Texans Boycott Calhoun’s Convention

Handicapped by a poor turnout and the absence of its sponsor, the long awaited Nashville Convention convened under a cloud on Jun. 30, 1850.

The unprecedented gettogether was the pet project of John C. Calhoun, the largerthan- life colossus who had dominated Dixie politics for decades. In 1848 the South Carolina Senator issued a stirring summons for an historic strategy session of the slaveholding states.

A colleague from the new state of Texas reacted to the proposal with undisguised contempt. Voicing his absolute opposition to the subversive suggestion, Sen. Sam Houston not only questioned Calhoun’s qualifications as “the guardian of the South” but also hinted darkly of his “cherished and illconcealed designs against the Union.”

For Houston and Calhoun, the bitter debate over the Nashville Convention was but the latest act in a rancorous drama spanning more than 30 years. Way back in 1817, secretary of war Calhoun chastised Houston, a 24 year old Indian agent, for dressing like his savage wards. Adding insult to injury, he accused the innocent youth of complicity in a slave-smuggling scheme. From that day forward, the two proud figures were mortal enemies.

After the annexation of Texas, Houston and Calhoun often crossed swords in the United States Senate. Their personal animosity was aggravated by irreconcilable differences over the major issues of the times.

Houston’s defiant devotion to the Union stuck in Calhoun’s craw. The ex-president of the Lone Star Republic voted inAugust 1848 to declare the Oregon Territory off-limits to slavery and compounded his heresy by refusing to sign the “Southern Address,” a sweeping indictment of abolitionist aims authored by Calhoun.

Staying on the warpath against his old foe, Houston used the gubernatorial campaign of 1849 as a platform to warn his constituents against the malevolent motive behind the seemingly innocuous call for the Nashville gathering. Though most Texans accepted his side of the story, Calhoun had his share of fervent followers.

The East Texas county of Harrison, the state’s most populous during the 1840’s, was the bastion of pro-slavery and state-rights sentiment. At the county seat of Marshall, The Texas Republican condemned Houston for his “dereliction of duty to Texas” while praising Calhoun as the anointed savior of the South.

Finally, in October 1849, an invitation was extended to all slave states to send delegates to the much-debated southern solidarity conference. The time was Jun. 30, 1850 and as expected the place was Nashville, Tennessee.

In his inaugural address Christmas week 1849, Gov. Peter Hansborough Bell danced around the delicate issue. Following his light-footed example, the legislature paid lip service to the concept of a united South but did nothing to ensure a Texas presence at the Tennessee talks.

By the middle of January 1850, the exasperated editor of The Texas Republican was beside himself. “While the whole South is fully aroused,” he complained, “Texas alone is silent.” In blunt terms he demanded that the politicians get off the fence and on the stick.

Guy Bryan, the representative of Brazoria and Fort Bend counties, responded with a series of resolutions which extolled the virtues of the Calhoun philosophy and cleared the way for a delegation to the controversial confab. Running out of excuses, lawmakers accepted the standing invitation and tacked the selection of four emissaries onto the March ballot.

Given just three weeks to study the matter, many Texans simply pleaded ignorance at the polls. As a result, opponents of the proposition grabbed statewide headlines by writing in “no convention, no disunion.” Despite this sizable protest vote, the legislators’ decision was final and delegates were elected as per their instructions.

Pro-Houston publications insisted the four designees forget the whole thing and avoid the embarrassment of “a fool’s errand.” Three, in fact, took that advice leaving a former governor to represent Texas all by himself.

J. Pinckney Henderson wound up wishing he too had stayed home. After the sudden death of Calhoun in March, interest in the meeting steadily declined. Only nine states were represented in Nashville, barely a quorum and clearly not enough to plan a collective strategy for the entire South.

The failure of the Nashville Convention pleased most Texans. As the new kids on the block, they were less inclined to give up on the Union and more optimistic of a peaceful solution to the sectional squabble.

Surely reason would somehow prevail on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line and the calamity of Civil War would be averted.

Bartee welcomes your comments and questions at barteehaile@gmail.com or P.O. Box 130011, Spring, TX 77393 and invites you to visit his web site barteehaile.com.