The Laws of Texas . Compiled and arranged by H. P. N. Gammel , of Austin. With an Introduction by C. W. Raines. Austin: The Gammel Book Company. 1898. Vol. V, pp. xii + 1686; Vol. VI, pp. 1703.

Since the publication of the last number of The Quarterly, volumes V, and VI of Gammel's Reprint of the Laws of Texas have come from the press. That these volumes are to be invaluable to the lawyer, valuable to the student of history, and intensely interesting to the merely curious, has been emphasized. The years of legislation covered by them are from 1853 to 1871. Three distinct and important periods in the history of a State great in material but unappreciated wealth and in the elements to be developed into an ideal commonwealth, were covered by the legislation here published; the first period, from 1853, when Texas had become released from the embarrassment of onerous debts to the beginning of the war; the second, the period of that enormous conflict; and third, that darkest period in the history of Texas and the South, when it was demonstrated that written constitutions are inefficient against the dark passions of men, and when the atrocities of crimes against individuals were rendered insignificant by the political crimes against all the people and posterity.

Volume V begins with an address to the people of Texas from a committee of the Secession Convention, setting forth the political views of a majority of the people of the State. This is followed by the Constitution of 1861 and the provisional Confederate Constitution.

Five hundred pages of the volume are devoted to the war legislation. While the ordinary affairs of government were not ignored, almost every act had upon it the signs of the great conflict, while the very type used in printing the laws indicated the necessity for extreme economy in the conduct of the civil affairs of the government. Stay and appraisement laws were passed; limitation laws suspended. Very much of the legislation had direct reference to the military operations of the State, and to meeting the conditions resulting from the appropriation of most of the resources in men and material wealth to the success of the war. The special legislation of the period indicated the inception of a great number of manufacturing enterprises, encouraged by a “Chinese wall” more effective than the protective tariff. The last legislation of this period is dated November 15, 1864; on the 12th of that month most scathing resolutions denunciatory of the North were passed.

In the legislative history of the State there is a gap between November 15, 1864, and March, 1866. In the interval was Appamattox, and afterwards the last victory of a cause whose very triumphs led to ultimate defeat. In the interval was a time entirely without government, a military government, and an effort to return to civil government.

The convention which met in 1866 had not lost all of the spirit of defiance which had characterized the South during the war. The Constitution declares slavery terminated “by force of arms,” gives the negro a limited right to testify, but excludes him from the ballot. One ordinance of the Convention was “to provide for a division of the State of Texas.”

The most notable general legislation of the legislature following the adoption of the Constitution of 1866 was the acts undertaking to deal with the freedmen. That confidence was restored is indicated by the very large number of acts of incorporation. Among the charters were several for the development of petroleum wells. The Austin dam enterprise was anticipated by a charter to the “Austin City Water Works.”

Volume VI begins with the “reconstruction acts.” This is followed by the ordinances of the Convention, which met June 1, 1868, to form a constitution for submission to Congress.

The remainder of Volume VI is taken up with doings of the legislative body which has passed into history as the “Notorious Twelfth.” These fifteen hundred pages cover its labors at two sessions only—the called session of 1870 and the regular session of 1871. A review of the work of these sessions is not practicable. It is enough to say that they contributed their share to making the reconstruction period the darkest in the history of the State.

R. L. Batts .

How to cite:
Batts, R. L., "The Laws of Texas", Volume 003, Number 2, Southwestern Historical Quarterly Online, Page 149 - 150. http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/publications/journals/shq/online/v003/n2/review_4.html
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