Sold – Tyler Orders The Signing of The Treaty Between the United States and the Republic of Texas

In September 1836, the newly independent Republic of Texas voted overwhelmingly in favor of annexation to the United States, but when the Texas minister at Washington proposed annexation to President Van Buren’s administration in August 1837, he was told that the proposition could not be entertained.

Fear of war with Mexico and antislavery sentiment in the U.S. undoubtedly influenced Van Buren at that time. However, in April of the following year, the U.S. did enact two conventions with Texas: the first to “Terminate Reclamations,” whereunder Texas paid $11,750 on account of the capture, seizure, and confiscation of two American vessels, as well as for indemnity to American citizens who had suffered injuries; and the second regarding the “Texas-American Boundary,” whereby he two nations agreed to appoint surveyors to determine the exact border between Texas and Louisiana. These two issues, the payment of a small sum as indemnity and the hiring of a surveyor for a general border determination, were limited in time and scope, and did not set up or define ongoing relations between the nations nor were they considered sufficiently controversial or dangerous to prevent their enactment. Meanwhile, opposition in the U.S. Congress to annexation was so strong that Texas withdrew its request in October 1838.

By 1842, the situation had changed for both countries. In the U.S., John Tyler, a pro-slavery southerner, was in the White House and he favored bringing Texas into the Union. In Texas, President Sam Houston faced a resurgent Mexico. In March of that year, Santa Anna ordered his troops to invade Texas, and they occupied Goliad, Refugio, and Victoria and sacked San Antonio before beating a retreat back across the border. Mexico then issued a warning to Texans that it was hopeless to maintain their independence. Houston responded by naming James Reily as charge de’ affaires and sending him to Washington to try and obtain a treaty of friendship with the United States. Houston also told him to canvas Congress for any possibility of reopening the annexation issue or obtaining military aid.

In the United States, Reily encountered both strong sympathy and deep hostility. Tyler, seeking to increase the odds of annexation and emboldened because the Texan cause was becoming increasingly popular with Congress, embraced the opportunity to draw Texas close with a broad-based treaty. Moreover, he was feeling urgency because of overtures Texas was making to Europe and particularly to Great Britain, and wanted to prevent a rise in European influence on the doorstep of Louisiana. Opposed to involvement with Texas was former president John Quincy Adams, now a member of the U.S. House of Representatives and one of the most outspoken foes of slavery in Congress. Adams saw Texas as nothing but the “misbegotten and illegitimate progeny” of the slaveholding South. Texas still legally belonged to Mexico, he said, and he would fight any attempt to put the United States in the position of stealing part of another country. Despite the potential for opposition, the administration went forward with plans for a treaty, with Secretary of State Daniel Webster negotiating directly with Reily. The result was a Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation between the Republic of Texas and the United States, one designed to increase trade and contacts and establish a comprehensive relationship. The treaty was concluded and signed by Reily as Texas Charge D’Affaires and by Daniel Webster as Secretary of State on July 30, 1842.

Document Signed by President Tyler, Washington, July 30, 1842, directing that Webster execute the treaty. “I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of State to affix the Seal of the United States to a full power authorizing him to conclude a Treaty of Commerce with the Charge d’Affaires of the Republic of Texas, dated this day and signed by me; and for so doing this shall be his warrant.” The treaty was signed the same day as this authorization.

President Tyler sent the treaty to the Senate for ratification, writing, “I transmit to the Senate, for its consideration with a view to its ratification, a treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation with the Republic of Texas…In forming the first commercial treaty between the two Governments an anxious desire has been felt to introduce such provisions as should promote the interests of both countries. The immediate proximity of Texas to the United States, and the consequent facility of intercourse, the nature of its principal agricultural production…have caused peculiarities of condition and interests which it has been necessary to guard…The treaty further provides that raw cotton may be imported from either country into the other free of duties…” “The nature of its principal agricultural production” was, of course, slavery, so it was bold of Tyler to directly bring it up.

The treaty was promulgated by Texas on January 30, 1843. However, the prospect of development of close relations with Texas, and Tyler’s explicit mention of slavery as a common link, caused a firestorm in Congress and the treaty failed to be ratified by the U.S. Senate. However, as part of the Tyler administration’s plan to annex Texas, it was successful, clearing the ground for the effort that in early 1845 managed to get an outright annexation bill through Congress, howbeit by one vote.