John Smith’s map of Virginia, engraved by William Hole and published in 1612. Public domain.
The United States took in Texas as a slave state, and with it a huge land claim and a pile of old debts.
A poor family on the Texas frontier still lived by farming and herding, and statehood did not hand them a clear title.
A settler who already held a Texas grant hoped the new flag would make that paper worth more.
Speculators in Texas land and in the Republic’s old bonds expected Washington to make their paper good.
Congress annexed Texas in 1845 by joint resolution after a treaty failed in the Senate.
Texas entered with slavery legal and with claims stretching toward the Rio Grande.
Those boundary and debt fights waited until 1850, when the United States paid Texas ten million dollars to accept a smaller border.
Joint Resolution for Annexing Texas, March 1, 1845; Randolph B. Campbell, Gone to Texas (2003)