Before and after the election of Abraham Lincoln in November 1860, Southerners in Texas discussed, at length, their opinions on Northerners and the Black Republican Party. While it may be expected for Southerners to appear more aggressive in their opinion toward the North over time, it is quite the contrary with Austin, Texas’ State Gazette. From August 1860 to February 1861, the State Gazette consistently addressed their concerns over a Black Republican President, in particular, their issues surrounding possible abolitionist movements. Through analysis of seventeen articles, this paper explains how Southerners in Texas, particularly those writing for the State Gazette, felt before and after Lincoln’s election. The result of this analysis is…show more content… On the same day, they mention “it is worse than useless to delay our measures of resistance until we have humiliated ourselves in vain.” Southerners in Texas are worn out from empty promises or potential bribes. They want to take action. If the North stands with their decision, then the South will as well. Southerners in Texas take their own stance on January 19: “The world is soon to witness a Republic firmly built upon the rock that African slavery is the decree of Heaven as well as man—that it is right and just, and ought to be sustained.” This message is by no means understated. Texans are willing to defend slavery and use their religion to do just that. Slavery may be compared to religion for some Texans, emerging simply from their circumstances in a slave society. Southerners were born into a slave society, while Northerners may have seen those grey areas within the black-and-white. By the end of January, the State Gazette writes that Texas “should prepare to receive [Lincoln’s] vile cohorts to a feast of death, so that their bones may bleach upon our shores, and be the first spectacle to greet fresh swarms of invaders.” The gruesome image described in this article only emphasizes the…show more content… Their fears and frustrations are the same. The North is corrupt, and they have the control. On February 16, the State Gazette writes that Black Republicans, “by their votes, outlaw our property, and prohibit us from carrying it to the territory which ought, and of right does belong to us.” The anxieties Southerners faced in August are reflected in February. Now, nearly six months later, Texas must face the reality that slavery may not live on forever. They cannot even retrieve their runaway slaves, which to them is property. The government is taking Southerners’ way of life from them, and they are scrambling to hold
