The governor of Texas really ought to know better

It seems that even Texas Gov. Rick Perry believes the urban legend that the treaty by which the Republic of Texas was annexed to the United States granted Texas the right to secede.

Snopes.com deals with that much-circulated whopper in the last paragraph of this article.

That the treaty contained no such provision can be readily seen by simply reading it. Its full text is here.

The Wikipedia article on the annexation of Texas to the United States says this:

A popular urban legend has grown stating that Texas has a special right to secede from The Union. A thorough reading of all documents for annexation shows that no provision is made for Texas to secede from the United States.Texas has the same rights granted to it as any other state, but also the right to form from its territory 4 states in addition to "Texas", essentially creating 5 states. Furthermore, in its 1868 decision in Texas v. White, the United States Supreme Court ruled that secession of Texas from the United States was illegal. The court wrote, "The Constitution, in all its provisions, looks to an indestructible Union, composed of indestructible States."

Here is the text of the Ordinance of Annexation approved by Texas.

Here is the Joint Resolution of Congress annexing Texas to the Union.

But no matter how many times the facts are pointed out, the silly legend that Texas has a right to secede established by legal treaty continues to bounce around the internet. If the treaty in question had contained such a provision, the United States never would have signed it.

HT: Drudge