Sixteen years after Texas joined the United States, 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.
