Editing Republic of Texas (section)

==Annexation by the U.S.==
{{Main|Texas annexation}}
On February 28, 1845, the [[Congress of the United States|U.S. Congress]] passed a bill that authorized the United States to annex the Republic of Texas. On March 1, [[President of the United States|U.S. President]] [[John Tyler]] signed the bill. The legislation set the date for annexation for December 29 of the same year. Faced with imminent American annexation of Texas, [[Charles Elliot]] and Alphonse de Saligny, the British and French ministers to Texas, were dispatched to Mexico City by their governments. Meeting with Mexico's foreign secretary, they signed a "Diplomatic Act" in which Mexico offered to recognize an independent Texas with boundaries determined with French and British mediation. Texas President [[Anson Jones]] forwarded both offers to a specially elected convention meeting at Austin, and the American proposal was accepted with only one dissenting vote. The Mexican proposal was never put to a vote. Following the previous decree of President Jones, the proposal was then put to a vote throughout the republic.

[[File:Texas Statehood 1945 Issue-3c.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.85|Postage stamp issued on the 100th anniversary of Texas statehood, 1945]]
[[File:Texas proposed boundaries.svg|thumb|right|Proposals for Texas's north and west boundaries in 1850 debate]]

On October 13, 1845, a large majority of voters in the republic approved both the American offer and the proposed constitution that specifically endorsed [[slavery]] and emigrants bringing slaves to Texas.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/constitutions/texas1845/a8 |title=Article VIII: Slaves – Constitution of Texas (1845) (Joining the U.S.) |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140116142228/http://tarlton.law.utexas.edu/constitutions/texas1845/a8 |archive-date=January 16, 2014 }}</ref> This constitution was later accepted by the U.S. Congress, making Texas a U.S. state on the same day annexation took effect, December 29, 1845 (therefore bypassing a [[territory of the United States|territorial]] phase).<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/texan04.htm|title=The Avalon Project : Documents in Law, History and Diplomacy|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061205031127/http://yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/texan04.htm|archive-date=December 5, 2006}}</ref> One of the motivations for annexation was the huge debts which the Republic of Texas government had incurred. As part of the [[Compromise of 1850]], in return for $10,000,000 in Federal bonds, Texas dropped claims to territory that included parts of present-day [[Colorado]], [[Kansas]], [[Oklahoma]], [[New Mexico]], and [[Wyoming]].

The resolution included two unique provisions: First, it said up to [[Texas divisionism|four additional states]] could be created from Texas' territory with the consent of the State of Texas and pursuant to the admissions process of the federal constitution. New states north of the [[Missouri Compromise Line]] would be [[Slave and free states|free states]], while those south of the line could opt to become [[Slave and free states|slave states]]. Though the resolution did not make exceptions to the constitution,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ref/abouttx/annexation/march1845.html|title=Joint Resolution for Annexing Texas to the United States Approved March 1, 1845 – TSLAC}}</ref> the U.S. Constitution does not require Congressional consent to the creation of new states to be ''ex post'' to applications, nor does the U.S. Constitution require applications to expire.{{Citation needed|date=October 2022}} Second, Texas did not have to surrender its public lands to the federal government. While Texas did cede all territory outside of its current area to the federal government in 1850, it did not cede any public lands within its current boundaries. Consequently, the lands in Texas that the federal government owns are those it subsequently purchased. This also means the state government controls [[oil reserves]], which it later used to fund the state's public university system through the [[Permanent University Fund]].<ref>[http://www2.tsl.state.tx.us/exhibits/annexation/part5/question8.html Texas Annexation : Questions and Answers], Texas State Library & Archives Commission.</ref> In addition, the state's control over offshore oil reserves in Texas runs out to 3 [[nautical league]]s (9 nautical miles, 10.357 statute miles, 16.668&nbsp;km) rather than three nautical miles (3.45 statute miles, 5.56&nbsp;km) as with other states.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.eia.gov/FTProot/pub/|title=U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA)|website=www.eia.gov}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/363/1/|title=United States v. Louisiana :: 363 U.S. 1 (1960) :: Justia U.S. Supreme Court Center|work=Justia Law}}</ref>