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Rh possession of Texas; it was under Spanish rule, overrun with outlaws and a most undesirable neighbor, besides being very necessary to the rounding out of our coast territory.

The Mexican War The annexation and admission of Texas into the Union in 1845 came about through the pioneering and settlement of our people in her territory; where at first welcomed and encouraged by the Mexicans, they were later deluged in blood. The spirit of Americanism grew rampant under the barbaric and military despotism of the Mexican government, and in 1835 there was an uprising of the settlers led by a pioneer, an ex-governor of Tennessee, Gen. Samuel Houston, the man for whom the city of Houston, Texas, was named. At this time there were about ten thousand Americans in Texas, and on March 2, 1836, through their representatives in convention assembled, these Americans in true Revolutionary spirit declared Texas an independent republic. The Mexican government tried to put down this rebellion, but met with a crushing defeat, and Texas, the "Lone Star" state, remained an independent republic up to the time of her annexation and admission as a state of the Union.

The cause of the wax with Mexico, then, was her resentment because Texas began to move for annexation to the United States. The fact that Texas Ired been for many years an independent republic and been so recognized by the United States, Great Britan, France, and some smaller countries, gave Texas the right on her part to ask for annexation, and the United States the right to annex her. But in order to bring Texas into the Union and serve her people from the Mexicans, the United States was obliged to declare wax against Mexico. This she did May 13, 1845, although Texas was not admitted as a state until December 29th of that year. The war lasted nearly three years, peace being declared February 2, 1848. As an outcome of the war the peaceful possession of Texas was secured, and also possession of the territory of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and a part of Colorado and New Mexico, for which territory, however, our government in final settlement paid Mexico, $15,000,000.

New States—1845-1861 During the Mexican War, Iowa (1846),the "Hawkeye" state, came into the Union, followed by the state of Wisconsin (1848),