The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 78, July 1974 - April, 1975 Page: 123
562 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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To Build a Pacific Railroad
minus, sent more than seventy-six percent of the delegates. Texas, the state
through which every southern road would pass, was represented unofficially
by only two delegates."
The delegates began their meeting with dignity by selecting their major
officers from among the list of former convention presidents. Senator Wil-
liam C. Dawson of Georgia, president of the Baltimore and Memphis con-
ventions of I852 and I853, was unanimously elected president of this one.
For first vice president, the delegates chose Virginia's Matthew Fontaine
Maury, who now represented Kentucky. He had served as president of
the Memphis convention of I849 and had once been an active and vocal
supporter of the Pacific railroad. But his interests had shifted more to mari-
time commerce in recent years."8
Upon accepting the office, Dawson discussed the Pacific railroad only
in general terms, as he considered public sentiment enough to complete the
project, one way or another. He lashed out at those southerners who, be-
cause of their strict interpretation of the Constitution, were averse to federal
aid for this sort of internal improvement. Viewing the subject of constitu-
tionality pragmatically and expressing a growing trend among southerners
since the land-grant act of 1850, he said that until federal aid was declared
unconstitutional, he was willing to take his share. "The Government is one
of construction," he said, "and when appropriations are made . . . my rule
is to abide and divide.""
17The poor response from Texans led the Texas State Gazette (Austin), May 6, 1854,
to declare regretfully: "What a burning shame . . . that in such a body at such a crisis,
we were unrepresented." Although Texas was not listed on the official roll, it did have
two representatives-John S. Rhea and W. Richardson of Galveston. Rhea served on the
Pacific Railroad Committee. See The Journal of the Proceedings of the Commercial Con-
vention of the Southern and Western States, Held in the City of Charleston, South-
Carolina, during the Week Commencing on Monday, zoth April, 1854 (Charleston,
1854), 1-7. References to this work are hereafter cited as Proceedings, 1854. J. H.
Easterby, "The Charleston Commercial Convention of 1854," The South Atlantic Quar-
terly, XXV (April, 1926), 183, sets the total of registered delegates at 889. He was
probably more accurate than the official roll, because on page 184 he lists delegates who
came late, especially those from Texas and Kentucky.
1sProceedings, 1854, pp. 7-8. Maury was no longer the darling of Pacific railroad
promoters he had once been, as he .devoted so much effort to "Amazonia" and "South
Sea" commercial schemes and to his financial interest in the Panama Railroad Company
of New York. For indications of his change of loyalties, see Proceedings of the Memphis
Convention, 1849, pp. 55-61; Maury to William Blackford, January 14, 1852, and
notice of his stock purchase dated January 3, 185I, M. F. Maury Papers (Manuscripts
Division, Library of Congress). Maury made a considerable effort at this convention to
commit the delegates to his Amazonian schemes. See "The Great Southern Convention
in Charleston," De Bow's Review, XVII (August, 1854), 2oo-2o2; "The Great Con-
vention at Charleston," ibid., XVII (October, 1854), 402-4o05
19Proceedings, 1854, pp. I z-12. At this time, promoters of central and northernI23
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 78, July 1974 - April, 1975, periodical, 1974/1975; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117149/m1/158/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.