French Fifth Republic of the election on 9 January 1959. The new president began his office on that date, appointing Michel Debré as Prime Minister. The 1958 constitution also replaced the French Union with the French Community, which allowed fourteen member territories (these did not include Algeria) to assert their independence. 1960 became known as the "Year of Africa" because of this wave of newly independent states. Algeria became independent on 5 July 1962. The president was initially elected by an electoral college, but in 1962 de Gaulle proposed that the president be directly elected by the citizens, and held a referendum on
President of the Republic of Texas no record of any president violating or changing the Texas Constitution. As the United States and other countries such as France recognized Texan independence, presidential power functioned without interference from the outside world, though the Republic generally allied itself informally with the United States. Several presidents supported annexation of the Republic by the United States, with direct admission as a state. Under the Constitution the vice president was to succeed the president in the event of the latter's death, resignation or removal by impeachment; however this never happened. The vice president was also the President of the Senate, and had