President Tyler was determined to add Texas to the Union, but the United States Senate rejected the treaty, 35 to 16, in June – just in time to make it an issue in the election of 1844. James K. Polk was in favor of annexation and was elected over Henry Clay. Congress elected to annex Texas by joint resolution on December 29, 1845 and Texas made the formal transfer on February 19, 1845.
As he stood on the steps of the old wooden Capitol in Austin, hauled down the Lone Star Flag and replaced it with the Stars and Stripes, President Anson Jones declared to the gathered crowd, “The final act of this great drama is now performed, the Republic of Texas is no more.”
Submitted by Maggie Casto
William Carroll Crawford
Daughters of the Republic of Texas
