3-5 page paper discussing how nonverbal communication, specifically nonverbal persuasion, played an important role in the debate.
Topic
Personal appearance can have a great impact on the effectiveness and perceived credibility of a speaker. Research materials on the Kennedy-Nixon debates and watch an excerpt of the debate via the following link: http://archive.org/details/1960_kennedy-nixon_2.
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.
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Justification for paying African American soldiers less
Justification for paying African American soldiers less
1. Gooding argued that when others rebelled or refused to serve, African American men were ready to fight. How do you evaluate this claim?
2. What was the justification for paying African
American soldiers less?
Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.
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Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:
Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; citations and references must follow APA or school-specific format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions.
Include a cover page containing the title of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required assignment page length.
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Topic that identifies characteristics of Native American Culture and how it influences/contributes to contemporary cultures and/or what factors have changed perspectives regarding Native American cultural practices. Example topics: Native American Flute, music, dance, cultural practices, oral tradition, etc. Any subject relating to Native American Culture OR musical self-expression will be accepted. Perhaps comparing parts of Native American Culture to another people’s cultural practices?
-Resources cited, 3 minimum any format
-Name and class night on paper
Minimum 6 pages total – including cover page, resource page and 4 pages of text – double spaced
-No larger than size 12 font and normal margins
-Any pics or graphics must be in addition to the required 4 pages of text
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What is it that we fear in life? Is it the unknown, or the fear of knowing there is the nothingness of life itself? In this short story by Ernest Hemingway, “A Clean, Well-Lighted Place,” it depicted the struggle of men who understands life and the sad realization of life’s directionless meaning as actualized by those who have lived through it for many years. The story contrasted two different concepts of life: a younger waiter hastily wanting to be home with his wife, and the older waiter equipped with the wisdom of life and the despairs that accompany it. The well-lit cafe signifies refuge to those who seek the company of the stillness of the night, and the deafening quietness it provides. For those who understand, and quite invoke those who do not, that life’s true meaning of nothingness may even question their lifelong beliefs – even of their religion. The short story single-handedly questioned the existence of God and of heaven by the old-waiter’s own version of the Lord’s Prayer, “Our nada who art in nada” (171). Regardless of beliefs, humanity seeks and finds its way for its own preservation – its sanctuary – even if it is as simple as a clean, well-lighted place.
Source:
Kennedy, X.J. & Gioia, D. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing, 13th edition.
Research Paper: Polished Draft (75 Points), Final Version (175
Points)
Introduction. Review the Research Paper assignment on the syllabus. The research
paper may be the kind of writing assignment you are most familiar with from college
composition—for example, ENC 1101. This research paper in particular asks you to
engage specifically in interpretation of a primary text—one assigned modern short story
from our anthology—and research (3-4 sources). The primary function of academic and
indeed many other forms of writing including this assignment is to persuade your audience concerning the validity of your point of view, argument, or interpretation—that is, your thesis statement. In other words, your aim in this major writing assignment is to convince your readers that you have a valid or legitimate interpretation, one which you ably support or demonstrate by the combined means of a close reading of a select primary text/modern short story and credible, scholarly college-level research.
Polished Draft. A Polished in always avoid colloquialisms and slang. Avoid 2nd-Person (“you” “your” “yours”); on the other hand, the use of 1st-Person (“I”) is allowed and encouraged in this assignment.
Substantial points will be deducted for failing to meet any of these basic format requirements. In addition, failure to cite sources and/or failure to cite them correctly in 8th Edition MLA Format will result in a plagiarized assignment; no credit (“0” points) will
be given in this instance for the Polished Draft and Final Version. Review the and the “Grading Rubric for the Research Paper” in the Course Documents folder and the “Plagiarism” policy on our syllabus as needed.
MLA Requirement/Extra Credit. As noted, students are required to use 8th Edition MLA Format for the Polished Draft and Final Version—that is, for all in-text parenthetical citations and documentation/listing of 3-4 secondary sources on the Works Cited page (the latter should also list the primary text: the select short story in our anthology, which does not count as one of the 3-4 required secondary sources).
For specific questions pertaining to MLA Format, schedule an appointment via email to meet with me during my office hours; consult the Purdue Owl Writing Lab online; check out our library resources or consult one of our reference librarians, Claire Miller or Lena Phelps; or visit a tutor in the Writing Lab. For specific questions or guidance pertaining to literary research for this assignment, contact Claire or Lena. The Writing Lab, Smarthinking online, and I (during my office hours) can furthermore help you develop your drafts. Schedule an appointment via D2L email to visit me during my office hours or see the Writing Lab Schedule in the Course Documents folder. Drafts can also be submitted to Smarthinking especially if (but not only if) you are unable to visit me during my office hours or the Writing Lab.
Other Requirements. You are also required to meet the following 3 requirements:
1. Selection of a Primary Text: Choose as a general focus one primary text; that is, the primary text should be one assigned modern short story we have read or will read in class. “The North Wind and the Sun,” “Godfather Death,” and poems/songs are ineligible for the research paper. A comprehensive reading list is available in the Course Documents folder so that you can read ahead and choose a short story for this assignment that interests you.
2. Organization: Your research paper should be written in the form of an academic essay that observes the following tripartite structure:
A. A general introduction that introduces the topic and terminates with a clear, concise (one sentence), and specific thesis statement. By “specific,” the thesis statement should identify the short story by title and what you plan to do or cover in the research paper—that is, your main claim, argument, or interpretation about the short story.
B. A middle section that presents examples or evidence from the primary text you are investigating—the short story—and the 3-4 scholarly secondary sources you are using. In other words, you will quote from/illustrate/use for support both the (1) primary text/modern short story in our anthology and at least 3 but no more than 4 credible secondary sources in your middle section.
C. A conclusion that restates or summarizes your thesis statement/research and ends by answering the “So What?” question: Why does this short story or your topic/thesis statement really matter, or why is it (or they) important? To whom is it important—that is, outside of our class? Why is this author, short story, or the topic meaningful, important, or enduring? By answering the “So What?” question, your conclusion will help broaden the limited academic context of the assignment.
In sum, your essay should have a distinct introduction, middle section, and conclusion. Moreover, a number of helpful documents for the research paper addressing Introductions, the Thesis Statement, Conclusions, Transitions, Source Assessment, Quote Integration, etc. appear in the Writing and Revision folder.
3. Research/MLA: The number of secondary sources you are required to use in this assignment is a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 4, the same number for the Rough Draft and the Final Version. Also as noted above, the primary text/short story does not count as one of the secondary sources. Literary criticism appearing in our textbook—for example, especially for “Casebook” stories— do count as one or more secondary sources.
By “secondary sources,” I mean your research—direct quotations and paraphrases from articles, literary criticism, factual information, etc.—which must be credible (from the SFSC library databases, Google Scholar, etc.).
Spark Notes, Spark Notes Online, Schmoop.com, Wikipedia, etc. are not credible or scholarly sources for this research paper. You can always consult the preceding sources in the beginning of your research, but again they should not be used in the actual research paper itself. If you are unsure whether a source is credible or valid for the research paper, you need to consult with a reference librarian or consult with me during my office hours.
Regardless, your secondary sources—like the quotations from the primary text/modern short story—are designed for a singular purpose: to corroborate or develop your thesis statement. Many writers find it helpful to begin with their own original ideas, thinking, words, or “voice” first in presenting an argument or literary interpretation followed by secondary sources to substantiate those original ideas, claims, etc. In this sense, the research paper asks you to learn how to contribute other “voices” to a conversation besides your own, a skill required in any research endeavor.
Topic/Approach. As for the research paper topic or approach, there are many possibilities. For example, you can…
• concentrate on a select few or key literary terms or techniques (such as narration, narrator, point(s) of view, characterization(s), foreshadowing, symbolism, setting, conflict(s)/resolution, epiphany, imagery, irony, style/tone, genre, theme(s), etc.) in the short story;
• focus on an important issue(s) or problem in the short story: literary, social, political, historical, cultural, psychological, philosophical, religious, socioeconomic, race- or gender-related, etc.;
• take a thematic approach to interpreting the short story: I posted a list of some possible themes/topics in the Course Documents folder for you to consider.
The only exceptions to possible topics or approaches is plot summary—in other words, your research paper should not consist of a simple or sustained plot summary of what happens in the short story; in addition, you should avoid biographical interpretations— that is, reading an author’s real-life experiences in the short story. For this assignment, you should aim for interpretation as well as synthesizing a brief scholarly conversation.
Regardless of the particular approach, you have the freedom to create your own research topic or schedule an appointment to see me during my office hours and we can brainstorm ideas together. The earlier you begin drafting, the sooner you can consult with me, a reference librarian, a tutor in the Writing Lab, and/or Smarthinking; thus, the more time you will have to receive feedback and make revisions before the due dates. It is well known in the annals of composition that 1.) completing a research paper is very much a writing process or journey ideally involving several drafts over the course of three essential stages: invention/planning, drafting, and revision; and 2.) the more feedback you can obtain from a variety of resources, the better your final version will be.
Identify a short story and a topic that interests you and impress your readers with your interpretation and understanding of the short story and credible secondary sources; indeed, students usually have a more enjoyable and productive experience writing about a primary text and topic that sincerely interests them. A great place to begin is with a series of questions you have about a primary text; one question in particular may help you decide on a topic or what you would like to explore—and respond to if not “answer” in research.
For example: Why is it you find this primary text so appealing, fascinating, or accomplished? What other stories does this short story remind you of (or not remind you of) in our class readings? Are there significant “gaps” in the primary text/modern short story—things you did not quite understand or agree with or things you are confused by but would like to investigate? Does the primary text/short story represent or pose complications, contradictions, conflicts, controversies, or problems? How or why is the short story problematic? It is in the spirit of interrogation or exploration rather than having preconceived or definite answers that an engaging research paper begins.
Preparatory Assignments. On-Demand assignments earlier in the term before the research paper due dates will help prepare you for drafting and completion. Preparatory assignments may include but are not limited to the following: a Planning Strategy, Informal Outline, research, Research Paper Source Assessment forms, drafting (before the Polished Draft due date), and instructor written comments/grade on the Polished Draft.
Grading. The research paper should effectively present and develop your thesis statement, and this presentation should be clearly sustained throughout the essay. Of course, you want to provide specific details, examples, points, reasons, or “evidence”— your readings/quotations from both the primary text/short story and secondary sources —in the way of development. The essential organization/structure of the essay is outlined above. In closing, the research paper should be mostly free of conventional errors in order to earn a higher grade. Review the “Grading” section on our syllabus and the department grading rubric in the Course Documents folder for more details.
Here are some additional pointers for your research paper and other assignments:
• Always meet the expectations of and fulfill all the requirements for an assignment description (such as this one).
• Shorter work titles (short stories, essays, articles, chapters, poems, and songs) always appear in quotes (“The Yellow Wallpaper”, “A Sound of Thunder”, “Richard Cory”), whereas longer work/book, novel, graphic novel, plays, and film titles are always italicized: for example, Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing; Moby-Dick.
• Given the length restriction, you cannot possibly cover everything about the entire primary text even if you are writing about a very short story, so you have to be selective. Think of the words illustrative rather than comprehensive when working on an assignment like a research paper or exam. Ask yourself what really stands out to or for you in the primary text/short story or topic and why.
• Avoid redundancy—repeating ideas or points—and consider keeping similar ideas or points together. The old composition rule is that one paragraph should cover one main or general idea/point and begin with a definite topic sentence that relates back directly or indirectly to your thesis sentence. You do not want long paragraphs, either—for example, one whole page or more—nor paragraphs that are too short (a few sentences).
• Although some of us may not be potential English majors, I expect everyone—English,
Education, Applied Sciences, Math majors etc.—to write a college-level essay. You should be writing complete sentences in clear, amply supported, and well-organized paragraphs with definite topic sentences. If you know that revising until you produce a polished piece of writing is a challenge for you, then begin drafting early. On-Demand assignments early in the term may help you prepare to draft. Proofread (Polished Draft) final versions carefully and correct grammatical, punctuation, spelling, syntax, MLA formatting, factual, and other errors before submission. By the time you are ready to submit a final version, it should represent your best polished writing!
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The Structure of the Government Must Furnish the Proper Checks and Balances Between the Different Departments
Hamilton or Madison From the New York Packet. Friday, February 8, 1788.
To the People of the State of New York:
TO WHAT expedient, then, shall we finally resort, for maintaining in practice the necessary partition of power among the several departments, as laid down in the Constitution? The only answer that can be given is, that as all these exterior provisions are found to be inadequate, the defect must be supplied, by so contriving the interior structure of the government as that its several constituent parts may, by their mutual relations, be the means of keeping each other in their proper places. Without presuming to undertake a full development of this important idea, I will hazard a few general observations, which may perhaps place it in a clearer light, and enable us to form a more correct judgment of the principles and structure of the government planned by the convention. In order to lay a due foundation for that separate and distinct exercise of the different powers of government, which to a certain extent is admitted on all hands to be essential to the preservation of liberty, it is evident that each department should have a will of its own; and consequently should be so constituted that the members of each should have as little agency as possible in the appointment of the members of the others. Were this principle rigorously adhered to, it would require that all the appointments for the supreme executive, legislative, and judiciary magistracies should be drawn from the same fountain of authority, the people, through channels having no communication whatever with one another. Perhaps such a plan of constructing the several departments would be less difficult in practice than it may in contemplation appear. Some difficulties, however, and some additional expense would attend the execution of it. Some deviations, therefore, from the principle must be admitted. In the constitution of the judiciary department in particular, it might be inexpedient to insist rigorously on the principle: first, because peculiar qualifications being essential in the members, the primary consideration ought to be to select that mode of choice which best secures these qualifications; secondly, because the permanent tenure by which the appointments are held in that department, must soon destroy all sense of dependence on the authority conferring them. It is equally evident, that the members of each department should be as little dependent as possible on those of the others, for the emoluments annexed to their offices. Were the executive magistrate, or the judges, not independent of the legislature in this particular, their independence in every other would be merely nominal. But the great security against a gradual concentration of the several powers in the same department, consists in giving to those who administer each department the necessary constitutional means and personal motives to resist encroachments of the others. The provision for defense must in this, as in all other cases, be made commensurate to the danger of attack. Ambition must be made to counteract ambition. The interest of the man must be connected with the constitutional rights of the place. It may be a reflection on human nature, that such devices should be necessary to control the abuses of government. But what is government itself, but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary. If angels were to govern men, neither external nor internal controls on government would be necessary. In framing a government which is to be administered by men over men, the great difficulty lies in this: you must first enable the government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself. A dependence on the people is, no doubt, the primary control on the government; but experience has taught mankind the necessity of auxiliary precautions. This policy of supplying, by opposite and rival interests, the defect of better motives, might be traced through the whole system of human affairs, private as well as public. We see it particularly displayed in all the subordinate distributions of power, where the constant aim is to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that each may be a check on the other that the private interest of every individual may be a sentinel over the public rights. These inventions of prudence cannot be less requisite in the distribution of the supreme powers of the State. But it is not possible to give to each department an equal power of self-defense. In republican government, the legislative authority necessarily predominates. The remedy for this inconveniency is to divide the legislature into different branches; and to render them, by different modes of election and different principles of action, as little connected with each other as the nature of their common functions and their common dependence on the society will admit. It may even be necessary to guard against dangerous encroachments by still further precautions. As the weight of the legislative authority requires that it should be thus divided, the weakness of the executive may require, on the other hand, that it should be fortified. An absolute negative on the legislature appears, at first view, to be the natural defense with which the executive magistrate should be armed. But perhaps it would be neither altogether safe nor alone sufficient. On ordinary occasions it might not be exerted with the requisite firmness, and on extraordinary occasions it might be perfidiously abused. May not this defect of an absolute negative be supplied by some qualified connection between this weaker department and the weaker branch of the stronger department, by which the latter may be led to support the constitutional rights of the former, without being too much detached from the rights of its own department? If the principles on which these observations are founded be just, as I persuade myself they are, and they be applied as a criterion to the several State constitutions, and to the federal Constitution it will be found that if the latter does not perfectly correspond with them, the former are infinitely less able to bear such a test. There are, moreover, two considerations particularly applicable to the federal system of America, which place that system in a very interesting point of view. First. In a single republic, all the power surrendered by the people is submitted to the administration of a single government; and the usurpations are guarded against by a division of the government into distinct and separate departments. In the compound republic of America, the power surrendered by the people is first divided between two distinct governments, and then the portion allotted to each subdivided among distinct and separate departments. Hence a double security arises to the rights of the people. The different governments will control each other, at the same time that each will be controlled by itself. Second. It is of great importance in a republic not only to guard the society against the oppression of its rulers, but to guard one part of the society against the injustice of the other part. Different interests necessarily exist in different classes of citizens. If a majority be united by a common interest, the rights of the minority will be insecure. There are but two methods of providing against this evil: the one by creating a will in the community independent of the majority that is, of the society itself; the other, by comprehending in the society so many separate descriptions of citizens as will render an unjust combination of a majority of the whole very improbable, if not impracticable. The first method prevails in all governments possessing an hereditary or self-appointed authority. This, at best, is but a precarious security; because a power independent of the society may as well espouse the unjust views of the major, as the rightful interests of the minor party, and may possibly be turned against both parties. The second method will be exemplified in the federal republic of the United States. Whilst all authority in it will be derived from and dependent on the society, the society itself will be broken into so many parts, interests, and classes of citizens, that the rights of individuals, or of the minority, will be in little danger from interested combinations of the majority. In a free government the security for civil rights must be the same as that for religious rights. It consists in the one case in the multiplicity of interests, and in the other in the multiplicity of sects. The degree of security in both cases will depend on the number of interests and sects; and this may be presumed to depend on the extent of country and number of people comprehended under the same government. This view of the subject must particularly recommend a proper federal system to all the sincere and considerate friends of republican government, since it shows that in exact proportion as the territory of the Union may be formed into more circumscribed Confederacies, or States oppressive combinations of a majority will be facilitated: the best security, under the republican forms, for the rights of every class of citizens, will be diminished: and consequently the stability and independence of some member of the government, the only other security, must be proportionately increased. Justice is the end of government. It is the end of civil society. It ever has been and ever will be pursued until it be obtained, or until liberty be lost in the pursuit. In a society under the forms of which the stronger faction can readily unite and oppress the weaker, anarchy may as truly be said to reign as in a state of nature, where the weaker individual is not secured against the violence of the stronger; and as, in the latter state, even the stronger individuals are prompted, by the uncertainty of their condition, to submit to a government which may protect the weak as well as themselves; so, in the former state, will the more powerful factions or parties be gradnally induced, by a like motive, to wish for a government which will protect all parties, the weaker as well as the more powerful. It can be little doubted that if the State of Rhode Island was separated from the Confederacy and left to itself, the insecurity of rights under the popular form of government within such narrow limits would be displayed by such reiterated oppressions of factious majorities that some power altogether independent of the people would soon be called for by the voice of the very factions whose misrule had proved the necessity of it. In the extended republic of the United States, and among the great variety of interests, parties, and sects which it embraces, a coalition of a majority of the whole society could seldom take place on any other principles than those of justice and the general good; whilst there being thus less danger to a minor from the will of a major party, there must be less pretext, also, to provide for the security of the former, by introducing into the government a will not dependent on the latter, or, in other words, a will independent of the society itself. It is no less certain than it is important, notwithstanding the contrary opinions which have been entertained, that the larger the society, provided it lie within a practical sphere, the more duly capable it will be of self-government. And happily for the republican cause, the practicable sphere may be carried to a very great extent, by a judicious modification and mixture of the federal principle.
Publius.
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Native American History Who Owns the Past While numerous remains and artifacts are housed in museums, universities, historical societies, and private collections, who should these remains and artifacts, actually belong to?
Native American History Who Owns the Past
Based on the readings in your text and the article “Who owns the past?” https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/who-owns-the-past/, write an essay describing the issues and who you believe should own these remains and why.
This essay should be:
Between 4 – 5 pages in length
Double spaced and 12-point font
Turnitin.com will be used and the percent of the match should be below 20%.
References (on a separate page) and in-text citations
In your own words, answer the following essay questions, each question should be around 400 words.
1. Describe the Reconstruction policies of Lincoln, Johnson and Congress. What are some
crucial elements of each of the programs? What were the presidents and Congress attempting to do? What were some of the goals of the Republican Party for
Reconstruction? In your answer assess whether Reconstruction was a success or failure, or some kind of combination of the two. Did the South lose the war, but win the peace? Explain.
2. Another response to industrialized society was the movement known as Progressivism. Who were the Progressives? What types of reforms did they advocate and provide some examples of how
Progressives met these challenges? How did most Progressives side with the competing social theories of Social Darwinism versus the environment? Finally, in what ways were immigrant restriction, prohibition and attack on vice progressive reforms?
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write a 4-6 page essay explaining the weaknesses of The Articles of Confederation, the differences between Hamilton and Jefferson as far as the type of nation to create, and the basic concepts of the Constitution.
This assignment addresses the following objectives and outcomes:
Discuss the key historical events, persons, and issues of the period covered in United States history.
Analyze critically events, problems, and issues of the past and interpret present issues in light of historical experiences.
Discuss the geographical, ideological, political, economic, and social environment of the period covered in United States history.
Locate, analyze, and comprehend historical information in order to become effective independent learners.
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In reading Texas’s Declaration of Secession, Keep in mind the following questions
Why did Texas secede following the presidential election of Abraham Lincoln?
What type of Union did Texas view the country as having that would allow secession? (Federal, Confederal, or Unitary)
How did the civil war effect our conception of the nature of the US?
Please answer the questions in a minimum 250 word essay.
DECLARATION OF CAUSES: February 2, 1861
A declaration of the causes which impel the State of Texas to secede from the Federal Union.
The government of the United States, by certain joint resolutions, bearing date the 1st day of March, in the year A.D. 1845, proposed to the Republic of Texas, then a free, sovereign and independent nation, the annexation of the latter to the former as one of the co-equal States thereof,
The people of Texas, by deputies in convention assembled, on the fourth day of July of the same year, assented to and accepted said proposals and formed a constitution for the proposed State, upon which on the 29th day of December in the same year, said State was formally admitted into the Confederated Union.
Texas abandoned her separate national existence and consented to become one of the Confederated States to promote her welfare, insure domestic tranquility [sic] and secure more substantially the blessings of peace and liberty to her people. She was received into the confederacy with her own constitution, under the guarantee of the federal constitution and the compact of annexation, that she should enjoy these blessings. She was received as a commonwealth holding, maintaining and protecting the institution known as negro slavery–the servitude of the African to the white race within her limits–a relation that had existed from the first settlement of her wilderness by the white race, and which her people intended should exist in all future time. Her institutions and geographical position established the strongest ties between her and other slave-holding States of the confederacy. Those ties have been strengthened by association. But what has been the course of the government of the United States, and of the people and authorities of the non-slave-holding States, since our connection with them?
The controlling majority of the Federal Government, under various pretences and disguises, has so administered the same as to exclude the citizens of the Southern States, unless under odious and unconstitutional restrictions, from all the immense territory owned in common by all the States on the Pacific Ocean, for the avowed purpose of acquiring sufficient power in the common government to use it as a means of destroying the institutions of Texas and her sister slave-holding States.
By the disloyalty of the Northern States and their citizens and the imbecility of the Federal Government, infamous combinations of incendiaries and outlaws have been permitted in those States and the common territory of Kansas to trample upon the federal laws, to war upon the lives and property of Southern citizens in that territory, and finally, by violence and mob law, to usurp the possession of the same as exclusively the property of the Northern States.
The Federal Government, while but partially under the control of these our unnatural and sectional enemies, has for years almost entirely failed to protect the lives and property of the people of Texas against the Indian savages on our border, and more recently against the murderous forays of banditti from the neighboring territory of Mexico; and when our State government has expended large amounts for such purpose, the Federal Government has refused reimbursement therefor, thus rendering our condition more insecure and harrassing than it was during the existence of the Republic of Texas.
These and other wrongs we have patiently borne in the vain hope that a returning sense of justice and humanity would induce a different course of administration.
When we advert to the course of individual non-slave-holding States, and that [of] a majority of their citizens, our grievances assume far greater magnitude.
The States of Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan and Iowa, by solemn legislative enactments, have deliberately, directly or indirectly violated the 3rd clause of the 2nd section of the 4th article of the federal constitution, and laws passed in pursuance thereof; thereby annulling a material provision of the compact, designed by its framers to perpetuate amity between the members of the confederacy and to secure the rights of the slave-holdings States in their domestic institutions–a provision founded in justice and wisdom, and without the enforcement of which the compact fails to accomplish the object of its creation. Some of those States have imposed high fines and degrading penalties upon any of their citizens or officers who may carry out in good faith that provision of the compact, or the federal laws enacted in accordance therewith.
In all the non-slave-holding States, in violation of that good faith and comity which should exist between entirely distinct nations, the people have formed themselves into a great sectional party, now strong enough in numbers to control the affairs of each of those States, based upon the unnatural feeling of hostility to these Southern States and their beneficent and patriarchal system of African slavery, proclaiming the debasing doctrine of the equality of all men, irrespective of race or color–a doctrine at war with nature, in opposition to the experience of mankind, and in violation of the plainest revelations of the Divine Law. They demand the abolition of negro slavery throughout the confederacy, the recognition of political equality between the white and the negro races, and avow their determination to press on their crusade against us, so long as a negro slave remains in these States.
For years past this abolition organization has been actively sowing the seeds of discord through the Union, and has rendered the federal congress the arena for spreading firebrands and hatred between the slave-holding and non-slave-holding States.
By consolidating their strength, they have placed the slave-holding States in a hopeless minority in the federal congress, and rendered representation of no avail in protecting Southern rights against their exactions and encroachments.
They have proclaimed, and at the ballot box sustained, the revolutionary doctrine that there is a “higher law” than the constitution and laws of our Federal Union, and virtually that they will disregard their oaths and trample upon our rights.
They have for years past encouraged and sustained lawless organizations to steal our slaves and prevent their recapture, and have repeatedly murdered Southern citizens while lawfully seeking their rendition.
They have invaded Southern soil and murdered unoffending citizens, and through the press their leading men and a fanatical pulpit have bestowed praise upon the actors and assassins in these crimes, while the governors of several of their States have refused to deliver parties implicated and indicted for participation in such offences, upon the legal demands of the States aggrieved.
They have, through the mails and hired emissaries, sent seditious pamphlets and papers among us to stir up servile insurrection and bring blood and carnage to our firesides.
They have sent hired emissaries among us to burn our towns and distribute arms and poison to our slaves for the same purpose.
They have impoverished the slave-holding States by unequal and partial legislation, thereby enriching themselves by draining our substance.
They have refused to vote appropriations for protecting Texas against ruthless savages, for the sole reason that she is a slave-holding State.
And, finally, by the combined sectional vote of the seventeen non-slave-holding States, they have elected as president and vice-president of the whole confederacy two men whose chief claims to such high positions are their approval of these long continued wrongs, and their pledges to continue them to the final consummation of these schemes for the ruin of the slave-holding States.
In view of these and many other facts, it is meet that our own views should be distinctly proclaimed.
We hold as undeniable truths that the governments of the various States, and of the confederacy itself, were established exclusively by the white race, for themselves and their posterity; that the African race had no agency in their establishment; that they were rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race, and in that condition only could their existence in this country be rendered beneficial or tolerable.
That in this free government all white men are and of right ought to be entitled to equal civil and political rights; that the servitude of the African race, as existing in these States, is mutually beneficial to both bond and free, and is abundantly authorized and justified by the experience of mankind, and the revealed will of the Almighty Creator, as recognized by all Christian nations; while the destruction of the existing relations between the two races, as advocated by our sectional enemies, would bring inevitable calamities upon both and desolation upon the fifteen slave-holding States.
By the secession of six of the slave-holding States, and the certainty that others will speedily do likewise, Texas has no alternative but to remain in an isolated connection with the North, or unite her destinies with the South.
For these and other reasons, solemnly asserting that the federal constitution has been violated and virtually abrogated by the several States named, seeing that the federal government is now passing under the control of our enemies to be diverted from the exalted objects of its creation to those of oppression and wrong, and realizing that our own State can no longer look for protection, but to God and her own sons–We the delegates of the people of Texas, in Convention assembled, have passed an ordinance dissolving all political connection with the government of the United States of America and the people thereof and confidently appeal to the intelligence and patriotism of the freemen of Texas to ratify the same at the ballot box, on the 23rd day of the present month.
Adopted in Convention on the 2nd day of Feby, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and sixty-one and of the independence of Texas the twenty-fifth.
SOURCE:
Winkler, Ernest William, ed. Journal of the Secession Convention of Texas 1861, Edited From the Original in the Department of State…. Austin: Texas Library and Historical Commission, 1912, pp. 61-65.
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