The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 33, July 1929 - April, 1930 Page: 247
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VOL. XXXIII APRIL, 1930 No. 4
The publication committee and the editors disclaim responsibility for views expressed by
contributors to THE QUARTERLY
THE TEXAS STATE CONVENTION OF GERMANS
R. L. BIEELE
In studying the history of the early German settlements in
Texas I came across an incident which caused a considerable
disturbance in the politics of Texas for over a year. This inci-
dent was a political meeting of German settlers held at San
Antonio on May 14 and 15, 1854, in connection with the second
annual Saengerfest. At the meeting a set of resolutions or plat-
form was adopted which contained some rather radical proposi-
tions, at least they were so considered at that time, and some of
them might be so considered even at the present time. Because
the platform contained a clause about the abolition of slavery, the
other radical clauses did not receive much contemporary attention.
The slavery clause immediately became the storm center of a pro-
longed discussion which agitated the minds of both the Anglo-
American and German settlers of Texas. The slavery clause put
the German settlers in a bad light, because the slaveholders and
their friends reached the conclusion that the Germans were aboli-
tionists. This need not have been the case, however, because the
clause about slavery was misinterpreted and fairly harmless, as I
shall show in this article.
Following the year 1831 Texas came to be the goal of an ever
increasing number of German emigrants. Most of those who came
to Texas did so because of economic motives. The German settle-
ments established in Texas between 1831 and 1861 were founded
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 33, July 1929 - April, 1930, periodical, 1930; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101090/m1/273/: accessed January 28, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.