The primary source readings this week are two documents that directly clash. The Texas “Declaration of Causes” made the case for Texas to leave the Union. Sam Houston, on the other hand, argued that secession was unjustified and foolish. For your short writing assignment this week, you are asked to briefly describe the contrasting positions on three big issues. For each of the following, you should offer a sentence or two explaining the position taken by the State of Texas in its “Declaration of Causes” and a sentence or two explaining Sam Houston’s contrasting position.
For what purposes had Texas been founded, and could it be successful outside of the United States?
Had the federal government violated the rights of the Southern states or the rights of white Southerners?
Was the federal government, after Lincoln’s election, inalterably hostile to slavery?
Lastly, what did Sam Houston say would happen if Texas joined the Confederacy? Would it win?
