THE LIFE AND TIMES OF RIP FORD
Part 4: “To Be Or Not To Be” Alone![i]
by Bob Heinonen
“The question of annexation to the United
States was presented to the people of Texas
in the election of 1836, and decided in the affirmative by a large majority.”[ii]
In the first national election of the newly formed Republic
of Texas, the people of Texas
determined their fate and they asked the Hero of San Jacinto to lead them to
it. They did not know that politics in Texas,
the United States,
Britain, France
and Mexico would
stand in the way for 10 long years.
The fact is the United States
had attempted to annex Texas
before Texas became a Republic in
1836. “John Quincy Adams had offered Mexico
$1 million for Texas, and
[Andrew] Jackson was willing to pay
$5 million, but Mexico
would not sell.”[iii]
The Consultation of Texas representatives of December, 1835,
decided to form a government and three representatives where sent to the United
States to raise money and troops for the
coming revolution.
Stephen F. Austin and Wharton and
Archer of Brazoria had left Texas
at the end of 1835 and had been in the United
States as Texan commissioners four months
when independence was declared. After
that event, George C. Childress, author of the Declaration, and Secretary of
State Carson---recently a member of the United States Congress from North
Carolina---rushed off to join them in such haste that
they neglected to bring along diplomatic authority to negotiate for annexation,
or even officially to ask for recognition of independence. “If we had had those powers,” Austin had
written from Washington April 6, “Texas would have been, by this time [two
weeks before San Jacinto], recognized, if not admitted into this Union.”[iv]
Just before Christmas in 1836, William H. Wharton arrived in
Washington, D.C.,
with the proper papers and accreditation.
It was hoped that U.S. President Andrew Jackson, who was very pro-Texas
and a friend of Sam Houston, would immediately speak out for annexation, or at
least officially recognize it. He did
neither for three months.
In the meantime, Santa Anna re-entered the picture. In January, he arrived in Washington
with a proposal to, in effect, sell Texas
to the United States. If his proposal had been accepted and
completed, Texas would have
entered the Union with its form of government dictated
by the U.S. and
all of its public lands owned by the U.S. Fortunately, President Jackson said “he would
perish”[v]
before agreeing to such an arrangement.
One of Jackson’s last acts
as President was recognizing Texas
sovereignty—this was in March, 1837.
U.S. President Martin Van Buren, who followed Jackson
into office, was not in favor of annexation so the formal proposal for
annexation was withdrawn by Texas
in October, 1838.
Presidents of the Republic served three year terms (except
for Houston’s initial two year term
which completed the term started by interim-President David G. Burnet) and
could not succeed themselves. Not being
able to run for President again, Sam Houston had to give up the Presidency but
ran for Congress in 1838 against John Salmon Ford and, of course, won. Ford credits his loss to the fact he repeated
something against Houston that
turned out not to be true.
Mirabeau B. Lamar won the election
for President in 1838. Initially, Lamar
was against annexation so it was not broached with the United
States during his three year term which
began in December, 1838
Beginning with Sam Houston’s second term as President in
December, 1841, the question of annexation was again brought to the table. After waiting a year for action by then U.S.
President John Tyler, the proposal was again withdrawn by Texas
in July, 1843. But two months later,
President Tyler took action on Texas
annexation and in October, U.S. Secretary of State Abel P. Upshur formally accepted
the third Texas annexation
proposal.
Upshur thought he could get the two-thirds majority he
needed for approval of the proposal in the U.S. Senate. “He [Upshur] negotiated a treaty with the Texas
charge, Isaac Van Zandt, in February 1844, but before Upshur had signed it he
was killed by the explosion of a cannon on the battleship Princeton during a weapons
demonstration.”[vi]
To replace Upshur, President Tyler appointed John C. Calhoun
Secretary of State. Unfortunately, this
appointment alienated most northern and western politicians because they saw
Calhoun as too closely aligned with the Southern coalition. To complicate things even further, it was a
Presidential election year in the U.S.
and most politicians misjudged the people’s desire for national expansion.
The people wanted to go west…….
Next Month - Part 5:
Domestic and Foreign Intrigue
Bob Heinonen is the
founder of Texas Heroes and has been portraying Rip Ford
since 1993