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The Texas annexation was the 1845 incorporation of the Republic of Texas into the United States of America, which was admitted to the Union as the 28th state. After declaring their independence from the Republic of Mexico in 1836, the vast majority of Texas citizens favored the annexation of the Lone Star Republic by the United States.〔Malone, 1960, p. 545: "... Texas was now actually free () ... the Texas Declaration of Independence on March 2, 1836 ... and its people avidly desired annexation by the United States."〕 The leadership of both major American political parties, the Democrats and the Whigs, strenuously objected to introducing Texas, a vast slave-holding region, into the volatile political climate of the pro- and anti-slavery sectional controversies in Congress.〔Wilentz, 2008, p. 558: "... the heightening of sectional tensions in Congress made it imperative that (Whigs ) find some compromise ground in the 1844 election ... the same intersectional logic held true for the Democrats ..." and p. 560: 'Texas annexation had long been a taboo subject for Whigs and Democrats alike."〕 Moreover, they wished to avoid a war with Mexico, whose government refused to acknowledge the sovereignty of its rebellious northern province.〔Freehling, 1991, p. 355: "Immediately before annexation, both major parties remained frozen in their decade-long position that Texas was not worth a foreign war or sectional combat."〕 With Texas's economic fortunes declining by the early 1840s, the President of the Texas Republic, Sam Houston, arranged talks with Mexico to explore the possibility of securing official recognition of independence, with Great Britain mediating.〔Freehling, 1991, p. 369: "Sam Houston ... the Texas president apparently swerved from seeking an apparently unattainable annexation (the US )" and "would negotiate independence from Mexico. England, Houston hoped, might aid in the negotiations."〕〔Wilentz, 2009, p. 566: "President Sam Houston truly was interested in the British option (negotiate a peace with Mexico ) and was pursuing it vigorously and openly."〕 In 1843, President of the United States John Tyler, unaligned with any political party, decided, as chief executive, to independently pursue the annexation of Texas in a bid to gain a base of popular support for another four years in office.〔Varon, 2008, p. 166: "President Tyler cherished annexation as a measure that could redeem his administration and enable him to build a loyal political constituency in the South."〕 His official motivation was to outmaneuver suspected diplomatic efforts by the British government to promote a general emancipation of slaves in Texas that would weaken the institution of human bondage in the United States.〔Freehling, 1991, p. 398: "Tyler and (of State ) Upshur opted for annexation only after a public parliamentary exchange confirmed ... that England had 'earnestly' pressed Mexico to pressure Texas towards abolition (slavery )."〕〔Merk, 1978, p. 308: "The course of () history was changed by new forces: the emergence in the South of the doctrine that slavery was a beneficent form of labor – that it was necessary to the southern economy, to southern democracy, and to well-being of the slaves – a way of life threatened by international abolitionism."〕 Initiating and impelling secret annexation negotiations with the Houston administration, Tyler secured a treaty of annexation in April 1844. When the documents were submitted to the US Senate for ratification, the details of the terms of annexation became public and the question of acquiring Texas took center stage in the presidential election of 1844. Pro-Texas annexationist southern Democratic delegates denied their anti-annexationist leader Martin Van Buren the nomination at their party's convention in May 1844. In alliance with pro-expansionist northern Democratic colleagues, they secured the unanimous nomination of James K. Polk, who ran on a pro-Texas Manifest Destiny platform.〔Merk, 1978, p. 308: In the early 1840s "there developed in the Northwest and in eastern urban centers the doctrine of Manifest Destiny, which could be brought to the support of slavery expansion."〕 In June 1844, the Senate, with its Whig majority, soundly rejected the Tyler–Texas treaty. The pro-annexationist Democrat Polk would defeat the anti-annexationist Whig Henry Clay for the presidency by a small margin in November of 1844. In December 1844, the lame-duck President Tyler called on Congress to pass his treaty by simple majorities in each house.〔Wilentz, 2008, p. 575: "Tyler and Calhoun, determined to win (of Texas ) before leaving office, arrived at the ... constitutionally dubious strategy of immediately annexing Texas by joint congressional resolution, which would require a mere simple majority in both houses of Congress."〕 The Democratic-dominated House of Representatives complied with his request by passing an amended bill expanding on the pro-slavery provisions of the Tyler treaty. The Senate's minority Democrats narrowly passed a compromise version of the House bill, with critical support from several southern Whigs, designed to provide the incoming President-elect Polk the option to effect immediate annexation of Texas or open new talks to revise the annexation terms of the House amended bill. On March 3, 1845, shortly after signing the legislation, President Tyler preempted Polk and forwarded the House legislative alternative to Texas, offering immediate annexation to the republic. When Polk entered the White House the next day, he proceeded to encourage Texas to accept the Tyler offer. The Lone Star Republic ratified the treaty with popular approval from Texans. The bill was signed by United States President Polk on December 29, 1845, accepting Texas as the 28th state of the Union. Texas formally relinquished its sovereignty to the United States on February 19, 1846.〔Merk, 1978, p.308: "In Texas, on February 19, 1846, (President ) Anson Jones presided over the ceremony of the transfer of his state's sovereignty to the United States."〕 ==Background== 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Texas annexation」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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