Address on the annexation of Texas, and the aspect of slavery in the United States, in connection therewith: delivered in Boston November 14 and 18, 1845 Page: 14 of 56
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14
effect of such open and sudden action upon the honest portion
of their party. It would cost them, they said, the loss
of many thousand votes, and would sink the cause of Democracy
in irretrievable ruin and lasting disgrace. Let
this fact, then, that the retracting resolutions miscarried in
the Democratic convention, be accredited as the evidence
that the legislature truly interpreted the public sentiment,
and that the public sentiment remains unchanged. If Polk
Democrats, while the distribution of offices in Massachusetts
is not completed, shrink from a recantation, who else is
there among the citizens of Massachusetts that will stoop to
do the deed in their stead ?
Our principles, then, are unchanged. What was declared
and recorded in 1838, and at the three last sessions of the
legislature, is still the opinion and purpose of Massachusetts.
We cannot submit to a violation of the Constitution. We
will not consent to the extension of slavery. The Union as
it is, except that there is not freedom enough in it, suffices
for our patriotism ; and we can never look beyond its limits
with any other sentiment than that where there dwells not
liberty, there shall never be our country.
It is evident, fellow-citizens, that no inconsiderable work
must be done to sustain the position of Massachusetts. But
what can we do ? This is the question, which many are
heard to ask with a marked emphasis, as if they supposed
that none could undertake to answer it. Let me prepare to
answer it by admonishing those who ask it, that, if as yet we
can do nothing for our cause, we can at least abstain from
doing any thing against it. We can avoid doing any thing
that will tend to discourage each other's hearts and weaken
each other's hands. We can avoid the manifestation of any
lukewarmness or indifference, any want of fidelity, any covert
retraction of the Massachusetts pledge. We can avoid
thinking and feeling, or speaking and acting, otherwise than
as those who are in earnest, and of whom it may be seen by
all around them that their course is determined and that their
purpose is unalterable. We can avoid giving to our cause
by our own acts the aspect of " a foregone conclusion " and
" a forlorn hope." We can abstain, at least, from abandoning
it in advance, and from giving to its opponents the impression
that we are prepared to abandon it, and that, before
the event can warrant us in congratulating them upon their
success, we are ready and eager to anticipate the result by
giving them assurance of the conciliatory purpose with which
we shall await it.
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Phillips, Stephen C. Address on the annexation of Texas, and the aspect of slavery in the United States, in connection therewith: delivered in Boston November 14 and 18, 1845, book, January 1, 1845; Boston. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth2361/m1/14/: accessed April 26, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.