This Week in Texas History
by BARTEE HAILE
Edmund J. Davis and six other Radical Republicans began writing in strict secrecy the constitution for the “State of West Texas” on Dec. 16, 1868, but the overconfident Coyotes were getting ahead of themselves.
The second round of the Republican controlled constitutional convention had been gaveled to order eight days earlier in Austin. Although the official task of the rowdy assembly was to rewrite the Lone Star charter, at the top of the agenda was a Radical proposal to carve up Texas like a Christmas turkey.
As any Texan worth his or her salt knows, the state was admitted to the Union with the right to subdivide into as many as four new domains. Not as well known is how often the idea was entertained and how close the Lone Star State came to being dismembered during Reconstruction.
Division was first recommended in 1844 during the heated debate over annexation. Sen. Thomas Hart Benton of Missouri suggested bisecting the giant applicant, making one state free and the other slave in order to maintain the delicate balance between North and South.
Over the next decade, various schemes were put forth for cutting Texas down to size by spiteful spokesmen from envious locales. However, in 1852 a native politician unveiled his own controversial plan. Hoping to exploit the perennial rivalry of East and West Texas, James W. Flanagan, a Rusk County representative, called for partitioning along the Brazos River.
“Who will be willing to give up the name of Texas?” a leading newspaper asked. “Who will give up the bloodstained walls of the Alamo?” By a margin of 35-15, the state house of representatives put the unpopular plan out of its misery.
Delegates to the 1868 constitutional convention met on June 1 to recast the Texas foundation in the Reconstruction mold. Only a handful of Democrats were present because the vast majority of their supporters were barred from the ballot box for having fought for the Confederacy. Hoping to halt the Radical crusade for a divided Texas, the pragmatic Democrats sided with the moderate wing of the GOP.
Kingpins of the Radical fraction were Edmund J. Davis, former judge and future governor, James P. Newcomb, a San Antonio newspaper editor and G.T. Ruby, leader of the black Union League. These ambitious firebrands envisioned a separate state encompassing all of South Texas and a sizable southern chunk of the West.
The trio’s strategy was to isolate die-hard Rebs in their traditional eastern stronghold, while consolidating Radical influence in a staunchly Republican state with San Antonio as the capital. The plan was favored by the Germans of Central Texas, most of whom remained pro-Union throughout the Civil War, and residents of the Alamo City hungry for the prestige and prosperity the change would bring.
The Radicals had the votes to elect Davis presiding officer but not enough to pass their program. After weeks of contentious stalemate, the faction fight turned violent as delegates duked it out on the convention floor. Brawls and shouting matches made exciting copy for the daily newspapers and gave the gathering a chaotic carnival atmosphere. The exhausted delegates finally demanded a break and forced a recess on Aug. 31. But a three-month hiatus failed to cool tempers on either side.
When the body reconvened on Dec. 8, a state of war existed between the Radicals and their moderate foes. To make matters worse, the convention was 11 delegates short. Three had died, four had resigned and four others did not bother to return.
On Dec. 18, Chairman Davis declared the question of division to be in order, and the wild debate resumed. Meanwhile, Davis, Newcomb and five cronies spent their nights secretly drafting the State of West Texas constitution.
Copies of the bylaws of the unapproved creation were distributed to the delegates on Jan. 6, 1869. This high-handed maneuver alienated potential converts and earned for the Davis clique the contemptuous nickname Coyotes.
In a fiery speech, Davis defended division as a necessary measure for keeping former Confederates powerless. Branding “magnanimity to rebels” as “weakness or stupidity,” he roared, “They are not fit to govern, and they shall not govern again!”
Despite countermoves by the moderates, the State of West Texas resolution passed in late January. Following adjournment of the convention, both factions sent emissaries to Washington to plead their respective cases.
The incoming administration of President U.S. Grant realized the Coyotes were provoking a crisis certain to aggravate an already serious situation. It was tough enough to impose Reconstruction rule on one Texas, but two? Davis and his disappointed comrades were told in no uncertain terms to shelve their risky scheme, and the Lone Star State stayed intact.
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