Why did some northerners oppose the Texas annexation?
Many northerners did not want Texas admitted to the Union as a slave state because it would tip the balance of power in Congress toward the South. Most Southerners wanted Texas to join the Union.
The annexation of Texas was controversial because the early settlers in Texas brought slaves. The issue of the expansion of slavery into the West was threatening to tear the nation apart. Also, the annexation was controversial because the United States feared it would lead to war with Mexico.
Following Texas' successful war of independence against Mexico in 1836, President Martin van Buren refrained from annexing Texas after the Mexicans threatened war.
Public opinion over the annexation of Texas was divided, because of the issue of slavery. Southerners wanted to annex Texas and allow it to become a slave state. While Northerners opposed adding another slave state to the Union.
Secondly, the annexation of Texas would breach the 1819 treaty with Mexico. And most importantly, northern states and anti-slavery advocates objected strongly, warning that the annexation could lead to civil war.
There were also northerners who resisted the war effort. Some were pacifists. Others were white men who resented the fact that the army was drafting them at the same time it excluded blacks. And there were whites who refused to fight once black soldiers were admitted.
The United States didn't immediately annex Texas because Northerners opposed to slavery objected to the annexation of more slave territory and didn't want slave states to outnumber free states. Many Americans also feared that annexation would lead to war with Mexico.
Two controversial issues — the extension of slavery and a possible war with Mexico — proved to be major roadblocks to achieving statehood for nearly ten years. By 1844, U.S. supporters of annexation had made progress in their plan to unite Texas with the United States.
Texas Annexation. On June 23, 1845, a joint resolution of the Congress of Texas voted in favor of annexation by the United States.
Because of Texas annexation, America ended up gaining a huge expansion of territory. The United States was now a true world power. But annexation and the war had unleashed forces that no one had foreseen and no one could control. The war had been widely supported in the South and opposed in the North.
Why did Southerners support annexing Texas?
After its independence, Texas wanted to be a part of the United States. The south wholeheartedly accepted the annexation of Texas because it would add a very large slave state to the Union.
The Northern states, having abolished slavery, sought to prevent its spread, while the Southern states, having grown more dependent on slave labor, asserted the rights of Southerners to transport their way of life into the new territories.
The South wished to take slavery into the western territories, while the North was committed to keeping them open to white labor alone. Meanwhile, the newly formed Republican party, whose members were strongly opposed to the westward expansion of slavery into new states, was gaining prominence.
The North was fighting for reunification, and the South for independence. But as the war progressed, the Civil War gradually turned into a social, economic and political revolution with unforeseen consequences. The Union war effort expanded to include not only reunification, but also the abolition of slavery.
Northern opposition. The main opposition came from Copperheads (also known as "Peace Democrats"), the most well-known of which were Southern sympathizers in the Midwest, but the movement included a large proportion of the Democrats in the North who opposed the war for a variety of reasons.
Background. The relationship between the North and the South was tenuous when Andrew Jackson came to office in 1828. Ever since the Constitutional Convention of 1787, northerners and southerners had fought over slavery and tariffs.
The leadership of both major U.S. political parties, the Democrats and the Whigs, opposed the introduction of Texas, a vast slave-holding region, into the volatile political climate of the pro- and anti-slavery sectional controversies in Congress.
The Republic of Texas pre-annexation.
President John Tyler made the annexation of Texas a priority, and in the closing days of his presidency, Congress voted to make Texas a state—though it was not until December 1845 that, under President James K. Polk, Texas formally achieved statehood.
Some Senators warned that annexing Texas would spark a war with Mexico. The most bitter debate on the Senate floor was the issue of adding another slave state to the Union. After 3 weeks of debate, the Senate rejected the treaty.
4. What were the arguments for and against the annexation of Texas? The arguments for the annexation of Texas was that the South wanted Texas because it would be a slave state under the Missouri Compromise. The arguments against the annexation of Texas was that the North was against the spread of slavery.
What was the annexation of Texas and why was it important?
The Texas Annexation was a series of events that led to Texas joining the United States as the 28th state in the Union on December 29, 1845. The annexation of Texas was a direct cause of the Mexican-American War and contributed to the growing section divide over slavery that led to the Civil War in 1861.
Why did many Texans favor annexation to the United States? Texas debts from the republic would be paid. Texas would be a territory rather than a state. Texas would keep 21 million acres of public land.
Opposing annexation were Northerners who objected to the spread of slavery on either moral or economic grounds, and those who predicted that admitting Texas would lead to war with Mexico.
One reason that some people did not want to annex Texas as a state was the issue of slavery. Texas was a slave state and would have tipped the balance between the free states and slave states toward slavery. A second issue with making Texas a state was the worry that doing so would incite war with Mexico.
Texas officially became part of the United States on December 29, 1845. Terms of the annexation agreement were generous to the new state, with Texas retaining all of its public lands and the United States paying $5 million to ease its debts.
annexation, a formal act whereby a state proclaims its sovereignty over territory hitherto outside its domain. Unlike cession, whereby territory is given or sold through treaty, annexation is a unilateral act made effective by actual possession and legitimized by general recognition.
The North wanted to block the spread of slavery. They were also concerned that an extra slave state would give the South a political advantage. The South thought new states should be free to allow slavery if they wanted.
In fact a large portion of the anti-slavery sentiment had its basis in racism and an inherent dislike of the African race. Many northerners, especially immigrants, saw slavery as the reason the country was flooded with blacks. They disliked the fact that blacks were filling their streets and taking their jobs.
Southerners claimed that enslaved people were healthier and happier than northern wage workers. Most white northerners viewed blacks as inferior. Northern states severly limited the rights of free African Americans and discouraged or prevented the migration of more.
The Southern states wanted to count the entire slave population. This would increase their number of members of Congress. The Northern delegates and others opposed to slavery wanted to count only free persons, including free blacks in the North and South.
What was the Northern states argument?
Northern States
Argument: Because they could not vote and were not citizens, slaves should not count toward the apportionment of House seats.
The North had an industrial economy, an economy focused on manufacturing, while the South had an agricultural economy, an economy focused on farming. Slaves worked on Southern plantations to farm crops, and Northerners would buy these crops to produce goods that they could sell.
The main argument against westward expansion in the United States was that it would spread slavery into new territories instead of keeping it isolated to certain portions of the South. Slavery began to be adopted in some of these newly formed territories, including Louisiana, Texas, and New Mexico.
Slavery in the Western Territories
The North, especially, was afraid that the South would force its “peculiar institution” upon the entire Union. These fears were realized when the expansion of slavery into western territories entered Congressional debates.
Gold rush and mining opportunities (silver in Nevada) The opportunity to work in the cattle industry; to be a “cowboy” Faster travel to the West by railroad; availability of supplies due to the railroad. The opportunity to own land cheaply under the Homestead Act.
The Federalists did not want westward expansion. Hamilton wanted Americans to be crowded into urban areas where they would work in factories, although Steve Knott might put it differently! An industrializing economy, Hamilton thought, would build American commercial and military might, mimicking the British model.
Because of Texas annexation, America ended up gaining a huge expansion of territory. The United States was now a true world power. But annexation and the war had unleashed forces that no one had foreseen and no one could control. The war had been widely supported in the South and opposed in the North.
