The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 29, July 1925 - April, 1926 Page: 161
330 p. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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THE
SOUTHWESTERN HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
VOL. XXIX JANUARY, 1926 No. 3
The publication committee and the editors disclaim responsibility for views expressed by
contributors to THE QUARTERLY
THE MISSISSIPPI WHIGS AND THE ANNEXATION OF
TEXAS
JAMES E. WINSTON
Historians of the Whig party in the South have pointed out
the interesting fact that it was recruited mainly from the aris-
tocratic element of the black belt.' This was eminently true of
the party in Mississippi, where its chief strength was drawn from
the rich planting interests of the fertile river bottoms. The Dem-
ocratic journals were ever referring to the broadcloth gentlemen,
to the rich nabobs of Adams and Wilkinson Counties, where the
larger cotton planters resided, and where solid Whig majorities
could always be counted upon.' According to the Natchez Free
Trader, ever a determined opponent of Whiggery, the members
of this party were conspicuous for their wealth and talent; the
party seized upon cities and towns, thus obtaining control of the
financial institutions, and recruiting its strength from the banks,
lawyers, doctors and parsons. Many a Democrat being in finan-
cial difficulties, had grown lukewarm in his allegiance as a result
of the sinister influence exerted by the capitalistic elements of
his community. "We have Democratic lawyers fully as eloquent,
doctors equally good at curing or converting, and Democratic par-
'Cole, The Whig Party in the South, 58, 72; Phillips, "The Southern
Whigs, 1834-1854," 208, in Turner, Essays in American History.
'Democratic journals spoke of the "purse-proud speculating aristocrats
of Natchez"; another phrase was "all the talent and all the decency
party." Free Trader, December 13, 1843; September 18, 1844; Mis-
sissippian, August 23, 1844; Whig Creed, December 6, 1845.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 29, July 1925 - April, 1926, periodical, 1926; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117141/m1/181/?rotate=270: accessed April 20, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.