This great Territory comprising 370,472 square miles originally
belonged to Mexico. In 1820 Moses Austin, a native of Connecticut,
obtained a grant of land and threw it open to settlement by people from
the United States, mostly the Southern States. In a few years more than
20,000 had settled there and the strong Anglo-Saxon spirit of liberty
began to rebel against the oppressive Mexican rule. In a few years
this feeling burst into an open revolt. Texans met and declared their
independence and formed a Republic and placed an army in the field
under Gen. Sam. Houston. He met the Mexicans under Gen. Santa Anna at
San Jacinto in 1836 and gained a complete victory, thus achieving the
independence of Texas. Next year Texas applied for admission into the
Union but no action was taken by Congress for several years. Meantime
in the north a strong sentiment had developed against the institution
of slavery. The subject was vigorously agitated in the pulpit, in
literature and in public. The Southern people, perceiving the strength
of the opposition to their favorite institution, determined in self
defense to acquire more territory for the sake of the strength
additional votes would give them, and so in 1844 the proposal to admit
Texas came up in Congress in earnest.
No concealment of the underlying purpose was made by the Southern
Congressmen who led the movement. A bitter struggle followed but the
annexationists prevailed and in 1845 the “Lone Star State,” as Texas
had been called, was added to the Union. The South welcomed the new
comer with great demonstrations, but the greetings of the North were
not cordial, for in that section it was clearly understood that a great
extension was given to slave territory.