Part
5: The Final Showdown
The Crisis
In the interim between Polk’s election
and his inauguration (then held in March), supporters of annexation
worked on new political tactics to avoid a repeat of Tyler’s
treaty debacle. One of their chief ideas was to balance the annexation
of Texas with the admission of Oregon as a non-slave territory.
The other was to engineer annexation via joint resolution of both
houses of Congress, a strategy that required only a majority in
both houses instead of the two-thirds vote needed for a treaty.
One thing that had changed since the Tyler
treaty was the reduction in partisan rancor. Whigs were eager
to leave the disappointment of the Clay defeat behind and jump
on the bandwagon of the popular Texas issue. There was less talk
of the evils of slavery and war with Mexico and more talk about
western expansion and economic opportunity.
Opponents of annexation were still busy
keeping their objections before the public. Texas owed more than
$10 million (almost $200 million in 2006 dollars). Supporters
had proposed that Texas sell its public lands to pay off the debt,
but opponents pointed to greed and corruption, demonstrating that
land speculators who had already snapped up the worthless land
now stood to make a killing. Others objected to the huge size
of Texas, saying that if the state ever gained population in proportion
to its size, it could dominate Congress.
But with the election of Polk and the
disintegrating unity in the Whig ranks, annexation now seemed
a question of “how” and “when” rather
than “if.” Several draft joint resolutions were put
forth, but in January 1845, Representative Milton Brown of Tennessee
introduced the bill that became the final basis for the annexation
of Texas. The Brown resolution eliminated the debt issue by stipulating
that Texas would keep its public lands in order to eventually
pay its own way out of its debt. In addition, Brown’s bill
provided that Texas could be divided into several states as needed
to deal with future “balance” between slave states
and free states, and that no slavery would be allowed north of
the old Missouri Compromise line. The Brown bill easily passed
the House of Representatives on January 25, 1845.
February 1845 was an intense period
in the United States Senate. Both supporters and opponents of
annexation could be accused of grandstanding. Opponents mounted
a passionate last-ditch attempt to stop passage of the bill that
almost succeeded. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee recommended
that the Brown bill be rejected. After days of debate and compromise,
the matter came to a vote on February 27. The result was a 26-26
tie. At the last minute, a Louisiana senator was persuaded to
change his vote, and Texas annexation passed the Senate by a single
vote.
Note: You
can read the actual
text of the Joint Resolution on our "About Texas"
website.
Part 5 continued: Texas Makes Its Choice>> |
