History of Texas Land

by Texas. General Land Office

At the very beginning of hostilities, Texans closed the colonial land offices and assumed control of the land problems under one agency. This was the foundation and beginning of the General Land Office, as it is known today.

In separating from Mexico, Texans recognized the valid titles to land which had been made by Spain and Mexico, but all vacant land within the borders of the new republic became the property of Texas. These borders were defined by the Congress of Texas in an Act of December 19, 1836, and included all land within the present boundaries of the state (and out to three marine leagues in the Gulf of Mexico), more than half of the present State of New Mexico, and parts of Kansas, Colorado and Wyoming. The first commissioners of the General Land Office, who were given the momentous task of administering this huge domain, were John P. Borden (who served from 1837 to 1841) and Thomas Wm. Ward (whose tenure of office was 1841 to 1848). On December 29, 1845, the Republic became a state.

Events leading to the annexation of Texas by the United States were significant in the land history of the state. Relations between the Republic of Texas and the United States during this time may be separated into three periods, each of which lasted about three years.

During the first period, Texas sought annexation. Partly as a result of the slavery controversy then raging in the United States and partly in fear of war with Mexico, the United States refused annexation.

In the second period, Texas altered her attitude, withdrew her application for annexation, and made plans to perpetuate her republic. During this period, Texas was recognized by powers such as Great Britain, France, Holland, and Belgium. Americans, laboring under the influence of what they considered a Manifest Destiny, feared the influence of foreign powers in Texas.

This led to the third phase, which was characterized by renewed U. S. interest in Texas. On June 8, 1844, a treaty of annexation was defeated in the United States Senate, largely by partisan politics. This treaty stipulated that the United States would pay Texas debts up to ten million dollars, but that Texas would have to surrender title to all public lands.

Texas was fortunate that this treaty was not approved, because only a small part of the land that she would have traded for ten million dollars has since put more than 625 million dollars in the Permanent School and University Funds. Later that year, President John Tyler of the United States proposed that the treaty of annexation be adopted by a joint resolution of Congress, and this maneuver succeeded, the treaty receiving approval on February 28, 1845.

Provisions of the treaty as confirmed by the joint resolution allowed Texas to retain her public domain and provided also that the new state should keep her debts, which amounted to about 13 million dollars at that time. All in all, it was a better arrangement than the earlier treaty which had been defeated.

Congressional approval was greeted in Texas by considerable enthusiasm.

The initiative in annexation proceedings now lay with Texas. President of the Republic Anson Jones called a convention to meet at Austin on July 4, 1845, to decide whether or not Texas should accept the proposal. The decision being in the affirmative, the State of Texas was admitted into the Union on December 29, 1845, and the State government was formally installed on February 19, 1846. Thomas Wm. Ward, who had been Commissioner of the General Land Office under the Republic, assumed the same position in the State government. His duties remained essentially the same.