HISTORICAL SOCIETY FOUNDED 1849 OFFICERS President, JOHN H. DEWITT. Vice-Presidents, E. T. SANFORD, J. P. YOUNG. Recording Secretary, IRBY R. HUDSON. Assistant Recording Secretary, Corresponding Secretary, W. A. PROVINE Treasurer and Financial Agent, COL. GEORGE C. PORTER FORM OF LEGACY "I give and bequeath to The Tennessee Historical Society CONTENTS MEMPHIS RAILROAD CONVENTION, 1849, R. S. Cotterill... .... ........ SOME SUGGESTIONS AS TO THE EQUIPMENT NEEDED IN THE TEACH- DOCUMENTS Review of S. G. Heiskell's Book, W. E. Beard..... Neither the Society nor the Editor assumes responsibility for the statements or the opinions of contributors. HISTORICAL MAGAZINE Vol. 4 JUNE, 1918 No. 2 MEMPHIS RAILROAD CONVENTION, 1849. The decade 1840-1850 was pre-eminently an era of railroad building in the South. During this period a conscious, if not altogether successful, effort was made by the South Atlantic cities, Charleston and Savannah, to revive their prosperity by tapping the upper Mississippi trade with railroads to Memphis, Nashville and Vicksburg. But a rival scarcely recognizedthe Northern railroads-built during this period directly into the old Northwest, and by 1849 it was fairly evident that the trade of the Northwest would be deflected not to Charleston but to New York. With the conclusion of the Mexican War in 1848, with its acquisition of Pacific territory, the South saw its way to transfer the commercial struggle from the valley to the Pacific. The struggle now became one for the Pacific trade, and the weapon a continental railroad from the valley to the Pacific. Both North and South wanted the railroad, but they were entirely unable to agree on its route. The first definite project for a Pacific railroad had come in 1845 from Asa Whitney, a merchant of New York, who had lived for several years in China and was ambitious to exploit her trade. In 1845 and succeeding years he petitioned Congress for a land grant to aid him in constructing a railroad from Lake Michigan to the mouth of the Columbia. He keptup also a constant agitation before the state legislatures and chambers of commerce, and for three years his plan attained great notoriety in the newspapers over the land. When the treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo brought the Mexican war to a formal conclusion, the South, which had beforetime acquiesced in Whitney's scheme, began to plan for a more southern route. There were various routes suggested, beginning at Natchez, Vicksburg and Memphis, but the favorite plan was for a railroad from Memphis to Monterey. This plan was popularized "Southern Railroads and Western Trade" in Mississippi Valley Historical Review for March, 1917. if not originated, by Lieutenant Matthew F. Maury, and was quite generally known as the Maury plan. With the coming of 1849, St. Louis became a contender for terminal honors and in February of that year Senator Benton introduced into Congress a bill for a railroad from St. Louis to San Francisco, with branches to the mouth of the Columbia. It remains to notice the attitude of New Orleans and Chicago to these plans. New Orleans, unable to see any possible commercial advantage for herself in the Memphis plan any more than in any of the others, steadfastly withheld her support and advocated instead a railroad across the isthmus of Tehuantepec or Panama. The commercial fortunes of Chicago were bound up with the political aspirations of Stephen A. Douglas. He had what he termed a "compromise plan" for a railroad from Council Bluffs to the Pacific through South Pass. He had been advocating this as early as 1845. For some time the arguments and recriminations of the advocates of these different routes went on through newspapers and speeches and memorials to Congress until finally in 1849 the West bethought itself of its old weapon used at Memphis in 1845 and at Chicago in 1847. The spring of 1849 saw two cities, St. Louis and Memphis, preparing to hold general railroad conventions for the purpose of advancing their respective interests. The initiative in the calling of a convention to consider the question of the Pacific railroad was taken in 1849 by Arkansas; it will be remembered that the Memphis convention of 1845 also had its origin in Arkansas. In 1845 the primary motive actuating this State was the completing of her military road from Memphis to Little Rock; in 1849 the prospect of obtaining the Pacific railroad through her land impelled her to action. January 6, 1849, the citizens of Pulaski County, members of the State legislature and others organized themselves into a convention at Little Rock to consider the question of the Pacific railroad. This convention, among other things, adopted a resolution for a general convention to be held at Memphis, July 4, to deliberate on the same question. Two days later the Arkansas legislature passed formal resolutions to the same purpose, and the movement for the Memphis convention was under way.2 The press of Tennessee and Arkansas echoed the resolutions of the Arkansas legislature. In a short time-March 30, 1849the mayor of Memphis called a mass meeting to take action. This meeting resulted in the appointment of the usual com Arkansas Democrat, January 12, 1849. |