proclaim Emancipation Day (Juneteenth) an official state holiday. But it is much more than a holiday. Juneteenth has become a day for African Americans to celebrate their freedom, culture, and achievements. It is a day for all Americans to celebrate African American history and rejoice in their freedom.