The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 23, July 1919 - April, 1920 Page: 308

308 The Southwestern Historical Quarterly
NOTES AND FRAGMENTS
HISTORICAL ELECTION BALLOTs.-Printed below are copies of
ballots used in Nacogdoches and Angelina Counties in the special
election held on Saturday, January 19, 1861, to elect delegates to
the "Secession" Convention of Texas. The faction supporting
state action and a Southern Confederacy was for immediate
secession, while the "Southern Co6perationists" favored joint ac-
tion of the Southern states within the Union in the hope of ob-
taining some satisfactory compromise with the Northern states,
with secession only as a final resort. Both sides agreed that the
proceedings of the Convention should be submitted to the vote
of the people, chiefly because there was some doubt as to the
legality of the election, which had not been ordered by the legis-
lature, but called by a group of citizens.
In Nacogdoches and Angelina the Co6perationists won, electing
their full ticket. The certificates of election are printed in
Winkler, Journal of the Secession Convention of Texas, 1861,
pp. 412-413. Three of the four delegates elected were already
members of the legislature, Fall, a senator, and Clark and Ed-
wards, representatives. When the legislature, which convened a
few days later, passed a joint resolution assenting to and approv-
ing the call of the Convention, Fall voted for the resolution and
Clark and Edwards against it. These three were admitted to
.seats in the Convention on January 30. There is no record that
Guinn ever attended. Clark, Edwards and Fall voted for the
ordinance of secession on its final passage, and also for submitting
it to the people for ratification.
State Action.'
SOUTHERN CONFEDERACY.
All acts of the Convention to be submitted to the People.
For Nacogdoches and Angelina.
-M. G. Whitaker.
For Nacogdoches.
George F. Moore,
B. Hardeman.
'The originals of these ballots were presented to the Library of the
University of Texas by Mr. H. W. McGee, of Marshall, Texas.