General Discussion

...since the war followed the 1845 American annexation of Texas, and the end result of the U.S. fighting that war was Mexico recognizing Texas as part of the Union, it's obvious that it took the U.S. to guarantee that separation from Mexico through its military power and the negotiations that resulted; something Texas had not been able to achieve on its own.

There was fear that the Britain would join with Mexico to seize Texas after annexation because the move, which was rejected several times by successive presidents, including Texas legislators, was finally accepted to make a big slave state to advantage the slave holding south.

Texians waged a 'revolution' that lasted less than a year and saw humiliating defeats at Alamo and Goliad. They held Santa Anna and forced him to sign treaties that no one in Mexico recognized.

Texas and Mexico officially remained at war for most of the nine years that Texas existed as an independent republic. Although it never erupted into full scale fighting, there were constant skirmishes which resulted in Sam Houston agreeing to an armistice with Mexico in June 1843.