MUNCIE, Ind. -- Leaders of an independence movement in Texas are absurdly twisting history to make their claims sound factual, says a Ball State University historian.

"Texas founder Sam Houston would be rolling over in his grave if he heard about this," said Michael Doyle, a history professor. "Houston, and other Texans of the time, worked very diligently to get Texas into the United States in 1845."

A group calling itself the Republic of Texas contends that the annexation of Texas as a state in 1845 was illegal, that Texas should be an independent nation, and that the group's leaders constitute the legitimate government of the nation of Texas.

Texas was an independent republic from 1836 to 1845. Other states having short-lived independent governments before joining the U.S. were Vermont and California.

"Groups like these use one questionable historical point to build their entire case," Doyle said. "After reviewing this, I don't believe there is very much they have to stand on."

Recent kidnappings and other efforts by the Republic of Texas organization to force a referendum on independence are a slap in the face to the original founders of the state, Doyle said.

Texas won its independence from Mexico when forces led by Houston defeated a Mexican army at the Battle of San Jacinto. The Mexican-American War in 1845 was fought over Texas' annexation
into the U.S. As a result of its humiliating defeat, Mexico seeded much of what is now the southwestern U.S., including California, Colorado, New Mexico and Arizona.

Another historical point not to be forgotten is Texas' role as a slave state leading up to the U.S. Civil War. Before the Texas war for independence, Mexico had banned slavery. American immigrants from southern states ignored the law and brought their slaves anyway.

"If anyone should be upset about Texas and its role in history, it is the Mexican people," Doyle said. "They had banned slavery, but the Texans wanted to have it anyway.

"Then, during the Mexican-American War, the U.S. invades their country and forces the government into giving us one-third of their lands," he said. "It was the best deal the Mexican government could get and is still a very sore point."

If a referendum on Texas independence did take place, there is an extremely remote possibility that the large number of Texans with Mexican backgrounds could possibly force the state to rejoin Mexico, Doyle said.

"I doubt if that happens, but it is ironic of that possibility occurring," he said. "I suspect that most of those people who were born in Mexico, but are now living in Texas would far prefer U.S. citizenship to Mexican."