The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 16, July 1912 - April, 1913 Page: 244
464 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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244 The Southwestern Historical Quarterly
Shannon claimed that the dignity of the new state would not
permit it to receive dictation of this character from Thomas Butler
King or from any one else. What right had King to tell the mem-
bers of that Convention that if they adopted such and such bounda-
ries they would be admitted into the Union; if they did not, they
would fail to become a sovereign state? He considered it not only
an insult but a threat, and he called upon the Convention to have
enough regard for their own dignity and for the dignity of the state
of California to reject such an offer immediately. He did not be-
lieve for a single moment that King expressed the sentiments of the
Congress of the United States. No single individual could do
that. The truth of the matter was, he thought, that the cabinet was
in difficulty over the Wilmot proviso, and that King-perhaps
others-was sent there to influence the people of California, first to
establish a state government, and second to include the entire terri-
tory within their limits. There was a political quarrel at home
into which the President and his cabinet wished to bring the new
state of California. For his own part he wished to keep as far
Utah (I, page 408) is a letter written at Great Salt Lake City and dated
September 6, 1849. It is addressed to Brother Amasa Lyman and signed
by Brigham Young, Heber C. Kimball, Willard Richards. It is in part
as follows:
"On the 20th of August, General Wilson arrived here, on his way to
California, as general Indian agent, etc. We had an interview with him
and gathered from him the following particulars: That the President
and Council of the United States are friendly disposed to us, and that he
(General Wilson) is commissioned by General Taylor to inform us that
he fully appreciates our situation," etc.
"The main point of the matter, however, is this: The President has
his ends to subserve, and as he knows we have been favorable to his elec-
tion, he wishes further to appeal to our patriotism (so says General
Wilson) to help him to carry out another measure, which will deliver him,
the cabinet and the nation from a difficulty in which he thinks they are
likely to be involved.
"The subject of slavery has become more embarrassing than it ever has
been before. The addition of the extensive territories -of New Mexico and
Upper California increases that difficulty. . . . The subject will be first,
probably, broached in Congress, and if some active measures are not adopted,
they (the President and Cabinet) fear it will be the last and only question.
If it should be made into territories, it will be under the direction of the
United States, and the question of slavery will annoy and distract all
parties, and General Wilson says they fear will have a tendency to break
up the Union.
"To prevent this they have proposed a plan of making the whole territory
into one state, leaving it to the power of the people to say whether it
shall be a free or a slave state, and thus taking the bone from the Congress
of the United States, and leaving them to pursue their course, 'peaceably
if they can,' undisturbed by this exciting question. They think it ought
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 16, July 1912 - April, 1913, periodical, 1913; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101058/m1/252/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.