Address to Citizens of Houston by Peter Gray on the African Slave Trade, May 30, 1859

File — Box: 1, Folder: 13

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

From the Collection: The Judge Peter W. Gray papers include extensive handwritten documents on several of Gray’s early Texas district court cases, lectures, speeches, and official documents concerning the creation and organization of the Texas Historical Society. Court cases relate to murder, slavery, counterfeiting, the legal nature of circumstantial evidence and self defense; the notes related to these cases are generally Judge Gray’s direction to juries. The speeches include a speech given by Gray at the Democratic Convention in Austin in 1852 for the nomination of Sam Houston for the presidency.

Dates

1841-1870

Access Restriction

This material is open for research.

Conditions Governing Access

Stored offsite at the Library Service Center and require 24-hour notice for retrieval. Please contact the Woodson Research Center at 713-348-2586 or woodson@rice.edu for more information.

Extent

From the Collection: 0.50 Linear Feet (1 box)

Language of Materials

From the Collection: English

Additional Description

General note

Initially Gray demonstrates his opinion on whether or not Judges should involve themselves in political issues. He patently denounces those who deny judges the right of citizenship based on their public service. Gray states that he along with all other judges are able to separate their political tendencies from their impartial stances in court. Gray then gives a lengthy article by article description and history of states rights and the constitution. Gray also briefly discusses the Articles of Confederation and the various reasons for that governments collapse. The purpose of Gray’s discussion is to reaffirm the state’s pro-slavery stance in the upcoming election, while vehemently denying that the issue is a political question, offering rather that it is a fundamentally moral issue free from political bias. The rhetoric employed by Gray is a common argument made throughout the southern states, arguing that the dissension between Southern Democrats and Northern Democrats, Republicans, and Free Soilers is based not on slavery but the issue of the states’ right to choose. Gray is awkwardly poised as a Pro-Slavery Democrat opposed to the continuation of the slave trade. He explains his position by arguing that by allowing the slave treaded to continue slave owners would appear to Northerners as insecure about the justice of slavery. By continuing the slave trade, says Gray, slave owners would be destroying the credibility of the institution on a national level furthering the national opinion against the continuance of slavery. Gray’s pro-slavery anti-slave trade stance was a common platform for many Southern Democrats of the time. Often these Democrats would try to steer political rhetoric away from the hotly contested issue of slavery and towards states rights and popular sovereignty.