The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 23, July 1919 - April, 1920 Page: 12
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The Southwestern Historical Quarterly
hostile to the institution of slavery. In January, 1842, a select
committee of five members was appointed by the lower branch of
the Mississippi Legislature to take into consideration the special
message of the Governor with reference to the admission of Texas.
The House adopted a resolution upon the subject which had been
passed by the Senate. This was as follows: "Resolved by the
Legislature of Mississippi, that our Senators in Congress be in-
structed and our Representatives requested to use their best ex-
ertions to procure the Annexation of the Republic of Texas to the
United States, and the same constitute one or more sovereign
States of the Union." An amendment offered by the House, and
concurred in by the Senate, provided that copies of the resolu-
tion should be sent to the Governors of the several States to be
laid before their respective Legislatures. In the Senate the reso-
lution in its final form was unanimously adopted, and it is sig-
nificant to note that the demand for immediate annexation was
sanctioned by several prominent Whigs, among whom were John J.
Guion, Andrew Knox, Garret Keirn, B. G. Humphrey, Dr. Met-
calf, of Adams, and Robert Montgomery, representing the coun-
ties of Madison and Yazoo. In the House there were sixty-two
yeas for the resolution, including eight Whigs; the opposition
mustered ten votes, nine Whigs and one Democrat.29 While no
avowal is made as to the motive for desiring annexation, it is
safe to assume that those favoring the acquisition of one or more
new States had in mind the increased political weight that would
accrue to the South in consequence of more slave-holding terri-
tory being added to the Union. The Whig votes in favor of the
resolution show that the annexation question in Mississippi had
not yet become a party measure.
The significance of the acquisition of Texas so far as the South
was concerned, was discerned in another quarter whence opposi-
tion to the proposed measure might be expected. In the same
year in which the Mississippi Legislature for the second time put
itself on record as favoring annexation, we find the Texan con-
sul at London writing his government that London journals
viewed annexation as so strengthening Southern interests that
the North might be tempted to seek a counterbalance in Can-298enate Journal, 195; House Journal, pp. 504, 968-969.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 23, July 1919 - April, 1920, periodical, 1920; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101075/m1/18/: accessed March 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.