Page:History of the War between the United States and Mexico.djvu/49

Rh of Mexico, notwithstanding it was concluded by a chief magistrate exercising dictatorial power, and preparations were made, on several future occasions, for the re-invasion and subjugation of Texas. The troops of the Mexican republic entered her territories under Urrea in 1837, and under Woll in 1842, but were soon compelled to retire. The distracted state of the country prevented any further attempts to recover the province. The Texan convention assembled on the 1st. of March, 1836, and on the following day made a formal and absolute declaration of independence. A constitution was also adopted, and submitted to the people for their ratification. The government thereby organized went into operation, and continued to exercise its powers until the year 1845. The government of the United States promptly recognized the independence achieved at San Jacinto, and her example was imitated by all the other great powers of the world.

The citizens of Texas, having acquired that independent position for which they had contended, naturally turned their eyes to the land of their nativity, around whose constitution and laws there clustered a thousand cheering and animating recollections. The sympathies of a common origin, and a common tongue, were not obliterated. Their hearts yearned towards the homes of their brethren, and the burial-places of their fathers. They longed to return again to the fold which they had left, to be sheltered beneath "the ﬂag of the stars," and enjoy the privileges and the institutions in which they claimed an interest, as the legacy of the same ancestry. The question of annexing the young republic to the United States was referred to the