The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 18, July 1914 - April, 1915 Page: 42
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The Southwestern HTistorical Quarterly
perpetuation of the social conditions which had arisen with the
plantation system. But the problem of abolishing a financially
profitable institution where it was considered necessary to the
existence of the plantation system and to the social conditions
dependent upon it, was not the only difficulty that confronted the
South; the question as to what disposition could be made of the
hundreds of thousands of liberated negroes presented an equally
serious problem. The most southern point of free territory had
been reached by 1800. From that time on, the country had distinct
free and slavery sections. And as time passed, there grew up an
aggressive element in the North hostile to slavery. It expressed
its views freely on the subject, and held the nation responsible
for the system which it considered inhuman and odious. In
the South the feeling grew that one of its necessary institutions
was condemned and threatened, and that the South in order to hold
its own must act as a unit. From such a beginning grew distinct
political alignments and solidification of the sections, which event-
ually became the cause of secession and civil war.
2. The Beginning of Slavery in Texas
It is apparent that Texas could not escape the tide of anti-
Northern sentiment and of disunion that passed over the other
Southern statcs. Though not a member of the Union until 1846,
Texas, was, nevertheless, closely affiliated with the other Southern
states; the majority of her inhabitants had emigrated from those
states, and her economic conditions were substantially the same
as theirs. From the beginning of American immigration into
Texas, settlement and slavery went hand and hand. The Mexican
government abolished slavery throughout the Mexican states in
1829, but Texas was soon after, at the request of Stephen F.
Austin, exempted from the decree, and the Republic of Texas
firmly established slavery within its boundaries. The constitu-
tion of 1836 provided that all who were slaves at the close of the
revolution should remain such. Congress was forbidden to pass
any law prohibiting immigrants from bringing their slaves with
them; and no one was permitted to free his slaves, except by
consent of Congress, unless he first sent them out of Texas; nor
were free negroes permitted to reside in the state. But the
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 18, July 1914 - April, 1915, periodical, 1915; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101064/m1/48/?rotate=90: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.