The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 18, July 1914 - April, 1915 Page: 61
438 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Beginnings of Secession Movement in Texas
torial contest of that year, and that many of the Democratic leaders
advocated the measure. John Marshall, for instance, the editor of
the Gazette, in which very many editorials and other articles on the
slave trade appeared, was chairman of the state Democratic com-
mittee and called the convention to meet at Houston in 1859.
And naturally, the people who were in favor of the reopening
of slave trade were also in favor of the extension of slave territory.
That the proposition to reopen the slave trade was a real issue
is further indicated by the records we have of the opposition to it.
The De Witt County convention, for instance, took a strong stand
against the slave trade; declared it piracy and forbade its delegates
voting for any such measure. This sentiment was very general in
the Guadalupe valley.42 The Galveston delegates were likewise in-
structed to vote against the adoption of any and all platforms
which in any way would tend to the reopening of the African
slave trade. Victoria County advised against the introduction of
any new planks into the platform, especially upon the subject of
the African slave trade, because if introduced into the platform,
they would tend to divide, distract, disorganize and defeat the
party.
Many counties advocated the acquisition of Cuba on any terms.43
Some were silent on both questions, Ellis County merely upheld
the constitution and the Union. The convention of Madison
County believed that the constitution as interpreted in the Dred
Scott decision secured to every American citizen the right to make
his home in any of the common territory, and to protect him
in the peaceable possession of any species of property that was
recognized as such at the time of the adoption of the constitution,
and that no legislative body had the power to disturb that right.
The Parker County convention condemned the act of Congress
making the African slave trade piracy; denounced abolition, Black
Republicanism, nullification, secession and disunion, as elements
of discord and distraction having a common tendency to weaken
the bonds of the Union, and declared that every lover of his
country should be found in united opposition to them. The
resolutions of the convention of Guadalupe County declared slavery
42Ibid., April 9, 1859.
"Among these counties were Leon, Guadalupe, Madison and Bastrop.
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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/m1/67/?rotate=90: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.