On December 29, 1845, after nearly a decade as its own independent country, the Republic of Texas officially joined the United States as the 28th state. President James K. Polk signed the resolution at the White House, and word raced south by horseback and steamboat. In Austin, the Lone Star flag of the Republic was lowered one last time, and the American Stars and Stripes climbed up the pole. Texans cheered, but they kept the lone star as a symbol forever - that's why Texas is still called the Lone Star State today.
Texas had a wild and twisty path to statehood. It was first home to Native American peoples like the Comanche, Apache, and Caddo. Then Spain claimed it, then Mexico, then it became part of independent Mexico in 1821. American settlers poured in, and in 1836 they declared their own independence after famous battles at the Alamo and San Jacinto. For nine years, Texas was its own nation with its own president, money, and even embassies in places like Paris and London. But the country was deep in debt, so leaders voted to join the United States.
Statehood made Texas the biggest state in the union, a title it kept until Alaska joined in 1959. Today Texas is home to more than 30 million people, ranches bigger than entire small states, oil fields, the Houston Space Center where astronauts train, world-famous barbecue, and high school football games that pack stadiums. Yeehaw. From Spanish colony to Mexican territory to independent republic to American state, Texas has always done things in its own enormous way.
