Sam Houston: Speech on His Refusal to Take the Oath of Loyalty to the Confederacy

Explanation and Analysis of the Document

Throughout the tumultuous 1850s, Houston advocated for a peaceful solution to the growing discord over whether new states and territories should be admitted to the United States allowing slavery or as free. Houston waited as long as possible to call a special session of his state's legislature to debate secession. The Texas legislature met on January 21, 1861, at which time South Carolina, Mississippi, Georgia, Florida, and Alabama had already seceded. In addressing the legislature, Houston tried to sway the group by pointing out how Texas was different from other southern states. For instance, no other southern state bordered a foreign country or was susceptible to Indian attacks, and Texas relied on the support of the federal government to defend itself.

Ultimately, Houston argued that the people of Texas should decide the issue. The Texas Secession Convention assembled a week later, promptly voted 171 to six in favor of secession, and named a committee to draft an ordinance on which the people of Texas would vote. In a bill titled “An Ordinance: To Dissolve the Union between the State of Texas and the Other States, United under the Compact Styled ‘The Constitution of the United States of America,’” the convention outlined its motives for withdrawing from the Union:

Whereas, the Federal Government has failed to accomplish the purposes of the compact of union between these States, in giving protection either to the persons of our people upon an exposed frontier, or to the property of our citizens; and, whereas, the action of the Northern States of the Union is violative of the compact between the States and the guarantees of the Constitution; and whereas the recent developments in Federal affairs, make it evident that the power of the Federal Government is sought to be made a weapon with which to strike down the interests and prosperity of the people of Texas and her Sister slaveholding States, instead of permitting it to be, as was intended, our shield against outrage and aggression.

In the only case where the people directly voted on the issue of secession, the people of Texas voted to secede. Even though Texas delegates had already traveled to Montgomery, Alabama, to take their seats in the First Confederate Congress, Houston insisted that Texas had merely reclaimed its independence and had not yet agreed to become a part of another government. The members of the Texas Secession Convention were outraged and sent a messenger to Houston's home instructing him to appear the next day to take the Confederate oath of allegiance. During the night, Houston wrote a letter addressed to the people of Texas, which he read to the convention the next day.

In his address to the Texas Secession Convention, Houston begins by explaining that he would not take the oath of allegiance because the convention had not obtained its authority from the Texas legislature or people. As he put it, “That convention, besides being revolutionary in its character, did not receive the sanction of a majority of the people.” He further notes that the convention had held its meetings in secret and appointed military personnel to operate under its authority. He then states that he refuses to recognize the authority of the convention and declares its actions null and void. At the end he declares, “I solemnly protest against the act of its members who are bound by no other than themselves, in declaring my office vacant, and I refuse to appear before it and take the oath prescribed.” As a result of his refusal to take the Confederate oath, Houston was replaced as governor by the lieutenant governor, Edward Clark.