Page:Life and Select Literary Remains of Sam Houston of Texas (1884).djvu/247



November, 1857, while still acting as United States Senator, Gen. Houston was a candidate for Governor, and was defeated by Hardin R. Runnels. In November, 1859, he was again a candidate, and defeated Governor Runnels. In both instances he was an independent candidate, running against the regular Democratic nominee.

On the 21st December, 1859, Sam Houston was inaugurated Governor of Texas. Political excitement was intense. The questions which had been discussed, from the adoption of the Federal Constitution, and the Virginia and Kentucky resolutions of 1798 and 1799, down to the adoption by Congress of the Fugitive Slave Bill, had nearly reached their issue in the wager of battle. The gathering clouds foretokened the coming storm. The great political canvass was just opening which resulted, in November, i860, in the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States. Houston was independent in politics at this time, but he had no sympathy with the party that elected Lincoln as President, although he was ardently attached to the Union, and as ardently opposed to secession.

He commenced his Gubernatorial administration with a Legislature not in harmony with him, and from this time up to March 18, 1861, when he ceased to be Governor, he was beset by unusual difficulties. Agitation pervaded the State. Fires, supposed to be incendiary, occurred frequently in various parts of the Territory. The Indians had been removed from their reservation, but continued to be more hostile and barbarous than ever. Cortina frequently committed depredations on the Rio Grande frontier, crossing to the Texas side, and committing thefts and murders. To obtain