diff --git a/protocol/state.go b/protocol/state.go
index c0fc7c95..2d8373a8 100644
--- a/protocol/state.go
+++ b/protocol/state.go
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ const (
 	AgencyServer ProtocolStateAgency = 2 // Server agency
 )
 
-// State represents protocol state with both a numeric ID and a string identifer
+// State represents protocol state with both a numeric ID and a string identifier
 type State struct {
 	Id   uint
 	Name string
diff --git a/protocol/txsubmission/server.go b/protocol/txsubmission/server.go
index 2924d5fe..23a52889 100644
--- a/protocol/txsubmission/server.go
+++ b/protocol/txsubmission/server.go
@@ -122,7 +122,7 @@ func (s *Server) RequestTxIds(
 
 // RequestTxs requests the content of the requested TX identifiers from the remote node's mempool
 func (s *Server) RequestTxs(txIds []TxId) ([]TxBody, error) {
-	var txString []string
+	txString := []string{}
 	for _, t := range txIds {
 		ba := []byte{}
 		for _, b := range t.TxId {