The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 18, July 1914 - April, 1915 Page: 165
438 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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First Session of the Secession Convention of Texas 165
their lives a little earlier for being abolitionists.g There can be
no doubt but that these committees perpetrated many wicked
deeds. A strong Sam Houston paper, in deploring that such was
the fact, concluded, "Let us be understood at once. We are for
the Constitution, the Union, and the enforcement of the laws; and
we are against all Higher-lawism, mobbery, and vigilance com-
mittee usurpations."' Military companies were organized, in some
cases for the express purpose of co-operating with the vigilance
committees, but in most cases for general protection against the
negroes and the abolition enemies both in the state and outside
of it. The state, militia was greatly encouraged and all classes
of citizens joined.
In the meantime the Democratic press seemed to have ever in
view one thing, the forming of public opinion in favor of secession.
Although it stoutly declared before the presidential election that it
did not advocate secession, it prepared the way for a decision on
that subject by its editorial discussions and by the publication of
timely articles and extracts from speeches of prominent men in
Congress either admitting the right of secession or favoring it.o0
The resources of Texas were shown to be such as to make Texas
economically and industrially independent of the Northern states.
An attempt was made to show that the South could make herself
independent of northern manufactures by establishing factories
of her own. It was argued that the American-born, tractable ne-
groes could be used as factory operatives, while. the agricultural
labor could be performed by "emigrants from the continent of
Africa."'"
The Union press put forth its efforts to counteract this in-
fluence and to warn the people against the designs of the ultra-
radicals. Many articles against nullification, secession, and dis-
union were contributed. One correspondent of The Southern
Intelligence who signs himself "a backwoodsman" likens the Con-
stitution to a kettle, at all times filled with nutritious food, around
which Uncle Sam's children, North and South, have been sitting
"True Issue, October 11, 1860.
"Southern Intelligencer, September 5, 1860.
"Some of the men quoted were Senator Bell of Tcnnessee, Sam Houston,
Millard Fillmore, and Herschel V. Johnson, nominee for vice-president
on the Douglas ticket.
"11m. If. Parsons in articles published in State Gazette, April 14, 1860.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 18, July 1914 - April, 1915, periodical, 1915; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101064/m1/171/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.