The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 23, July 1919 - April, 1920 Page: 18
319 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The Southwestern Historical Quarterly
vote, have expressed their desire to be admitted into our Confed-
eracy, and application will probably be made to Congress for that
purpose. In my opinion Congress ought not even to entertain
such a proposition, in the present state of the controversy."4'
No such outspoken opposition as this has been met with in the
case of Mississippi until the question of annexation became a vio-
lent party issue in the campaign of 1844 when, for political rea-
sons chiefly, the Whigs were forced to assume the role of an op-
position party in consequence of the stand Clay had taken upon
the subject. Then there were those in the South who pointed out
that a greater future awaited Texas as an independent State than
as a member of the American Union. In the same year in which
Texas independence was achieved, Wharton wrote Austin: "Our
friends," said he, "those in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Kentucky
oppose annexation on the grounds that a brighter destiny awaits
Texas," which as a State of the Union would be oppressed by higher
tariffs and other Northern measures.4' Attention has been called
to the fact that among those who believed that a brighter destiny
awaited Texas as an independent Republic were Alexander Jones,
a physician, author and inventor of some note; and Joseph Rid-
dle, Jr., of Holly Springs, a lawyer. In the Lamar Papers is to
be found a long letter from Riddle bearing date of January 10,
1839, to President Lamar. In this he congratulated him on the
opportunity that an independent Texas would have for free and
direct trade with Europe,-a matter to which attention had been
directed by various journals and correspondents within the State
during the past two years.
In his inaugural address of December 10, 1838, Lamar spoke
coldly with reference to annexation: "I have never been able
myself to perceive the policy of the desired connection or dis-
cover in it any advantages either civil, political, or commercial,
which could possibly result to Texas." The Woodville Republi-
can, in commenting upon his address, held that no considerate
man could censure Lamar for desiring to avoid the strife and in-
justice which had been and was likely to be the lot of the slave-
holding States. The injustice referred to was the protective
tariff which levied a tax upon the Southern planter for the bene-
41Niles' Weekly Register, LI, 229-230.
"Garrison, Dip. Cor. Tex., I, 152; cf. Ibid., III, 1495.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 23, July 1919 - April, 1920, periodical, 1920; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101075/m1/24/: accessed April 19, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.