When Was the Republic of Texas No More?: Revisiting the Annexation of Texas
Keith J. Volanto (bio) Gene B. Preuss (bio) Keith J. Volanto Gene B. Preuss
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The scene has been described countless times in Texas history textbooks and classroom lectures. On February 19, 1846, a crowd assembled in front of a two-room dogtrot cabin in Austin, just a few steps from the south entrance of the present capitol building, to witness history as Texas’s first U.S. governor was inaugurated. The structure had been built for the Republic of Texas government after President Mirabeau Lamar convinced the Texas Congress to move the capital from the town named for his political rival, Sam Houston, to the budding community of Waterloo, soon renamed after Stephen F. Austin, on Texas’s western frontier. Just a few months before, members of the constitutional convention had met there to draft a new state constitution. The Republic of Texas would soon be annexed by the United States if the necessary requirements detailed in a joint congressional resolution could be completed by the end of 1845. Texas had met its obligations, and the U.S. Congress had approved the Texas constitution, leading the group to gather for the solemn occasion.