The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 18, July 1914 - April, 1915 Page: 70
438 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Southwestern Historical Quarterly
islature in the spring of 1860, although strongly Democratic, was
by no means unanimous as to what action should be taken by the
state. That no definite action was taken indicates that the legis-
lature did not at that time consider the situation very grave.
The committee appointed by the senate unanimously agreed that
the state was determined to preserve, adhere to, and defend the
Union and the constitution, but the committee differed as to
the way it should be done, differed in abstract political opinion,
and differed as to the kind of resolutions the legislature should
adopt. The majority report, while maintaining the doctrine of
the right of state defence against aggression, expressed a firm
resolve to defend the constitution and support the Union. The
attempt of the Black Republicans to gain control of the federal
government for the purpose of abolishing slavery was declared
unconstitutional. And the committee called upon the other states
to show their devotion to the constitution by defeating that party
in the coming federal election.61 The minority report did not ad-
mit the constitutional right of secession. Secession was declared to
be a revolutionary act justifiable only when the federal government
showed itself incapable of protecting the essential rights of the
states; nothing so far had occurred to justify such a revolutionary
act; hence Texas considered the South Carolina resolution pre-
mature and unnecessary, and declined to appoint deputies to a
meeting of the slaveholding states. But the committee also main-
tained that if the federal government should become powerless
to protect the rights of the states, the Union would no longer be
worth maintaining, and that then Texas would again, as in 1836,
raise the revolutionary standard,-but, it declared, "Texas has
an abiding confidence in the conservative spirit of the American
people, and in the continued preservation of the Constitution and
the Union." 2
In the house the majority report upheld the right of secession
and declared that Texas would not submit to the degradation of
being ruled by the Black Republican party, but would rather
assert her independence. It pledged Texas to co-operate with the
other Southern states, if it should become necessary to resist the
federal wrongs. The minority report, on the other hand, denied
61Ibid., 525.
02Ibid., 526.
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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/m1/76/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.