previous next

5% of the text is displayed below. If you wish to view the entire text, please click here

[98]

Chapter 32: the annexation of Texas.—the Mexican War.—Winthrop and Sumner.—1845-1847.

The annexation of Texas, plotted during Jackson's Administration, obstructed by Van Buren's, and consummated by Tyler's, was in its origin and at every step a conspiracy of the aggressive and fanatical partisans of slavery to consolidate their power in the national government, and to strengthen and perpetuate their institution. It was one of the three great victories in our history won by the slaveholders over a feeble-spirited and submissive North. Texas was, indeed, a territory which might well be coveted by a people and race distinguished by a passion for empire, already fed by acquisitions from France and Spain. It was imperial in extent, fortunate in position, rejoicing in marvellous fertility, commanding the Gulf of mexico, and assuring military and commercial advantages;1 but far different thoughts from such as appealed to a far-sighted patriotism filled the minds of Tyler and Calhoun and their fellow-plotters. Their purpose, boldly avowed not only in Southern journals and conventions, but in Congress and state papers, was to add immediately two members to the pro-slavery party in the Senate, with more in prospect by a division of the new State, to fortify the interests of their caste on our southwestern frontier, and to open a market for the redundant slave population of the old slave States. The plot was carried through in defiance of the Constitution, in disregard of the rights of Mexico, and in contempt of Northern sentiment. When the treaty of annexation, negotiated by Calhoun, Secretary of State, had been rejected by the Senate in 1844, President Tyler promptly resorted to a joint resolution, easily carried through the House, but passing the Senate by a majority of only two votes, and taking effect [99] March 2, 1845, two days before Tyler was succeeded by Polk, who was instigated by the same pro-slavery ambition as his predecessor. The slave-power was then the master of the Democratic party; and Northern Democrats—some from pro-slavery sympathies, and others from servile fear—voted for the measure in Congress,2 joined by a sufficient number of Whigs in the Senate to carry it through. It is painful, in reading the history of that period, to see how feeble was the resistance to the great conspiracy; to observe the sham neutrality of our government in the contest between Mexico and Texas,—its pretences of offended dignity and its support of unfounded claims; its unconstitutional use of the navy and army in threatening, and at last invading, a sister republic, to whom we were bound by conditions of peace and a common polity; the sophistry, disingenuousness, and falsehood of its diplomatic papers, and its unblushing avowal of its purpose to extend and perpetuate slavery. Viewed in connection with the war which followed, and the age and country in which it took place, history records no baser transaction than the annexation of Texas.3 The spirit of the people had fallen low indeed, if they would not rise up to drive from power and punish all who had borne a part in it. At least the time had come to organize a resistance as determined as the conspiracy itself, and to abandon political combinations which openly aided or weakly submitted to it.4

No such general revolt as might have been expected followed the consummation of the iniquity. Partisans were disposed to accept an accomplished fact, and discountenanced further contention as useless. The Southern Whigs, who had put their opposition on mild grounds of detail or expediency, yielded very graciously to the final result; but among Northern Whigs, instead of such general resignation, a divergence of sentiment developed. They had, in State legislatures and political conventions, as also in journals and popular meetings, affirmed their unalterable purpose to resist the scheme to the end, going so far [100] even as to declare that the act of annexation, being unconstitutional, was of no binding force; but as the event proved, the greater number, while having a sentimental aversion to slavery, often boldly expressed, were wanting in thorough conviction as to its moral wrong and its political dangers, and were bound to stop at any point of resistance where they were confronted by material sacrifices or a breach in the party. In this majority, particularly in New England, the influence of manufacturers and capitalists was dominant. With them the protective tariff of 1842 was of paramount importance, Whig success essential to its maintenance, and Southern Whig co-operation essential to the election of a Whig Congress and President; and they were indisposed to prolong a controversy which would embarrass their Southern allies and obstruct the restoration of the party to power.

There was, however, a body of Northern men in the two parties, more numerous among the Whigs than among the Democrats, whose conscience and patriotism had been profoundly stirred by the annexation of Texas, and who were determined from that time to make resistance to the extension and domination of the slave-power the paramount principle of political action. Though seeming at first to be larger in numbers than under party pressure they afterwards proved to be, they were strong in enthusiasm, in moral power, and in the heroic qualities of their leaders. They had, too, among the Christian masses ‘great allies,’—‘exultations, agonies, and man's unconquerable mind.’ They stood together in this dark hour, perhaps the darkest in our history, with an indomitable spirit, indeed with what seemed the resolution of despair. Having failed to prevent the incorporation of Texas into the Union, they now took their stand, hopeless as it was, against her admission as a slave State, the final consummation of the plot. If the result was already a foregone conclusion, they could at least, by a contest at every stage, attest their high purpose, and maintain their unity and vigor as a political force. Lifted by their cause to a broader view, their aims now advanced beyond the immediate issue. the time had come, as they saw it, when patriotism and moral duty required the people of the free States to put in abeyance material questions, and to unite not only in resisting future aggressions of slavery, but also in overthrowing the power it had usurped over national politics and legislation. They had in view [101] constitutional methods only; and instead of starting an independent movement, they sought in their first effort to put the party to which they belonged on the same plane of sentiment and action where they themselves stood. With this body of men at this period Sumner allied himself, taking the first step in his active political career.5

This brief statement of the national contest which resulted in the annexation of Texas is sufficient to introduce a particular reference to the course of events in Massachusetts. Here the tone of resistance and defiance was stronger than in any other State. The people had inherited a Puritan repugnance to slavery, and they had been instructed and alarmed as to the Texas scheme by their first moralist and their veteran statesman,—Dr. Channing, and John Quincy Adams. They had, in every form in which public opinion can be expressed, denounced the conspiracy of the propagandists of slavery, and declared their purpose to resist it to the end; and as its success drew near, their protests were uttered with the depth and fervor of religious conviction. The Legislature, at the beginning of its session in 1845, affirmed in resolutions the invalidity of the proposed act of annexation, and the perpetual opposition of the State to the further extension of slavery. A convention was held at Faneuil Hall, January 29. The call invited the people of the State to attend without distinction of party; and although a few of the advanced antislavery men were present, the greater part of the delegates were of the conservative class. They included lawyers, merchants, and public men who had long held the confidence of the people. The address, one of the ablest in the political history of the State, was prepared by Mr. Webster, Charles Allen, and Stephen C. Phillips.6 It declared that ‘Massachusetts denounces the iniquitous project in its inception, and in every stage of its progress; in its means and its end, and in all the purposes and [102] pretences of its authors.’ A solemn earnestness such as befits a great crisis in human affairs pervaded the assembly.

This was the last demonstration of resistance to the annexation, or of protest against it, in which the representative Whig politicians of Massachusetts took part. Even this convention did not have the countenance and good — will of Levi Lincoln, Abbott Lawrence, and Nathan Appleton; and when the annexation had been consummated, a few weeks later, a disposition to acquiesce was manifested in various quarters. A section of the Whigs in the Legislature, prominent among whom was John H. Clifford, endeavored to avoid action on the resolutions proposed by C. F. Adams immediately after the measure of annexation had passed, although they were of similar purport to those previously passed at the same session.. .Winthrop's toast on the Fourth of July7 was understood to discountenance any further agitation of the subject. The Whig leaders in the autumn threw the Texas question into the background, and brought to the front the economical issues which divided them from the Democrats.

The antislavery Whigs, known as ‘Young Whigs’ in the political nomenclature of the period, sometimes as ‘Conscience Whigs’ (the last a name first applied to them derisively by their more politic Whig opponents), at once organized an opposition to the admission of Texas as a State with a constitution which not only established slavery, but undertook in certain provisions to make it perpetual. Their leaders were Charles Francis Adams, Charles Sumner, Stephen C. Phillips, John G. Palfrey, Henry Wilson, Charles Allen, Samuel and E. Rockwood Hoar (father and son), and RichardI. Dana, Jr. Among these it would not be invidious, in view of his sober judgment, persistency, courage, and his social and hereditary position, to put Mr. Adams at the head. These men were all highly regarded in the Whig party; most of them had been chosen to office by its nomination. They were strong in personal character and in their unquestioned loyalty to moral principles as the basis of political action, and they exercised a large influence over the voters in the country towns who were removed from an immediate connection with the moneyed interests of Boston. During the summer and autumn of 1845 they, and others acting in accord with them, held public meetings in different parts of the State to [103] protest against the admission of Texas as a slave State; and appealing to the mass of voters, they forwarded a remonstrance to Congress with sixty thousand signatures. From this agitation the manufacturers and many of the

Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.

An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.

hide Places (automatically extracted)

View a map of the most frequently mentioned places in this document.

Sort places alphabetically, as they appear on the page, by frequency
Click on a place to search for it in this document.
Massachusetts (Massachusetts, United States) (49)
Mexico (Mexico, Mexico) (26)
United States (United States) (13)
New England (United States) (5)
Worcester (Massachusetts, United States) (3)
Springfield (Massachusetts, United States) (3)
South Carolina (South Carolina, United States) (3)
Maine (Maine, United States) (3)
California (California, United States) (3)
New Hampshire (New Hampshire, United States) (2)
Mexico (Mexico) (2)
Georgia (Georgia, United States) (2)
Franklin Mills, Portage County, Ohio (Ohio, United States) (2)
Camden, Ark. (Arkansas, United States) (2)
Wilson, N. C. (North Carolina, United States) (1)
Warrington, Fla. (Florida, United States) (1)
Warren (Ohio, United States) (1)
Vermont (Vermont, United States) (1)
Vera Cruz (Veracruz, Mexico) (1)
Savannah (Georgia, United States) (1)
Quincy (Massachusetts, United States) (1)
Providence, R. I. (Rhode Island, United States) (1)
Paris, Ky. (Kentucky, United States) (1)
Pala (New Mexico, United States) (1)
New York State (New York, United States) (1)
Montreal (Canada) (1)
Montpellier (France) (1)
Monterey, Mass. (Massachusetts, United States) (1)
Matamoras (Indiana, United States) (1)
Marshfield (Massachusetts, United States) (1)
Lowell (Massachusetts, United States) (1)
Gulf of Mexico (1)
Grafton, W. Va. (West Virginia, United States) (1)
France (France) (1)
Fort Niagara (New York, United States) (1)
Delaware (Delaware, United States) (1)
Dedham (Massachusetts, United States) (1)
Corpus Christi (Texas, United States) (1)
Columbia (South Carolina, United States) (1)
Cleveland (Ohio, United States) (1)
Calhoun, Ky. (Kentucky, United States) (1)
Brookline (Massachusetts, United States) (1)
Beaconsfield (United Kingdom) (1)

Download Pleiades ancient places geospacial dataset for this text.

hide People (automatically extracted)
Sort people alphabetically, as they appear on the page, by frequency
Click on a person to search for him/her in this document.
George Sumner (137)
Robert C. Winthrop (131)
John Gorham Palfrey (36)
John Quincy Adams (33)
Fletcher Webster (31)
J. R. Giddings (30)
Charles Sumner (26)
Joshua R. Giddings (22)
C. F. Adams (21)
Stephen C. Phillips (19)
Charles Francis Adams (13)
Boston Atlas (12)
Thomas Corwin (11)
Charles Allen (11)
Abbott Lawrence (10)
George W. Julian (10)
J. Q. Adams (10)
Henry Wilson (9)
Horace Mann (8)
Samuel G. Howe (8)
Nathan Appleton (8)
Zachary Taylor (7)
Theodore Parker (7)
Linus Child (7)
Polk (6)
W. B. Calhoun (6)
John A. Andrew (6)
William S. Tyler (5)
Wendell Phillips (5)
George T. Curtis (5)
John G. Palfrey (4)
Charles Hudson (4)
Von Holst (4)
Charles James Fox (4)
J. A. Andrew (4)
John G. Whittier (3)
George Ticknor (3)
Bradford Sumner (3)
J. Thomas Stevenson (3)
A. H. Stephens (3)
Julius Rockwell (3)
W. H. Prescott (3)
Wendell Philips (3)
John H. Pearson (3)
Longfellow (3)
F. Lieber (3)
E. Rockwood Hoar (3)
William Hayden (3)
John P. Hale (3)
Edward Everett (3)
Henry Clay (3)
Francis W. Bird (3)
R. Toombs (2)
William W. Story (2)
Alexander H. Stephens (2)
Luther Severance (2)
William Schouler (2)
Schenck (2)
Root (2)
Andrews Norton (2)
Preston King (2)
Charles King (2)
Edward L. Keyes (2)
Johnston (2)
William Jay (2)
Oliver Wendell Holmes (2)
George S. Hillard (2)
Gladstone (2)
Garrison (2)
John Davis (2)
Garrett Davis (2)
R. H. Dana (2)
James Freeman Clarke (2)
Rufus Choate (2)
Edmund Burke (2)
Buell (2)
Albert G. Browne (2)
Henry I. Bowditch (2)
Barre (2)
George Bancroft (2)
George Ashmun (2)
Elizur Wright (1)
John M. Williams (1)
Whig (1)
Walpole (1)
Samuel H. Walley (1)
Vinton (1)
John Tyler (1)
Amos Tuck (1)
Trubner (1)
Charles R. Train (1)
Tompkins (1)
W. W. Story (1)
Thaddeus Stevens (1)
Henry B. Stanton (1)
W. B. Spooner (1)
Gerrit Smith (1)
Slidell (1)
Slade (1)
Thomas Sims (1)
William H. Seward (1)
Sayres (1)
C. T. Russell (1)
A. P. Russell (1)
William S. Robinson (1)
Henry Richard (1)
Political Recollections (1)
Josiah Quincy (1)
A. P. Putnam (1)
James S. Pike (1)
Stephen H. Phillips (1)
Neptune (1)
J. Lothrop Motley (1)
William Morgan (1)
Adams May (1)
Charles Lowell (1)
Levi Lincoln (1)
Abraham Lincoln (1)
G. W. Julian (1)
Andrew Johnson (1)
John Jay (1)
James Jackson (1)
Thomas Hopkinson (1)
Samuel Hoar (1)
E. R. Hoar (1)
E. H. Hoar (1)
Constitutional History (1)
Hercules (1)
Hannibal Hamlin (1)
Grinnell (1)
Horatio Greenough (1)
John C. Gray (1)
Moses Grant (1)
Elbridge Gerry (1)
Gates (1)
Richard Fletcher (1)
Millard Fillmore (1)
William Pitt Fessenden (1)
Evans (1)
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1)
R. W. Emerson (1)
William Dwight (1)
Drayton (1)
John A. Dix (1)
Richard Henry Dana (1)
I. Dana (1)
G. T. Curtis (1)
Benjamin R. Curtis (1)
Colton (1)
Richard Cobden (1)
Howell Cobb (1)
John H. Clifford (1)
Cleveland (1)
Thomas Clayton (1)
Chesapeake (1)
Maria Weston Chapman (1)
William H. Channing (1)
Walter Channing (1)
W. H. Channing (1)
Peleg W. Chandler (1)
Thomas G. Cary (1)
J. E. Cairnes (1)
Cabell (1)
Joseph T. Buckingham (1)
Bright (1)
James A. Briggs (1)
Boston (1)
Berrien (1)
L. V. Bell (1)
Beaconsfield (1)
Gamaliel Bailey (1)
James T. Austin (1)
Old John Quincy Adams (1)
Josiah G. Abbott (1)
hide Dates (automatically extracted)
Sort dates alphabetically, as they appear on the page, by frequency
Click on a date to search for it in this document.
1848 AD (12)
1847 AD (12)
1846 AD (7)
1852 AD (5)
1845 AD (5)
September 24th (5)
1850 AD (4)
July 4th (4)
December 30th, 1847 AD (3)
December 25th, 1847 AD (3)
November 20th, 1847 AD (3)
May 11th (3)
February (3)
1853 AD (2)
February 21st, 1850 AD (2)
December, 1849 AD (2)
March 17th, 1848 AD (2)
February 17th, 1848 AD (2)
February 1st, 1848 AD (2)
January 6th, 1848 AD (2)
December, 1847 AD (2)
November 13th, 1847 AD (2)
September, 1847 AD (2)
January 8th, 1847 AD (2)
December 31st, 1846 AD (2)
1842 AD (2)
October 30th (2)
October 25th (2)
September 29th (2)
September 17th (2)
August 10th (2)
July 31st (2)
July (2)
June (2)
February 28th (2)
1893 AD (1)
1892 AD (1)
June 28th, 1888 AD (1)
August 9th, 1877 AD (1)
March 16th, 1874 AD (1)
1874 AD (1)
1872 AD (1)
1865 AD (1)
May 27th, 1864 AD (1)
April 30th, 1861 AD (1)
1861 AD (1)
1860 AD (1)
February 1st, 1859 AD (1)
July 15th, 1857 AD (1)
February 21st, 1854 AD (1)
July 14th, 1852 AD (1)
March 1st, 1852 AD (1)
February 24th, 1852 AD (1)
April, 1851 AD (1)
1851 AD (1)
May 29th, 1850 AD (1)
May 8th, 1850 AD (1)
April 19th, 1850 AD (1)
March 15th, 1850 AD (1)
February 25th, 1850 AD (1)
January 9th, 1850 AD (1)
January 3rd, 1850 AD (1)
December 27th, 1849 AD (1)
December 13th, 1849 AD (1)
December 3rd, 1849 AD (1)
October 16th, 1849 AD (1)
February 17th, 1849 AD (1)
1849 AD (1)
June 30th, 1848 AD (1)
June 23rd, 1848 AD (1)
March 23rd, 1848 AD (1)
March 18th, 1848 AD (1)
March 16th, 1848 AD (1)
March 10th, 1848 AD (1)
March 9th, 1848 AD (1)
March 1st, 1848 AD (1)
February 21st, 1848 AD (1)
February 16th, 1848 AD (1)
February 3rd, 1848 AD (1)
January 27th, 1848 AD (1)
January 17th, 1848 AD (1)
January 15th, 1848 AD (1)
January 13th, 1848 AD (1)
January 8th, 1848 AD (1)
January 5th, 1848 AD (1)
January 3rd, 1848 AD (1)
December 31st, 1847 AD (1)
December 29th, 1847 AD (1)
December 27th, 1847 AD (1)
December 23rd, 1847 AD (1)
December 17th, 1847 AD (1)
December 12th, 1847 AD (1)
November 1st, 1847 AD (1)
October 13th, 1847 AD (1)
October 9th, 1847 AD (1)
October 7th, 1847 AD (1)
September 29th, 1847 AD (1)
September 15th, 1847 AD (1)
August 18th, 1847 AD (1)
August 15th, 1847 AD (1)
July 31st, 1847 AD (1)
May, 1847 AD (1)
March 22nd, 1847 AD (1)
March 1st, 1847 AD (1)
February 22nd, 1847 AD (1)
February 13th, 1847 AD (1)
February 4th, 1847 AD (1)
February 1st, 1847 AD (1)
February, 1847 AD (1)
January 30th, 1847 AD (1)
January 16th, 1847 AD (1)
January 15th, 1847 AD (1)
January 3rd, 1847 AD (1)
January, 1847 AD (1)
December 15th, 1846 AD (1)
December, 1846 AD (1)
October 5th, 1846 AD (1)
October 3rd, 1846 AD (1)
October 2nd, 1846 AD (1)
October, 1846 AD (1)
September 25th, 1846 AD (1)
September 23rd, 1846 AD (1)
September, 1846 AD (1)
June 25th, 1846 AD (1)
May 24th, 1846 AD (1)
May 13th, 1846 AD (1)
May 12th, 1846 AD (1)
May 11th, 1846 AD (1)
May, 1846 AD (1)
March 29th, 1846 AD (1)
January 13th, 1846 AD (1)
January 9th, 1846 AD (1)
December 22nd, 1845 AD (1)
November 27th, 1845 AD (1)
November 17th, 1845 AD (1)
September 30th, 1845 AD (1)
July 4th, 1845 AD (1)
March 2nd, 1845 AD (1)
1844 AD (1)
1843 AD (1)
November 1st, 1814 AD (1)
1812 AD (1)
1809 AD (1)
1808 AD (1)
December 31st (1)
December 16th (1)
December 10th (1)
December (1)
November 30th (1)
November 25th (1)
November 5th (1)
November 4th (1)
October 29th (1)
October 28th (1)
October 16th (1)
October 13th (1)
October 10th (1)
October 7th (1)
October 5th (1)
October (1)
September 26th (1)
September 25th (1)
September 23rd (1)
September 21st (1)
September 20th (1)
September 19th (1)
September 18th (1)
September 16th (1)
September 15th (1)
September 7th (1)
September 5th (1)
September (1)
August 27th (1)
August 26th (1)
August 17th (1)
August 13th (1)
August 11th (1)
August 7th (1)
August 5th (1)
July 23rd (1)
July 22nd (1)
July 16th (1)
July 15th (1)
June 30th (1)
June 24th (1)
June 14th (1)
June 1st (1)
May 18th (1)
May 16th (1)
May 13th (1)
May 12th (1)
April 30th (1)
April 28th (1)
April 27th (1)
April 26th (1)
April 25th (1)
April 24th (1)
April 23rd (1)
April 21st (1)
April 17th (1)
April (1)
March 25th (1)
March 22nd (1)
March 18th (1)
March 17th (1)
March 4th (1)
March (1)
February 29th (1)
February 25th (1)
January 31st (1)
January 29th (1)
January 14th (1)
January 5th (1)
January 1st (1)
January (1)
hide Display Preferences
Greek Display:
Arabic Display:
View by Default:
Browse Bar: