Texas + USA

• Whilst the Mexican government didn't ratify Santa Anna's action, Texas was effectively independent
• Most Texans, with Southern support, hoped to join the USA
• Yet the North opposed because of fears it would lead to the spread of slavery
• Texas was so large that it could be split into 5 slave states which would tilt the balance
• it was so controversial that President Jackson shelved the issue, as did his successor President Martin Van Buren
• Texas became a major issue in the 1844 election fought between the Whig Henry Clay and Democrat James Polk.
• Polk was a slaveholder from Tennessee and promised the annexation of Texas and Oregon (an area claimed by Britain)
• John Tyler (outgoing Whig President) secured joint resolution of Congress in favour of annexation of Texas
• Texas was admitted into the Union as a single state in 1845