June 3, 2024
Today in Texas History
By Bandera Spirits of Texas
The Bandera Prophet
On this day in 1850, delegates from the southern states collected in Nashville, Tenn., to discuss the sectional crisis resulting from the Mexican War.
In 1849, a bipartisan convention met at Jackson, Miss., and called for a southern convention to meet at Nashville in June 1850, "to devise and adopt some mode of resistance to northern aggression." Texas senators Sam Houston and Thomas J. Rusk opposed the convention.
Nevertheless, the Texas legislature passed a joint resolution recommending that the people choose representatives to the convention on the same day they selected a permanent state capital.
J. Pinckney Henderson was the sole Texas delegate to attend the convention. Like most Texans, he was primarily concerned about the boundary dispute with New Mexico. A total of 175 delegates from nine southern states met at the McKendree Methodist Church on June 3-12, 1850, passed a series of resolutions, and called for a second convention if Congress failed to meet their demands.
The passage of the Compromise of 1850, by resolving the boundary issue with New Mexico to the satisfaction of most Texans, kept Texas away from the second Nashville conference in November 1850. However, the two conferences helped pave the way for the Confederacy, which would ultimately draw Texas from the Union.
In 1849, a bipartisan convention met at Jackson, Miss., and called for a southern convention to meet at Nashville in June 1850, "to devise and adopt some mode of resistance to northern aggression." Texas senators Sam Houston and Thomas J. Rusk opposed the convention.
Nevertheless, the Texas legislature passed a joint resolution recommending that the people choose representatives to the convention on the same day they selected a permanent state capital.
J. Pinckney Henderson was the sole Texas delegate to attend the convention. Like most Texans, he was primarily concerned about the boundary dispute with New Mexico. A total of 175 delegates from nine southern states met at the McKendree Methodist Church on June 3-12, 1850, passed a series of resolutions, and called for a second convention if Congress failed to meet their demands.
The passage of the Compromise of 1850, by resolving the boundary issue with New Mexico to the satisfaction of most Texans, kept Texas away from the second Nashville conference in November 1850. However, the two conferences helped pave the way for the Confederacy, which would ultimately draw Texas from the Union.