The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 50, July 1946 - April, 1947 Page: 60
582 p. : ill. (some col.), maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
Down to 1839, it was said that exports to Texas steadily in-
creased to a total of $1,687,000. By the end of 1843, the value
of exports had declined to $190,604. The accuracy of the figures
cannot be established perhaps, but they indicate that ports of
the United States were becoming trade-conscious concerning
Texas. The same article quoted a sea captain who said that
he saw in the port of Galveston in January, 1844, fourteen
vessels, only one of which was American. Seven were British,
he said, five German, and one Belgian.
It seems evident that England never wanted to annex Texas,
but equally evident that it was anxious to prevent annexation
by the United States. In furtherance of this design, it did all
that it could during 1843-1845 to induce Mexico to recognize
Texan independence, hoping thereby to lessen the desire of the
Texans for annexation.
VIII. THE SLAVERY ISSUE OBSTRUCTS ANNEXATION
It seems likely now that abolitionist sentiment was the chief
obstacle to annexation rather than opposition to territorial
expansion. In April, 1842, a New York congressman, Archi-
bald Linn, offered in the house a motion to strike from an
appropriation bill the salary of the minister to Mexico. No
doubt his purpose was simply to create an occasion for a speech.
"Recent events," he said, "have satisfied me that new and seri-
ous attempts will be made to accomplish the annexation of
Texas," an event', which he could regard "only as the annexa-
tion of a wen to an otherwise sound body." Annexation would
cause war with Mexico, he said, and England, for commercial
and other reasons, would join Mexico.
In September, 1842, John Quincy Adams addressed his con-
stituents at Braintree, Massachusetts. He repeated many of
the assertions that he had made in his long speech during June
and July of 1838 and warned them that annexation was again
an issue. As he represented it, the colonists had gone to Texas
to take it away from Mexico; they had revolted because Mexico
tried to abolish slavery; and now the southern states were
striving for annexation in order to win new territory to be
divided into slave states. Six months later, in March, 1843,
Adams and a score of other congressmen issued from Wash-
ington an address to "The People of the Free States of the
Union." The signers admitted that slavery was not the only
question involved in annexation, but they insisted that it was
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 50, July 1946 - April, 1947, periodical, 1947; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101117/m1/76/: accessed March 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.