The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 25, July 1921 - April, 1922 Page: 16
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The Southwestern Historical Quarterly
names have been mentioned in connection with the aggressive cam-
paign that was being waged for the extension of slave territory;
under their guidance Mississippi was preparing to become "the
most aggressive expansionist state in the Union in the years just
preceding the civil war."45
The fear that the South had begun to entertain for its peculiar
institution from the time of the Missouri Compromise question46
was naturally greatly intensified in consequence of the abolitionist
propaganda, while in Mississippi pro-slavery sentiment had become
crystallized prior to the decade with which we are dealing. When,
therefore, Huston, Foote, and Brown pointed out the urgent need
of "the annexation of Texas as essential to the future safety and
repose of the Southern States," their arguments found a ready
response in the minds of their hearers. Not only did the anti-
slavery agitation in the United States lead "many of our southern
citizens to long for separation and a union with slave-holding
Texas";47 it also accentuated the deep dread of a servile insur-
rection that hung over the slave section;48 and as abolitionism
assumed more and more of a political character, pro-slavery senti-
ment became intensified at the south, and grew more insistent in
its demands for territory for further expansion.49
But it was not only by governors, legislatures, and prominent
45Dodd, Statesmen of the Old South, 206. Among the numerous political
gatherings which Huston addressed was one at Port Gibson in August. If
we are to believe a Whig reporter who was present on that occasion, Huston
after dwelling upon the paramount importance of annexation as involving
the very existence of Southern prosperity, and more especially the fate
of the institution of slavery, indulged in language something like the
following: "That when it comes to fighting, the South could just whip
any force that could be arrayed against it--we had the hearts and the
hands to carry us in triumph through any war, foreign or domestic
. of all the people on the footstool of the Almighty, we were un-
questionably the most impregnable-we had the nerve, money and mili-
tary to fight long, fight victoriously, to fight on a full belly without any
prospect of want." Port Gibson Herald, July 18, 1844.
"Conger, "South Carolina and Early Tariffs," Miss. Val. Hist. Rev.,
V, 422.
4Smith, War with Mewico, I, 83.
"Natchez Gazette, Oct. 26, 1831. Cf. Charleston Courier, Aug. 18, 1835;
New 'Orleans Bee, Sept. 25. 1835. In 1835 Huston contributed to the
New York Courier and Enquirer a letter upon this subject. In 1850 the
views set forth in this letter were elaborated in a very interesting
pamphlet entitled "The Military Strength of the Southern States, and
the Effects of Slavery Therein. Addressed to the Southern Convention."
"Cf. Free Trader, Aug. 25, 1844; Spirit of Kosciusko, Feb. 27, 1839.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 25, July 1921 - April, 1922, periodical, 1922; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101082/m1/22/: accessed May 1, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.