Austin & the Republic

Texas President Mirabeau Lamar got his wish and moved the capital of the Republic to a frontier community on the Colorado River now renamed Austin. The new nation was faced with a wealth of problems, financial difficulties chief among them. Mexican army incursions continued into Texas with them reaching San Antonio twice. The newly formed Texas Rangers battled with Comanche raiders who ventured as far as the Gulf of Mexico, waters patrolled by the Texas Navy. Lamar, harboring visions of an independent Texas that stretched to the Pacific, sent a disastrous expedition to Santa Fe. Meanwhile Texas ventured into the realm of foreign relations, and all the while politicians in the United States haggled over the politics of statehood. The greatest Texan, Sam Houston, did his best to right the ship. In 1845, the U.S. Congress passed a joint resolution admitting Texas to the Union, and the transfer of power took place the following February.