The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 25, July 1921 - April, 1922 Page: 52
306 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Southwestern, Historical Quarterly
the great union of North America. If we rashly and indiscreetly
part with our existence as a nation, we place ourselves in the de-
pendent position of a territory; we throw off the treaty making
power, and cut off all our treaties now established with the nations
of the earth, placing ourselves at the beck and call and under the
control of our enemies in the United States. . . . If we take
this step, our revenue will be cut off; our nation instead of com-
manding the respect of other nations will merely excite their pity.
If our enemies in the United States succeed, and two or three have
been elected adverse to us, perhaps one vote will defeat us in the
Senate, . . . and we shall then have to depend upon the
treaty making power. If we retain our government and Presi-
dent, we can then immediately form a new treaty. And there is
no question but that public opinion in a year or two more will be
so overwhelmingly in favor of sustaining Mr. Polk, as to carry
even a treaty through the Senate.76
As there was no further discussion, the question was referred to
the Committee on the State and Nation for consideration. On
August 18, this committee submitted an ordinance providing for
the abolition of the existing government and the establishment "in
lieu thereof, of a government of the State of Texas, as a separate
and independent state of the American confederacy" until "ac-
cepted as a state in the American Union." In order to prevent
"inconvenience or embarrassment" by this change of government,
preparatory to the incorporation of Texas as a state in the Amer-
ican Union, the ordinance provided: that all officers under the
existing government, except the President, Vice-President, the
President's cabinet, the foreign ministers, charges and foreign
agents, should remain in office until superseded by duly elected
state officers.77
However, this effort to supersede the existing government by
the establishment of a provisional government met with a most
signal defeat, as many of the most ardent annexationists believed
that its inevitable effect would be to destroy annexation perhaps
forever. The motion made by Wm. L. Cazneau, August 23, for
a consideration of the report as made by the committee was de-
feated by a vote of twenty-nine to sixteen.78 Despite the fact that
such a large majority of the convention had voted against a con-
"Journal of the Convention, 585.
"Journal of the Convention, 265-269; Debates of the Convention, 651-
655.
'sJournal of the Convention, 299.
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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/m1/58/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.