The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 97, July 1993 - April, 1994 Page: 22
754 p. : ill. (some col.), maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
In addressing the legislature Throckmorton stressed frontier defense
and called for the removal of the Freedmen's Bureau and the occupa-
tion forces. He encouraged minimal legal protection for the freedpeo-
ple to achieve this end.. Well-satisfied Texans would "do justice to the
freedmen," but Throckmorton felt that "there has been a laxity in enfor-
ceing [sic] the laws; not particularly as to this class of people, but gener-
ally, that requires the serious consideration of the law-abiding power of
the government." Texans should bear with the freedmen's "foibles and
make charitable allowance for the want of industry and steadiness of
purpose manifested by the great mass of them," for they were "not an-
swerable for our late civil war and national calamities."22
Throckmorton was neither as politically astute as past and present his-
torians have made him out to be nor as dedicated to protecting Union-
ists and blacks as some writers have suggested. A basically mean-spirited
individual who laid the blame for Texas's troubles on the Republicans,
he made little attempt to influence the legislature. By complaining that
he had no control over their deliberations and capitulating to their ac-
tions in regard to black Texans, Throckmorton did not understand the
depth of Northern emotion which paved the way for his removal a year
later. His unwillingness to compromise and his deeply ingrained bias
against blacks assured that the legislature would enact a black code as se-
vere as those passed by other states in 1865.2
The Eleventh Legislature had been in session for over a month when it
commenced deliberations about the freedpeople. Within two weeks it had
established a black code comparable in every way to previous Southern
legislation. On October 27, 1866, it approved a lien law and an apprentic-
ing statute. On November i, it enacted an enticing law relating to labor-
ers and apprentices, and five days later it moved to a gun restriction law
and an all-encompassing labor code, 'which irrevocably tied blacks to the
land. On November 8, vagrancy legislation further limited black rights.
Passed separately, these laws collectively became the Texas black code.
They never mentioned race, but the freedmen had been their sole focus.24
22 Holbert, "The Public Career of James Webb Throckmorton," 84 (3rd and 4th quotations);
Elhott, Leathercoat, 147-178; Wilson, The Black Codes, 88 (1st and 2nd quotations).
22 The most recent exposition is William L. Richter, "General Phil Sheridan, the Historians,
and Reconstruction," Cvil War Hstory, XXXIII (June, 1987), 131-154. In Overreached on All
Sides, Richter continues to praise Throckmorton for his astuteness, but even a cursory reading of
his post-Civil War speeches and some of his correspondence suggests how deeply he detested
blacks and other minority groups. The only biography, Elliott's Leathercoat, appeared in 1938
and a new one is much needed.
24 Good summaries but weak interpretation of the legislature's action can be found in Al-
brecht, "The Black Codes of Texas," 68-lo2; McGraw, "The Texas Constitution of 1866,"
197-236; Thomas Wesley Kremm, "Race Relations in Texas 1865 to 1870" (M.A. thesis, Univer-
sity of Houston, 1970), 35-40; Carrier, "A Political History of Texas During the Reconstruction,"
125-140; Owens, "Presidential Reconstruction m Texas," 156-191.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 97, July 1993 - April, 1994, periodical, 1994; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117154/m1/50/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.