The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 40, July 1936 - April, 1937 Page: 289
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The Free Negro in the Republic of Texas
without recorded opposition and was presented to the President
for his signature on January 10, 1843, becoming law eight days
later.78
No further petitions praying for recognition of land rights were
received during the Republic and it is reasonable to suppose that
in the remaining two and a half years no further cases appeared
in which the Negro's legal right to own real property was ques-
tioned on a basis of color.
The basic rights of residence and ownership guaranteed to the
white man by the constitution and essential to the fundamental
rights of protection to life and property were inadequately guarded
to the Negro by statute. A continuous discussion of proposed
changes by successive legislatures kept the free Negro under a veil
of uncertainty. Despite this basic handicap and others corollary
to it still to be considered, free Negroes, aided and encouraged by
white friends, were able to acquire important additional extra-
legal compensations which did not silence their mild protests
against political inequality. Their appreciation and use of con-
cessions made to them, however, fully justified the increasing
faith of their white protagonists.
nearly white." An unsuccessful attempt was made in December, 1843,
to repeal the law resulting from this petition in so far as it applied to
Nelson but the cause is not revealed. Bill No. 2772, File 30, Eighth
Congress; House Journal, Eighth Congress, 54.
?"House Journal, Seventh Congress, 73, 80, 198; Gammel, The Laiws of
Texas, II, 875, contains only an abstract. A bill to grant the free Negro
children of Nimrod Doyle the right to hold property "and other rights
of free persons," was introduced on January 9, 1843, engrossed, but failed
to pass. Bill No. 2719, File 29, Seventh Congress.289
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 40, July 1936 - April, 1937, periodical, 1937; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101099/m1/317/?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.