The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 23, July 1919 - April, 1920 Page: 2
319 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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2 The Southwestern Historical Quarterly
ing to Henderson, the Texan Secretary of State, from Vicksburg
in the spring of 1837, speaks of "our most important benefit-
the warm and unanimous support of the whole South." He rep-
resents the Southern States as being so ardent for the cause of
annexation "that failure to accomplish it will produce a dissolu-
tion of the Union."1 Had it not been for the sympathy and
material aid extended the Texan cause by Mississippi and her
sister States, the story of the struggle for independence might well
have had a different ending. Even before independence had been
achieved, there were voices raised in Mississippi advocating an-
nexation. In a speech delivered at Raymond, a small town not
far from Jackson, in September, 1835, R. J. Walker-at that
time a candidate for election to the United States Senate, and
later one of the most forceful advocates of annexation-pronounced
himself in favor of the acquisition of Texas by treaty, for this
would give the South and Southwest six additional slave States,
thus enabling the Southern States to maintain control of their
"peculiar institution" by reason of their ascendancy in the Sen-
ate. Thus early was raised what was to prove the paramount
issue in the campaign of 1844--certainly so far as Mississippi was
concerned-and by the man who in that year succeeded in com-
mitting the Democratic party to a program of expansion which
resulted in the election of Polk. While the issue as regards slav-
ery and Texas may not have been clearly drawn prior to 1836,2
yet at this time the question was given a sectional cast, and from
this year slavery and annexation may be said to become associated
in the minds of those who may fairly be taken as representing
public sentiment in Mississippi.
Less than two months after the battle of San Jacinto, the
Natchez Daily Courier, a Whig journal, in commenting upon the
excitement occasioned among Southern members of Congress by
the protest of John Quincy Adams that a proposed appropriation
for the defense of the southwestern border was tantamount to a
war carried on in Texas to re-establish slavery in that country,
used the following language: "We feel assured that Texas will
apply to be admitted to the United States, even though her inde-
1Garrison, Dip. Cor. Tex., I, 208, cf. Ibid., 1, 238-239, 270. Henderson,
who had moved to Mississippi in 1836, joined the Texan army, was ap-
pointed brigadier-general, and was elected Secretary of State in 1837.
"Rather, Recognition of the Republic of Texas, 216-217.
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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/m1/8/: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.