Question

What kept Texas from becoming a state until 1845?

The Senate tried to override President John Tyler's veto until they finally gained success the fourth time around.

Some members of Congress feared it would tip the balance of power toward the slave states.

The U.S. had to wait for California to gain enough people before entering the Union as a free state.

Citizens were fearful that it would trigger a war with Mexico.

Answer 1

The correct answers are:
- Some members of Congress feared it would tip the balance of power toward the slave states.
- Citizens were fearful that it would trigger a war with Mexico.

Explanation: After Texas won independence in 1836, annexation was delayed because many Northerners opposed adding a large slave state (which would shift the sectional balance in Congress) and many worried annexation would provoke Mexico (which never recognized Texan independence). A 1844 annexation treaty failed in the Senate; Texas was finally brought into the Union in 1845 by a joint resolution of Congress. The other two choices are incorrect (California’s population had nothing to do with Texas’s admission, and the Senate did not repeatedly override Tyler’s veto to admit Texas).