The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 79, July 1975 - April, 1976 Page: 23
528 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Wealthholding and Political Power in Antebellum Texas
lieutenant governor, commissioner of the land office, and, after 1850, the
attorney general, comptroller, and treasurer. With the exception of age
and residence requirements-the governor, for example, had to be at least
thirty years old and a resident of the state for three years-there were no
greater limitations on the right to hold office than there were on the right
to vote.' In short, there were no aristocratic restrictions on voting or office-
holding; neither voters nor officeholders had to meet property or tax-
paying qualifications.
Thus, the Constitution of 1845 provided for free adult male suffrage.4
The next question is-were there extraconstitutional restrictions on the
franchise, that is, did an aristocratic class employ economic coercion or
physical intimidation to control elections in antebellum Texas? Although
such methods are hardly unknown in American political history, there is
simply no evidence that Texas voters in the pre-war period were coerced
or intimidated when exercising their right to vote.5
It is relatively simple to establish who was eligible to vote and hold office
in antebellum Texas, and it seems certain that there were no extralegal
restrictions on the suffrage. But a more difficult question remains: who
actually exercised political power-that is, what was the economic status
of the people who led political parties and held public office? At this point,
then, we move from the institutional to the practical aspect of the issue.
Because this investigation is primarily concerned with "antebellum
Texas," that part of the state having an economy and society similar to
that in the rest of the South, the area of study here is restricted to the
eastern two-fifths of the state. This region, stretching from the Louisiana
border on the east to roughly the 98th meridian on the west, was approxi-
mately the size of Alabama and Mississippi combined and contained about
93 percent of Texas's free population and 99 percent of the state's slaves
3Texas State Constitution of 1845, Ernest Wallace and David M. Vigness (eds.),
Documents of Texas History (Austin, 1963), 150 (quotation), 153, 154; Rupert Norval
Richardson et al., Texas: The Lone Star State (3rd ed.; Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey,
1970), 135. The democratic nature of political institutions in antebellum Texas is
emphasized in a recently published analysis of southern political arrangements. See
Ralph A. Wooster, The People in Power: Courthouse and Statehouse in the Lower South,
185o-z86o (Knoxville, 1969), o07, I16.
4Generally, franchise requirements such as these would be described as "adult white
male" suffrage. However, the word "white" was deliberately omitted by the Texas
constitutional convention in order to prevent Mexicans from being excluded from voting.
See Frederic L. Paxson, "The Constitution of Texas, 1845," Southwestern Historical
Quarterly, XVIII (April, 1915), 392; Annie Middleton, "The Texas Convention of
1845," Southwestern Historical Quarterly, XXV (July, I921), 42.
5Owsley, Plain Folk of the Old South, I38-139, raised this question and also answered
it negatively.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 79, July 1975 - April, 1976, periodical, 1975/1976; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101203/m1/41/: accessed May 5, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.