WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1856
361
merged in the Union. She had received the sympathy of the citizens of every section of the Union. Her feeling, her interest, and her existence in becoming a member of the Union, she con- sidered as inseparable from its preservation and prosperity. A sense of duty, under these circumstances, leads me to the conclusion to support the American nominees, Filmore and Donel- son. They are good men, and I think the only men, now, in nom- ination for the Presidency and Vice Presidency before the Ameri- can people who do most assuredly claim the cordial support of men who are true-hearted Americans-Democrats and Whigs. All faithful naturalized citizens, though of foreign birth, who cannot be controlled by any foreign allegiance, can come forward to their support, as rational men, capable and willing to support the Constitution and the Union. Major Donelson, you know was brought up in the same school with ourselves, which was the old Jefferson and Jackson Democ- racy; and he has ever proved true to his Democratic education- the love of the Union being the polar star. Mr. Filmore was a Whig, and served the people of his district while he was in Congress. His service was satisfactory, and he secured their con- fidence. When his official duties took a broader range, and new and responsible duties devolved upon him as the head of the nation, he cast aside every sectional and local bias; his views on all impor- tant questions were limited only by the extent of his duty to t·he whole country. His services met the acceptance of the nation, and he retired from office with the approving voice of thousands who had been his former opponents. In my opinion, he adminis- tered the government wisely and well. He found the country in great excitement as well as great dissatisfaction, and even in peril; and yet he left it in repose, tranquility and safety; and it is a pleasure for me to look back and remember, that without any deviation from my line of duty as a Jackson Democrat, I was enabled to sustain and aid him in most of his leading measures; and so, too, were nearly all the true-hearted Jackson Democrats of that time. Were the Democrats of the present day, even as sound as they were then, though heresies had then been intro- duced into the party, I would cheerfully cooperate, and act with them on many important subjects; but since they have recog- nized squatter sovereignty, and their "great principle" (which I have been unable to discover) of the Kansas-Nebraska bill, as tests of true Democracy-making them the front flanks of their party platform-I will not stand upon it, nor can I recognize such principles as truly Democratic. It was the attempt to carry out
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