Yesterday was the anniversary of the birth of the Republic of Texas (March 2, 1836). The yellow area on the map shows what Texas looked like as a country. It entered the Union on December 29, 1845. On September 9, 1850 (in the Compromise of 1850), Texas gave up the lands outside its present borders. The land given up now makes up parts of the states of New Mexico, Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas, and Wyoming. Texas gave up those lands mainly to please abolitionists who did not want slavery to be extended that far north (or west). The pictures below show the United States before and after the Compromise of 1850.
A belated Happy Birthday to my home state!
