The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 72, July 1968 - April, 1969 Page: 3
498 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Early History of Labor Organizations in Texas 3
a group of five or six "workingmen" fond of calling the "Mechanics
and Workingmen" of Houston together to make a group statement
on various issues. Prior to the election of county officials in 1845,
they called a meeting of workingmen, which passed a resolution noting
that one section of the county was controlling county government to
the detriment of the other sections, and placed before the voters the
names of three men as candidates for the county court. When the new
county court met, all three held seats, indicating that the "working-
men," if not powerful, were prudent in choosing sides.4 When annexa-
tion was the question of the day, the same group of men dominated a
meeting of "Harris County Mechanics" that endorsed annexation and
called for the election of at least a few mechanics to the convention
to write a new state constitution. To attain this end they named Alex-
ander D. McGowan, a tinsmith, as "the nominee of the Mechanics'
and Working Men's ticket." McGowan, who later served as mayor of
Houston for three terms and held several county offices, received 340
votes, and thus was one of the representatives from Harris County to
the Convention of 1845." There is no indication that this working-
men's group had any permanent structure, and like so many such
groups of the Jacksonian era, it included more successful tradesmen
and shopkeepers than wage earners.
Another favorite means of exhibiting "public opinion" in this era
was the petition, which workingmen occasionally used to make known
their desires. For example, in 1841 a group of twenty-eight black-
smiths in Nacogdoches County petitioned the Congress of the Repub-
lic of Texas for an extension to the mechanics' lien law allowing them
to take liens on property, for they claimed to be losing money by their
inability to force payment of bills.' Likewise, just prior to the Civil
War, thirty-two mechanics from Marshall petitioned against "being
put in competition With Negro Mechanicks who are to rival us in
'Telegraph and Texas Register (Houston), January 2, 5, 1839. The lien law was passed
January 23, 1839. Gammel (comp.), The Laws of Texas, 1822-1897, II, 66-67.
'Telegraph and Texas Register (Houston), September 3, 1845; Minutes [of the] Com-
missioner's Court [of Harris County, Texas] (Office of the Clerk of the County Court,
Houston), Vol. A, 127.
'Telegraph and Texas Register (Houston), May 21, 1845; Biographical Directory of
Texan Conventions and Congresses (Austin, 1941), 131-132; Record of Board Commis-
sioners and Election Returns [of Harris County, Texas] (Office of the Clerk of the County
Court, Houston), Vol. 1, p. 20o8.
6S. M. Orton [?], John H. Wilson, H. K. Carson ... [and others] to the Honorable
Congress of Texas, November 8, 1841, Memorials and Petitions, Congress of the Republic
of Texas.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 72, July 1968 - April, 1969, periodical, 1969; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117146/m1/19/: accessed March 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.