Texas, the U.S., and Mexico

1. Was Texas' entrance into the U.S. inevitable?

2. Could Texas have remained a part of Mexico successfully?

Strategos' Risk said:

1. Was Texas' entrance into the U.S. inevitable?

2. Could Texas have remained a part of Mexico successfully?

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1. No, tho it really hinges on the balance of free vs. slave states in the US. There is also the problem that Texas' government was always running just above broke.

2. Yes, without Santa Ana alot of things are possible. However, there is the problem that the new American settlers into Mexican Texas were bring slavery with them, and that would eventually have caused some tension between San Antonio and Mexico City.

Well, the free vs. slave state debate aside, I'm wondering if the U.S. would rather have an area populated by Anglos inducted into the Union instead of an independent Anglo buffer state between itself and Mexico. And also I'm wondering if Texas always wanted to join the U.S., or if it would have developed its own sense of nationalism. But I doubt that it would be strong enough to outweigh the benefits of joining the Union (or the Confederacy).

The US was terribly expansionistic at the time, so it would have felt that the entire continent was destined to be part of the Republic. This is the period of Manifest Destiny after all. An independent Texas would have been viewed as enviously as Canada.

I believe that there was a small minority of Texians or Texicans (whatever they were called before they were Texans) that favored independence. The Texan President Mirabeau Lamar favored independence, but couldn't really get support. I actually think that an independent Texas wouldn't be Anglo, maybe Anglo dominated with a very strong and healthy Latino population. Texas itself only became 'white' after annexation.

Strategos' Risk said:

Well, the free vs. slave state debate aside, I'm wondering if the U.S. would rather have an area populated by Anglos inducted into the Union instead of an independent Anglo buffer state between itself and Mexico. And also I'm wondering if Texas always wanted to join the U.S., or if it would have developed its own sense of nationalism. But I doubt that it would be strong enough to outweigh the benefits of joining the Union (or the Confederacy).

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The thing is, much of the population of Texas was born in the US, and emigrated because the Mexicans wanted to fill the territory. The Texan revolution was more of a wish to seperate from Santa Anna than a wish to form another country. And With both the US and Mexico eyeing it, it has a very uncomfortable position.

Oh, and it was sparsly populated, militarily weak, and broke most of the time.

As early as the 18teens, American Filibusters were active in Texas.