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WRITINGS OF SAM HOUSTON, 1860
Executive Department, Austin, Texas, November 28, 1860. To His Excellency, Governor of the State oL_______________________ Sir: I have the honor to transmit to you the Joint Resolutions passed by the Legislature of the State of Texas, approved Febru- ary 16th, 1858. I believe that the occasion contemplated by the Resolutions has arrived. The present agitation throughout the country, and particularly in the South, arising from the election of a President and Vice President, upon a sectional issue, calls, in my opinion, for the calm deliberation of statesmen. The assembling of delegates from sovereign States, in a consultative character, and within the scope of their Constitutional powers "To Preserve the Equal Rights of Such States in the Union,'' may result in the adoption of such measures as will restore harmony between the two sections of the Union. With this hope I commend the enclosed Joint Resolutions to your consideration, and should such a convention be called, I will, upon the receipt of information as to the time and place of its assembling, immediately order an election of seven Delegates to represent Texas in the same. I have the honor to be your obe- dient servant, Sam Houston. And these are the Joint Resolutions, a copy of which was en- closed with my letter to each Governor : Joint Resolutions in Response to the Governor's Message on Kan- sas Affairs: WHEREAS, There exists, and has existed a violent determination on the part of the inhabitants of the Territory of Kansas, to ex- clude, by force, the citizens of slaveholding States from a just, equal and peaceful participation in the use and enjoyment of the common property and Territory of the members of the Con- federacy and: WHEREAS, This determination, owing to the state of political feeling in the Northern States of the confederacy, operating upon the Federal Government, may become effectual, and the exclu- sion, perpetual-Therefore, SEC. 1. Be it Resolved by the Legislature of the State of Texas, That the Governor of this State is hereby authorized to order an election for seven Delegates whenever the Executive of a majority of the slaveholding States shall express the opinion that such a Convention is necessary to preserve the equal rights of such States
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