This is an I-Heart podcast.

And we return to our American stories. Up next, a history story.

In 1845, Texas joined the Union as a country,

the only state in our nation to do so. It was a long road to get to that point. Texas first

had to fight a war for independence, which they managed to gain against all odds after

the Battle of San Jacinto.

Here to tell the rest of the story is Monty Monroe, the Texas State Historian.

Take it away, Monty.

The first national Texas election was a contest of personalities rather than politics,

and Sam Houston was elected president over Stephen F. Austin and Henry Smith by an 80% vote.

That was quite a bit.

Houston would dominate Texas in this era in the same way that Lyndon Baines Johnson did in the 20th century.

He was an imposing figure. He was a close friend of Andrew Jackson.

He had been a congressman, governor of Tennessee.

He ran on a platform of annexation.

Like George Washington after the American Revolution, Houston would draw his cabinet from

members of both revolutionary factions.

He appointed Stephen F. Austin as the first Secretary of State, but Austin, unfortunately,

the so-called father of Texas, died in December of 1836, cutting short his valuable career. There was actually a 30-day period of morning for him.

Henry Smith became the Secretary of the Treasury. Thomas J. Rusk, another important Texas

revolutionary name, would become Secretary of War, and Maribault B. Lamar, who would become the

second President of Texas, was elected as vice president.

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