The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 16, July 1912 - April, 1913 Page: 61
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Kentucky and the Independence of Texas
last two years of his administration. And equally scrupulous it
may be said was the government as to its obligations as a neutral
touching the question of annexation.'
To the cause of Texas independence, Kentucky gave of her sons
and means unstintedly. General Felix Huston writing from
Natchez in the spring of 1836 has this to say: "I wish to get
some men from Kentucky. There is no difficulty in getting as
many as I want there, but more difficulty in rejecting those I do
not want.'"2 With one exception no trace has been found of any
opposition being offered by Kentuckians to the annexation of Texas.
In the Lexington Intelligencer of July 12, 1836, appeared an in-
teresting article in which the writer urges the people of Texas to
avoid any connection with the Southern States; to forbid the im-
migration of slaves or slaveholders, and pictures all the benefits
which would flow from a population of free men.3 But as events
were destined to show, his was a voice crying in the wilderness, and
his arguments fell upon deaf ears. In this connection it is to be
remarked that in all the resolutions which were drawn up in Ken-
tucky calling upon the United States government to recognize the
independence of Texas, there is no suggestion whatever of the
benefits that would accrue to the South by the possible acquisition
of new territory being opened up to slavery. According to one of
the leading Kentucky journals, six newspapers in the State were
opposed to the annexation of Texas, but the names of these are
not given.4 The attitude of the press of the State as a whole is
no doubt more faithfully reflected in a quotation found in the
Kentucky Gazette of July 7, 1836, which is copied from the New
'See Smith, The Annexation of Texas, Chapter 3.
2Iichmond Enquirer, May 3, 1836. A "Citizen of the West" writing
on Texas in this paper September 2, 1836, remarks that there are
"enough volunteers from Kentucky to go to Mexico if Texas had funds
to pay the expenses of transportation, and to support them until they
reached camp."
'Cf. Wharton to Austin, December 11, 1836. Garrison, Dip. Cor. Tem.,
I, 152. The writer refers to the annexation ,of Texas being opposed by
some in Kentucky and in other States on the ground that a brighter
destiny awaited Texas as an independent State.
'On the 'other hand, the more influential portion of the press of Ken-
tucky sided heartily with Texas. When news of the fall of Bexar
reached the State, editorials appeared calling upon the citizens of Ken-
tucky to aid the struggling Texans not only with sympathy but with
men -and money. See Frankfort Argus, April 20, 1836.
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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/m1/67/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.