• Texas Politics as we start the 1850s

  • Oct 28 2024
  • Length: 10 mins
  • Podcast

Texas Politics as we start the 1850s

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  • This is Episode 51 – Texas Politics as we start the 1850s Texas politics is a contact sport, and Texas Politics as we start the 1850s was almost a blood sport and today’s Texas politics and politicians often seem like they still are set in 200 years ago. What was Texas and America like in 1850? Frankly, it was a mess, the country was mired in controversy after controversy, especially when it came to the issue of slavery. Texas itself, after lowering the flag of the Republic in 1846 struggled to find its footing. After the war with Mexico in 1848 the state government was bound and determined to make the Rio Grande river, especially the far western part, the state’s boundary. Well, this meant that most of Eastern New Mexico, including an area that reached all the way to Santa Fe would become a part of Texas. In fact, in 1848 the state legislature declared that part of Eastern New Mexico to be named Santa Fe County and the governor, George T. Wood, sent Spruce Baird there to set up a county government. Needless to say, the proud people of Santa Fe, refused to accept the Texans and with the help of federal troops forced Baird and the other Texans with him to depart. Baird was only able to stay until July 1849 at which time he left the region. Meanwhile, in Washington D.C. a major controversy was brewing between legislators from the North and those from the South. Of course, this was over the issue of slavery and especially if it was to be allowed in the newly acquired territories that had recently been acquired from Mexico in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which ended the Mexican-American war. This necessarily drew Texas into the dispute on the side of the South, remember the early Anglo settlers of Texas were mostly southerners and their allegiance was to the south and to the slave owners. Why does this matter? Simple, because when President Zachary Taylor, took office in March of 1849, he suggested that the best way to handle adding the new territories of California and New Mexico would be to bring them in directly as states and just bypassing the whole you have to be a territory first thing. While that sounds like an easy thing to do, not so fast, because most people knew that both California and New Mexico were most likely going to prohibit slavery. Well, this set off alarms in the South, Texas and the Anglo Texans. It also angered Texans because it effectively stopped Texas from ever claiming Santa Fe and Eastern New Mexico and more importantly to the southern states, it would effectively stop the expansion of slavery at Texas. Diehard southern slave holders vowed they would break up the union before they accepted President Taylor’s proposals. Not only did they urge Texas to stand strong and demand the boundaries they wanted, but the Mississippi state legislature actually called for a convention to take place in Nashville in 1850 whose purpose was "to devise and adopt some means of resistance" to what they labeled as Northern aggression. Needless to say, this was warmly greeted by the passionate Southern spokesmen in Texas, and they took up the argument. They demanded that the state send delegates to Nashville to prove that Texas would not meekly submit to the union. As my mother used to say, the squeaky wheel gets the grease and in 1849 the Texas Legislature gave in to the pressure and passed an act that created new boundaries. Once again, they proposed to create Santa Fe County and this time they sent Robert Neighbors to organize the government. Since this was a very active legislative group, they also declared that there would be an election in March of 1850 to send 8 delegates to the Nashville convention, so that they might provide "consultation and mutual action on the subject of slavery and Southern Rights." Neighbors, as Baird before him, discovered the residents of Santa Fe had no desire to be a part of Texas. Well, being the stubborn folks they were,
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