WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1848
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I wish you luck in marrying. If you can marry a fine woman, and she should have a 1,arge fortune, do not let it be a reason for breaking off the match!!! Write to me. May Heavens smiles, light your path, to·Hymens alter! ! Sam Houston.
To Doct. A. Smith Sharon Springs New York 1 Ashbel Smith Papers, University of Texas Library.
REMARKS IN TH·;E UNITED STATES SENATE, AUGUST 12 AND 14, 1848, ON THE BILL TO ESTABLISH TERRITORIAL GOVERNMENT IN OREGON 1 Mr. Houston wished to make his position known, not only on this continent, but that it should be blazoned forth to the world. He believed that the crisis so much spoken of had come. Texas was peculiarly situated. The line of 36° 30' divides her territory. North of that, slavery is prohibited; south of it slavery may, or may not exist, as she may select. Texas had entered the Union on this condition, and she was willing to adhere to that condition. He did not see that this bill affected the in- terests of Texas in any way. The extension in Oregon of the line to 42° could not affect the Southern States. He stood on the frontier, and he saw nothing in whatever legislation might take place in reference to territory north of 42° which could concern his State. He reminded the Senate that thirteen Senators from the Northern States had voted for the admission of Texas as she came in. And he was ready to vote for the admission of Oregon, even with the prohibition of slavery attached to it, as it could never affect the southern Territories. He might vote against receding, because he hoped something better might be obtained. As to the southern Territories, the Government of California is not now before us. He remembered the cry of disunion and nullification when the high tariff was imposed. That cry reached him in the wilderness, an exile from kindred and friends and sections; but it rung in his ears, and wounded his heart. But now he was in the midst of such a cry, and he was bound to act as a man conscious of the solemn responsibilities imposed on him. He had heard the menaces and cries of disunion until he had become familiar with them, and they had now ceased to produce alarm in his bosom. He had no fear of the dissolution of the Union, when he recollectednow it had been established,
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