The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 23, July 1919 - April, 1920 Page: 16
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16 The Southwestern Historical _Quarterly
tions."38 By the radicals of Mississippi the great South Carolina
statesman was repeatedly acclaimed as "the bold and fearless
asserter of our rights." Six years before Calhoun's public pro-
nouncement upon the subject of Texas,-that is, in 1837-he
declared that to refuse the Southern and Western States to "in-
crease their limits to population by the acquisition of new terri-
tory or States . .. would be contrary to that equality of
rights and advantages which the Constitution was intended to
secure.""37 The fact that Calhoun had been outlawed by the Jack-
son supporters endeared him all the more to the editors of those
journals in Mississippi that espoused the doctrines of State
right. Thus the Brandon Republican, in extolling him as an
honest politician, asked: "Who broke the chains which bound us
to the North? J. C. Calhoun. Who taught us the salutary doc-
trines of States Rights? Who for many long years defended and
upheld the interests of the South? By some Whigs he has been
called a traitor to his country. If he is a traitor, every South-
erner is a traitor."s
Thus, as Professor Garrison says, "slavery was forcing itself
into notice as the fundamental issue of American politics, and
the contest over the right of petition was rousing an antagonism
to the institution in the North that acted with paralyzing effect
on the instinct of expansion."39 The activities of "Old Maledic-
tion," as the extreme partisans of the Democratic party in the
State termed John Quincy Adams, served on the other hand only
to strengthen the demand for annexation.
Upon one thing the members of the two great parties within
the State were agreed,-namely, the benefits accruing from
slavery--though they differed as to what were the best means for
perpetuating or rather safeguarding that institution. In regard
to annexation, a conservative element of the Democratic party
within the State joined hands with the Whigs in protesting
against immediate annexation regardless of the consequences that
might ensue; the rank and file of the party was ardent in its de-
mand for immediate re-annexation, primarily on account of the
"8Holly Springs Guard, February 14, March 27, 1644; Columbus Dem-
orat, February I, 1845.
"GCong. Globe, 26 Cong., 2 Sess., 55.
s"Issue of April 25, 1838.
"'Garrison, Westward Extension, 90.
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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/m1/22/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.