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Robert, I thought you might find this document both interesting
and useful.  The source, Texas State Library and Archives, makes
it all the sweeter.
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Narrative by Jean Carefoot Texas State Library and Archives
Commission April 1997
http://www.tsl.state.tx.us/lobby/annex/narrative.htm Last updated
may22,1997
Narrative History of Texas Annexation, Secession, and Readmission
to the Union
Texans voted in favor of annexation to the United States in the
first election following independence in 1836.  However,
throughout the Republic period (1836-1845) no treaty of
annexation negotiated between the Republic and the United States
was ratified by both nations.
When all attempts to arrive at a formal annexation treaty failed,
the United States Congress passed--after much debate and only a
simple majority--a Joint Resolution for Annexing Texas to the
United States.  Under these terms, Texas would keep both its
public lands and its public debt, it would have the power to
divide into four additional states "of convenient size" in the
future if it so desired, and it would deliver all military,
postal, and customs facilities and authority to the United States
government.  (Neither this joint resolution or the ordinance
passed by the Republic of Texas' Annexation Convention gave Texas
the right to secede.)
In July 1845, a popularly-elected Constitutional Convention met
in Austin to consider both this annexation proposal as well as a
proposed peace treaty with Mexico which would end the state of
war between the two nations, but only if Texas remained an
independent country.
The Convention voted to accept the United States' proposal, and
the Annexation Ordinance was submitted to a popular vote in
October 1845.  The proposed Annexation Ordinance and State
Constitution were approved by the Texas voters and submitted to
the United States Congress.
The United States House and Senate, in turn, accepted the Texas
state constitution in a Joint Resolution to admit Texas as a
State which was signed by the president on December 29, 1845 .
Although the formal transfer of government did not occur until
February 19, 1846, Texas statehood dates from the 29th of
December.
Opposition to Texas' admission to the United States was
particularly strong in the North during this period.  If a
challenge to the constitutionality of the move could have been
made successfully at that time, there is little doubt that the
leaders of the opposition would have instituted such a suit in
the Supreme Court.
Sixteen years later, in January 1861, the Secession Convention
met in Austin and adopted an Ordinance of Secession on February 1
and a Declaration of Causes on February 2.  This proposal was
approved by the voters, but even before Texas could become
"independent" as provided for in the text of the Ordinance, it
was accepted by the Provisional Government of the Confederate
States of America as a state on March 1, 1861.
The Secession Convention, reconvened on March 2, approved an
ordinance accepting Confederate statehood on March 5.  Texas
delegates to the Provisional Confederate Government had already
been elected, and they were among those who approved the proposed
Confederate Constitution.  Their action was confirmed by the
Secession Convention on March 23.
Throughout the Civil War period, Texas existed as a state in the
Confederate States of America, its status confirmed by the
elected representatives of the Texas citizens.  (Sam Houston,
although accepting the decision of the electorate to secede,
protested the Convention's decision to join the Confederacy since
the matter was not submitted to popular vote.  His opposition was
insufficient to cause either the voters or the members of the
state legislature to put aside the actions of the Convention.)
John H. Reagan, a Texan, was the Postmaster General of the
C.S.A., and other Texans held prominent government posts
throughout the period.
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