ANNEXATION OF TEXAS TO THE UNITED STATES. MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES...
[Washington]: 1837. 25th Cong., 1st Sess. HED40. October 3, 1837. 18pp, disbound, lightly toned, Very Good.
The Battle of San Jacinto gained Texas its independence from Mexico. "Among the prospects opened to the Texans by their victory at San Jacinto the most attractive was annexation to the United States." Merk, History of the Westward Movement, page 279.
This document prints Memucan Hunt's famous proposal of annexation to John Forsyth, Van Buren's Secretary of State, and Forsyth's reply. Hunt's letter "outlined the benefits of annexation to the United States. He warned that Texas must turn to Europe if annexation should fail. His proposal was promptly declined. Forsyth referred in his letter to the treaty obligations of the United States to Mexico and he questioned that the Constitution conferred authority on the federal government to annex Texas." Id. Most important, but not mentioned in Forsyth's letter, the Administration had no wish to create a new struggle over the extension of slavery.
Streeter 1297. Merk 279. Item #28838
Price: $100.00