Annexation of Texas. By Junius no. IX Page: 8
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Mr. Clay are well enough agreed, except that Mr. Clay goes a little farther, and boldly sys,
he would "appeal to arms" in such a case. Mr. Polk's reasoning is c7 this wise :-1. Our
title to Texas was good. (Granted.) 2. We parted with it most unwisely.' (So says Mr.
Clay.) 3. Therefore, we have a perfect right to it! We would add, 4. Why consult Texas,
since our title was " indisputable," and since we gave it up ' most unwisely ?" According to
this reasoning, we can take Texas whenever we please, though she might get in bad humor,
and try to annex herself elsewhere. We should only have to fight for her at last, and are sure
to be obliged to fight by taking her now. But Mr. Polk says, " I have no hesitation in declaring,
that I am in favor of immediate annexation." Enough.
As for Mr. George M. Dallas, when he had never dreamed of so high a destiny as to be a
can4idate for the Vice-Presidency of the United States, he wrote the following letter:-PHILADELPHLA,
Feb. 5, 1844.
MY DEAR SIR-1 cannot resist the impulse to tell you how much delight I have taken in reading your
pamphlet on Texas, that it is the only way to support our Tariff system; that it
is the only way to break down the Tariff system; that it is the only sure mode of fortifying and
perpetuating '" the institution of slavery ;' that Texas nerer owed allegiance to Mexico ; but is obliged to rely upon
'the principle, that we could not constitutionally cede away Texas. Therefore, the treaty of
1819 is mdll and void. Texas is ours-" all our own." This, so far as we can see, is the tec/kieatground,
or the special pleading, on which " immediate annexation" is based. It is said, that
in our treaty of 1803, with France, by which we purchased Louisiana, we guaranteed the
Tight to all the inhabitants of that territory, to come into the Union as a state, or states,
whenever their population should be sufficient, according to the terms of the Federal compact.
This is true. And in pursuance of that engagement, we have already made three
States, Louisiana, Missouri, and Arkansas. The authority of Vattel is then cited, to show,
that a State or nation cannot make a new treaty with a new party, to vitiate a former treaty
*ith another party. Consequently, the treaty of 1819, with Spain, which ceded away Texas,
imul and roid. The citizens of Texas have a constitutional right, on this foundation, to
claim admission into our Union, as a separate and independent State. This is the argument
of Mr. Walker, and the ground on which the Tyler treaty of annexation was based. It.s,
we believe, the sole ground on which the " Immediatists," when hardly pressed, can fall back.
"-Let us eonsider it:In
the first place, we have made three States out of the territory acquired by the treaty of
1803. In the second place, the Spaniards, in the valley and on the bank of the Rio del Norte,
tnd any other Spaniards, occupants of Texas, when it was ceded by us to Spain, in 1819,
did not o?ject, and xdo not to this day object, but prefer to remain under Mexico. In the third
place, th!y who now apply for annexation, were not inhabitants of Texas in 1819, and therefore
cannot plead the nght claimed for them. In the fourth place, when they went- thee,
voluntarily, they voluntarily took the oath of allegiance to a province of Mexico, and by,that
:WaietdaU themselves from our Union. In the fifth place, and consequently, they ewiot
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Colton, Calvin. Annexation of Texas. By Junius no. IX, book, January 1, 1844; New York. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth2358/m1/8/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.