United States President John Tyler signs a bill authorizing the United States to annex the Republic of Texas.

John Tyler was the tenth president of the United States, serving from 1841 to 1845, after briefly holding office as the tenth vice president in 1841. He was elected vice president on the 1840 Whig ticket with President William Henry Harrison, succeeding to the presidency following Harrison's death 31 days after assuming office. Tyler was a stalwart supporter and advocate of states' rights, including regarding slavery, and he adopted nationalistic policies as president only when they did not infringe on the states' powers. His unexpected rise to the presidency posed a threat to the presidential ambitions of Henry Clay and other Whig politicians and left Tyler estranged from both of the nation's major political parties at the time.

The Republic of Texas, or simply Texas, was a country in North America that existed for close to 10 years, from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846. Texas shared borders with Centralist Republic of Mexico, the Republic of the Rio Grande, and the United States. The Republic declared its independence from Mexico with the proclamation of the Texas Declaration of Independence, subsequently beginning the Texas Revolution. The proclamation was established after the Centralist Republic of Mexico abolished autonomy from states of the Mexican federal republic. The revolution lasted for six months, with major fighting ending on April 21, 1836, securing independence.