Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1956-01-11


lshed by Harper and Brethen. Senotor Kennedy tells
the inspiring stories Of American politieans who he'd
the eouross to sacrifice everything for the principles
they believed right.
Bill, the new unity" device Of the Demo-
cratic Party and the latest concession to the
South. 1t repealed the Missouri Compromise
of 1920, and reopened the slavery extension
issue thought settled in the Compromise Of
1850. by permitting the residents Of that
vast territory from Iowa to the Rockies to
decide the slavery question for themselves,
on the assumption that the northern part
of the country would be free and the
southern part slave. For Democrats and
Southerners, this bill had become must"
legislation.
Sam Houston was a Democrat and q
Southerner by birth, residence, loyalty and
philosophy. But Sam Houston was also one
of the most independent. popular, forceful
and dramatic individuals ever to enter the
Senate chamber. The first Senator from
Texas, his name had long before been q
household word as commander in chief Of
those struggling and undermined Texas
volunteers who routed the entire Mexican
army at San Jacinto, captured its general
and established the independence Of Texas.
He had been acclaimed as the first President
Of the independent Republic of Texas, q
member Of her Congress. and President again
before the admission of Texas into the Union
as State. He was no easy mark at the age
Of 81, and neither sectional nor party ties
were enough to seal his lips.
Needless of Result
Sam Houston must have known the bill
would pass he must have known that not a
single other Southern Democrat would join
him. But standing erect, his chin thrust for
ward, picturesque If not eccentric in his
military cloak and pantherskin waistcoat cat
times he appeared in vast sombrero and
Mexican blanket. Sam Houston. the mag
nA1cent barbarian" made one Of his rare
speeches to a weary but attentive Senate:
This is an eminently perilous measure
and do you expect me to remain here silent.
or to shrink from the discharge Of my duty
IN admoniShing the South Of what con-
ceive the results will be. I wiz speak in
spite Of an the intimidations. or threats,
or discountenances that may be thrown upon
me. The discharge of conscious duty
prompts me often to confront the united
array OF the very section of the country in
which reside. in which my associations are,
in which my affections rest. d. :. Sir If this is
a boon that is offered to propitiate the
South. I, as Southern man, repudiate it.
win have none of it, :. ;"
1T was" Senator Houston was later to
remark, the most unpopular vote ever gave
(butl the wisest and most patriotic"
To make matters worse. this was not
the first odense for Senator Houston He had
tangled with John Calhoun on the Oregon
question. describing himself as a Southerner
Tor whom the Union was his guiding star"
He would have nothing to do, moreover, with
Senator Calhoun's 'hands-off" slavery reso-
luton and Southern address" attacking
that revered sage Of the South for his cong
Cherished and in-concealed designs against
the Union"
Finally. Sam Houston had been the first
prominent Senator to attack Senator CAL
houn's opposition to the Clay Compromise
Of 1850.
Marked for Defeat
Thus. his lonely vote against the Kansas
Nebraska bill, on that stormy dawn in 1884.
was the last straw" It was loudly whispered
about the Senate that this was the last term
for the colorful general
But Sam Houston was not one to sit
morosely brooding until the whispers of
Impending defeat were replaced by the ava
lanche that would crush him. He had ALREADY
made several tours of Texas during the
Senates autumn recesses denouncing with
equal vigor both "the mad fanaticism of the
Nortn ana the mad ambition Of the South"
Now he struck out with one grand assault
on Texas offlcialdom by announcing himself
candidate for Governor in the 1857 election.
He would not run as Democrat. or as the
candidate Of any faction or newspaper-or
even resign from the Senate. He would run
as Sam Houston, to degenerate the politics
of the State"
But his votes on Kansas and other
Southern measures could not be explained
away to an angry constituency. and Texas
handed Sam Houston the first trouncing Of
his political career. He returned to Washing
ton for his final years in the Senate mistaken
in his beliefs.
On November 10. 1857 Sam Houston was
unceremoniously dismissed by the Texas
Legislature.
Runs Again and Wins
Returning to his ranch in Texas, the
doughty ex-senator found he was unable to
retire when the Governor who had defeated
3 him two years previously was threatening to
lead the State into secession. So in the fall
of 1859, the aging warrior again ran as an
independent candidate for Governor, again
with no party, no newspaper and no organi-
cation behind him, and making but one
campaign speech. He would rely he told his
audience in that still fascinating voice. upon
the Constitution Of the Union all the old
Jacksonian democracy ever professed or
officially practiced."
It was a bitter campaign, the Democrats
and newspapers assailing Houston with acri-
monious passion. reopening old charges Of i'm
morality and cowardice. But strangely enough,
his personal following among his old comrades,
disgust with the administration of his OPP
ponents. new popularity which he had
acquired just prior to his retirement by his
exposure on the Senate floor of a corrupt
Federal judge, and q surge of sentimental
feeling toward him upon his return to his
beloved Texas, all combined to elect Sam
Houston Governor in q complete reversal
of his defeat two years earlier.
Abraham Lincoln was elected President in
1860, and Immediately throughout Texas the