Southern Methodist University - Rotunda Yearbook (University Park, TX)

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and losing re- cruits as he Santa main went. Annats army pursued, destroying set- tlements as they came. The new Texas govern- ment tied from Har1'isburg,just before the Mex- icans took that settlement, to Galveston island. HoustOIYs little army finally met Santa Anna,s army at the San Jacinto River. In the mid-afternoon of April 21st, his 74.3 Texans made a surprise attack on the encamped NIeXican force of 1,300. The More than 600 Mexi- cans were killed and practically all the remainder captured, including the die- tator-general himself. On NIay 14th, a treaty was signed at Velasco by the terms of which the hlexi- cans agreed to retire beyond the Rio Grande and Santa Anna was to be re- leased on his promise to act for Texas independence at NIeXiCO City. The Texan army, however, protested s0 Vio- lently against Santa Annak release that President Burnet could not release him. He remained a prisoner for six months, until Houston assumed the presidency. The Treaty of Velasco was never af- firmed in NIeXiCO City, but Texas, inde- pendence was recognized by the United States, France, Great Britain, and other nations. During ten years of the repub- lic,s existence, NIeXico regarded Texas as legally hers. NO decision regarding the border line was reached, and from 1836 until the United States-Mexican war, sporadic expeditions and counter- expeditions crossed the Rio Grande. Eventual annexation to the United battle was a rout. 2K1; ,, States was hoped for by most of the Tex- ans from the beginning of the revolution. The new republic, heavily in debt, with sparse population, was unable to hear the expense of an adequate government. A heavy majority favoring annexation was recorded at the republicts first election. In the United States, however, the slavery question proved an almost ina surmountable obstacle. Anti-slavery states protested vehemently against ad- ditional slave territory. The problem finally became a burning national1 issue and the deciding factor in the presiden- tial election of 1844, when Polk, Demo- crat and annexationist, defeated Clay. The annexation treaty followed and a state constitution was approved by the people of Texas on October 13, 1845. President Anson Jones retired from of- Ece on February 16, 1846, and was suc- ceeded by J. Pinckney Henderson, the first governor of Texas. Annexation, as was inevitable, precip- itated war with NIeXico the same year. It was this brief, decisive conHict that final- ly won recognition of Texas freedom from NIeXico and that resulted also in the acquisition by the United States of Mexi- can territory westward to the Pacific. From the time of its statehood Texas, progress has been uninterrupted, its eX- pansion and development outstanding.

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