Territorial Expansionism

After a year of independence from Mexico, Texas approached the United States about the possibility of being admitted to the Union as a slave-state. Fearing the wrath of Mexico and not wanting to disrupt the balance in the Senate, America declined Texas’ offer. Although, during the election of 1844 James K. Polk ran on a platform that embraced American territorial expansionism. Polk won the election and six days before he took office, the U.S. Congress approved the annexation of Texas. But, before Texas was an American state, there was tension amongst Texans and . Due to the empresario system hundreds of slave-holding farmers settled into Mexico’s northern territory and by 1836 the population ratio in Coahuila y Texas was ten whites to every one Spanish-speaker. This caused some conflict because slavery was against the law in Mexico, yet there were hundreds of slave-holding families settled on Mexican territory. This conflict caused the Texas Revolution and the creation of the “Lone Star Republic.” But Sam Houston, the first president of Texas, wanted the United States or Great Britain to annex Texas in order to assume the debts of Texas. As a result,

On one hand, some have called “Texas the Trojan horse that split the Democratic Party into sectional wings ”. For example, John H. Schroeder states that instead of mainly debating over annexing Texas, political leaders were engulfed by questions of abolitionism, slavery, and sectional controversy during the election of 1844. He explains the differences between the North and the South’s arguments over “what to do with the west” and the controversy that was associated with Texas from 1836 to 1845. On the other hand, Michael A. Morrison states that westward expansion was the demise of the Whig party due to the appeal of economic opportunities in and around Texas