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011r Catlwlic Hentage in, Texas
negotiated. Trading posts were to be established to supply the needs of the Indians and to prevent possible ruptures incident to free trade with the Indians. In 1844 the last treaty of the Republic of Texas made with the Comanches was ratified. By its terms a trading post was to be established near present Waco. The new policy proved successful. Indian troubles became less and less frequent from 1841 \Until the annexation of Texas. 36 Houston was succeeded in 1844 by Anson Jones. Texas was well under way to recovery and the principal issue of the new administration was the ulitmate negotiation of a treaty of annexation. The joint resolution adopted by the Congress of the United States on February 28, 1845, opened the way for this treaty. The Texan Congress, which met on June 16, 1845, unanimously accepted the offer of the United States and authorized the call for the election of delegates to a constitutional con- vention. The voters of Texas approved in October both the terms of the annexation and the State Constitution prepared by the Constitutional Convention. When the latter was accepted by the Congress of he United States and approved by President Polk on December 29, 1845, Texas became a member of the Union. The obsequies for the Republic of Texas, however, were not held until February 19, 1846, when President Anson Jones formally re- linquished his authority to Governor J. Pinckney Henderson with the words: "The final act in this great drama is now performed ; the Republic of Texas is no more." Even as the Republic was approaching dissolution, the Vicariate of Texas was, likewise, nearing its end, to be replaced shortly by the Diocese of Galveston. Tke Vicat's return to Texas. The spring invasion of Texas and the capture of San Antonio upset the plans of both Timon and Odin. Timon had arranged for a visit to Missouri .by the Bishop-Vicar that he might see his old friends and secure volunteers to work in the Vicariate. The outbreak of hostilities made such a trip inadvisable. Odin decided to wait in New Orleans in order to go back to Texas at the first opportunity. As weeks stretched into months, his anxiety grew. No shipping was permitted to leave the port until the danger of a Mexican attack on Galveston had passed. It was not until May II, 1842, that the worried and impatient Vicar could secure passage on the New York for Galveston, where he arrived two days later. "For Indian relations under the Republic, see Anna Muckleroy, "The Indian Polley of the Republic of Texas," Tl,e Quarterly, XXV, 122-160, XXVI, 1-29, 128-148, J 84-206.
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