The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 18, July 1914 - April, 1915 Page: 62
438 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Southweslern Historical Quarterly
a social and political blessing and morally right; it could therefore
see no reason why the Southern people should not have the privilege
of purchasing slaves in the best market, and concluded as follows:
"Should the Houston convention fail to endorse the proposition
now made in various portions of the state, to-wit: The reopening
of the African slave trade, then the delegates appointed by this
meeting to attend said convention be hereby requested to express
in plain terms their disapprobation of such a course."44 The
Gonzales County convention resolved that the right of Congress
over the slave trade was doubtful, and should not be exercised by
that department; that this right should be left to the sovereignty
of the states to determine for themselves; that laws making the
slave trade a piracy were unconstitutional; that slavery as prac-
ticed in the Southern states was a, humane and beneficent institu-
tion, and that the African slave trade as the source and neces-
sary concomitant of slavery was morally right. The delegates were
instructed to introduce and advocate measures for the introduction
into the Southern states of slaves from abroad.4' The resolutions
by the Fort Bend convention were probably the most radical of
all those passed during the year. That convention declared that
all congressional acts inhibiting the African slave trade, though
not unconstitutional were, nevertheless, a standing reproach and an
offensive stigma upon the institution of slavery, which in the
South was regarded as a great and signal good, both to the white
and negro race, and clearly defensible upon religious, social, and
moral grounds. All laws prohibiting the trade were declared sub-
versive of the leading interests of the slave states, oppressive in
their bearing, and deserving of prompt repeal. And it concludes
that as this could not be done, because the anti-slavery element in
the North controlled the federal government and refused to grant
to the South any measure that would be to her interest: "That
we not only consider it expendient but excusable to disregard the
obnoxious acts in question, and that we especially commend the
public spirit, liberality and enterprise of those by whom the voy-
age of the 'Wanderer' was projected and consummated. And that
"4State Gazette, April 30, 1859.
"Ibid., April 9, 1859.
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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/m1/68/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.