The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 73, July 1969 - April, 1970 Page: 18
605 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
A second objective is to explain what the Whigs stood for and
the interests from which they drew support in Texas. Their prin-
ciples and policies are to be found in resolutions and platforms
adopted at the various Whig meetings in 1848 and 1852 and in news-
paper accounts of the campaigns. Material explaining the interests
which voted Whig is much more scarce, but general conclusions can
be reached on the basis of the geographical distribution of the Whig
vote within the state and information drawn from the census of 1850
on those who took an active part in the Whig organization.
In April, 1848, the Whigs in Texas began organizing for the presi-
dential election when the "Whigs of Galveston" published an ad-
dress in the Galveston News to the "Whigs of Texas," urging them
to hold county conventions to appoint delegates to a state convention
to meet in Galveston on May 18. The state convention assembled on
schedule and chose thirteen delegates to attend the national con-
vention in Philadelphia with instructions to support the candidacy
of General Zachary Taylor. It was also resolved that the delegation
from Louisiana would cast the votes of Texas in the event that the
Texas Whigs failed to attend the national convention.'
Texas, for reasons unknown, was not represented when the Whigs
assembled in Philadelphia on June 7, and the Louisiana delegation
cast the votes as authorized by the Galveston convention. Texas'
votes, like those of most southern Whig delegations, went for the
Louisiana slaveholder, Taylor, who won the nomination on the fourth
ballot. His vice-presidential running mate, Millard Fillmore of New
York, was much less satisfactory to southerners, but the Whigs of
Texas prepared to work for the national ticket."
During the month following the national convention, organiza-
tional efforts were made in Marshall, Clarksville, and Houston as
well as in Galveston." The Houston Telegraph and Texas Register,
a Democratic paper which poked fun at early opposition activity,
commented on these efforts as follows:
For our own part, we are rejoiced that the Whig party is organizing
throughout the State. We had rather combat an open than a covert foe.
'Galveston Civilian and Galveston Gazette, May 5, 1848; New Orleans Bee, May 24,
1848; Clarksville Northern Standard, June 3, 1848. No description or account of this
state convention could be found.
'Washington National Intelligencer, June 8, 9, 1848; Houston Democratic Telegaph
and Texas Register, June 22, 1848; Arthur C. Cole, The Whig Party in the South (Wash-
ington, 1913), 129-131.
OClarksville Northern Standard, June 1o, July 1, 1848; Austin Texas Democrat, July
19g, 1848.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 73, July 1969 - April, 1970, periodical, 1970; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117147/m1/34/: accessed April 28, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.