18361776 Club
Texans elect Sam Houston their first president
The San Jacinto general beats Stephen F. Austin and Henry Smith, while voters separately demand union with the United States.
Five months after declaring independence from Mexico, Texans went to the polls on September 5, 1836, to choose a government of their own. Sam Houston, whose army had routed Santa Anna at San Jacinto that April, defeated Stephen F. Austin and Henry Smith to become the Republic's first elected president. On the same ballot, voters overwhelmingly called for Texas to be annexed by the United States. Houston would not take office until October, once interim president David G. Burnet stepped aside…
