Title: Aftermath | TSLAC
Headings: Aftermath
Introduction
Prologue
Spanish Texas
Part 1
Texas Breaks Away
Part 2
On Our Own
Part 3
An International Matter
Part 4
A Treaty of Annexation
Part 5
The Final Showdown
Aftermath
The Reckoning
Frequently Asked Questions
Recommended Reading
Other online exhibits from
the Texas State Library
and Archives
Visit our new exhibit: Texas Highways
Aftermath
The Reckoning
What were the boundaries of the Republic of Texas?
Home
Click on the Images Below to View Larger Versions

Content: What were the boundaries of the Republic of Texas? Although longer and more costly in terms of blood and treasure than the United States expected, the Mexican War ended in complete triumph for the U.S. and disaster for Mexico. In the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the United States gained California, Arizona, New Mexico, and the Rio Grande boundary for Texas, as well as portions of Utah, Nevada, and Colorado. Because of Texas annexation, America ended up gaining a huge expansion of territory. The United States was now a true world power. But annexation and the war had unleashed forces that no one had foreseen and no one could control. The war had been widely supported in the South and opposed in the North. Now the territory gained fell into the same seething cauldron of sectionalism. President Polk, unable to reconcile the desires of Northern abolitionists and Southern expansionists, became ill. He decided not to seek a second term and died only a few months after leaving office.