The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 25, July 1921 - April, 1922 Page: 22
306 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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22 The Southwestern Historical Quarterly
upon Texas. For a number of reasons as has been shown the
acquisition of Texas seemed a desirable thing to the people of
Mississippi, just as it did to those of other southern states. From
the "procurement of Louisiana" to the acquisition of the Philip-
pines, the party of expansion has always triumphed at the polls
when the issue has been put squarely before the American people.
And while partisan organs naturally exaggerated the advantages
that would accrue from the incorporation of Texas within the
national domain, and depicted in lurid colors the danger to south-
ern interests from the loss of Texas, when we take into consid-
eration the prominence generally given to the annexation issue,
the non-partisan character of many of the meetings held to fur-
ther the cause of expansion, the comparatively wide-spread and
deep-seated apprehensions entertained by reason of the abolitionist
propaganda, it would seem the conclusion may fairly be drawn
that one of, if not, the most potent argument with the mass of
Democrats and certainly with those Whigs who deserted their
party, was the fear of losing Texas and the consequent danger to
the slave interests of the South. There can hardly be any doubt
that the continued reiteration of the danger to southern institu-
tions unless more slave territory were secured had its weight with
Whig voters; for as the campaign drew to a close, evidence con-
tinued to accumulate of the falling away of voters within the
ranks of the followers of Clay. And the most plausible explana-
tion that can be offered for this was the fear that the election of
the great Whig leader would involve the loss of Texas, with all
the benefits that it was pictured would accrue from its possession,
besides injuring the South in its most vital interests.
The support accorded Robert J. Walker by Democratic jour-
nals of the state may be accounted for on purely partisan grounds,
though first and last Walker proclaimed "the only hope of the
South is in the annexation of Texas"; but the deep admiration
entertained for the character and talents of Calhoun by journals
of every shade of political opinion within the state can be fully
explained, it would seem, only by reason of the fact that above
all others he was recognized as "the bold and fearless assertor of
southern rights," "the undisputed champion of the domestic in-
stitutions of Mississippi and her sister states," the one who had
put the subject of annexation "before the Senate and people of
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 25, July 1921 - April, 1922, periodical, 1922; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101082/m1/28/?rotate=270: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.