The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 18, July 1914 - April, 1915 Page: 392
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392 The Souihwester Historical Quarterly
comptroller of public accounts, the Convention again amended the
Committee's report, making these officials elective by the legisla-
ture instead of by the people.
During the debate upon the skeleton the Convention discussed at
length matters of general import, among which the chief topics
were the word "white" as used in describing the electorate, the ex-
clusion of the clergy from the legislature, the basis of representa-
tive districts, the creation of chancery courts with jurisdiction
coextensive with that of the supreme court, and the appointment
of judges. The debate on the word "white" arose when the Com-
mittee on the Legislative reported that electors should include
"free white males"2' as had been the case under the Constitution of
1836. Objection was made to this because of the doubt prevailing
among some of the Texans as to the color of the Mexicans. Presi-
dent Rusk supported the motion to strike out "white" and to find
a different means of excluding negroes and Indians not taxed from
the electorate, because "It may be contended that we intend to
exclude the race which we found in possession of the country when
we came here. This would be injurious to those people, to our-
selves, and to the magnanimous character which the Americans
have ever possessed."25 And Navarro, speaking through his inter-
preter, added, "that if the word white means anything at all it
means a great deal, and if it does not mean anything at all it is en-
tirely superfluous, as well as odious, and, if you please, ridiculous.
[It] is odious, captious, and redundant."26 The word was
stricken out, and the form of description of electors was made more
general.
An article excluding the clergy from seats in the legislature had
been adopted by Louisiana in her Constitution of 1844-1845, and
was related to the Native American movement, raging when the
Texas Convention met. The Texas Committee on the Legislative
reported an exclusion section more sweeping than that of Louisiana,
incorporating it in the legislative article instead of the bill of rights,
where Louisiana had put it. The convention, perhaps again re-
straining the "ultraism of the age," supported the Committee in
24Debates, 53.
23Ibid., 157.
20Ibid., 159.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 18, July 1914 - April, 1915, periodical, 1915; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101064/m1/398/: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.