https://daily.jstor.org/plan-sell-t...rNHoYHCikuzIgoZIKr0OaZzWZntE1oxVSakgXf2c6TIw4
"In 1843, a New England lawyer almost managed to sell Texas to Great Britain. A convinced abolitionist practicing law in what was then the independent Republic of Texas, Stephen Pearl Andrews got it into his head that, in an attempt to free Texas’s slaves, he would invite a foreign power into North America and hand over a massive chunk of it. Andrews’s attempt to free Texas’s slaves by way of an invitation to foreign interference illustrates the strange bedfellows created by “the slavery question” in the nineteenth century. Andrews, in his quixotic vision, in his idealism, ambition, and occasional crankery, was an exemplary nineteenth-century American figure.
In 1841, Andrews hatched a plan to make his political and moral beliefs a lived reality: He would convince Great Britain to buy up all the land in Texas on the condition that they free Texas’s slaves. The idea was not as outlandish as it might sound. In 1833, Great Britain had done something similar in abolishing slavery on its plantations in the West Indies. There, slaveholders were paid a total of $20 million sterling in recompense for their lost property, though they retained the land",
"It did not seem to bother Andrews that his plan would hand a large chunk of North American territory over to Great Britain. Nor did it seem to bother the abolitionist leaders whom he informed of his plan, including Lewis Tappan, a successful businessman, energetic abolitionist, and former client of Andrews’s. Tappan agreed to use his influence in Great Britain. Nor still did it seem to bother anyone that neither Andrews nor Tappan were authorized by the Texas government to do any of this. Andrews, who was a compelling speaker, did take his plan to the public, announcing his intention to raise funds from Great Britain to buy Texas land. And while he was denounced as an abolitionist, he won the crowd over",
"Despite the danger, Andrews remained undeterred. With letters of introduction in hand, Andrews and Tappan sailed for Liverpool from Boston on June 1, 1843. Upon landing, they were introduced around England’s anti-slavery circles, gave speeches in support of their plan, and formed a committee to make their pitch to the seemingly sympathetic British Foreign Secretary and future Prime Minister Lord Aberdeen",
"Aberdeen seemed to think the plan worthwhile, and Andrews and Tappan went about drumming up more support, drafting documents, and meeting more contacts in England. Neither of them realized that the charge d’affaires from Texas to England, Ashbel Smith, had already been in contact with Aberdeen for some time, well before the voyage to Liverpool. In fact, Smith had gone along in person to England, where he kept tabs on Andrews and made clear to Aberdeen that neither Andrews nor Tappan had the authority to make the kind of deal proposed, and that such an offer would be unwelcome. Though Aberdeen was no supporter of slavery, he did not want to interfere in Texas, which was even then beginning the process of annexation into the Union as a slave state",
So, what if Aberdeen was willing to buy up all the slaveholders' land in Texas and effectively take it over?
"In 1843, a New England lawyer almost managed to sell Texas to Great Britain. A convinced abolitionist practicing law in what was then the independent Republic of Texas, Stephen Pearl Andrews got it into his head that, in an attempt to free Texas’s slaves, he would invite a foreign power into North America and hand over a massive chunk of it. Andrews’s attempt to free Texas’s slaves by way of an invitation to foreign interference illustrates the strange bedfellows created by “the slavery question” in the nineteenth century. Andrews, in his quixotic vision, in his idealism, ambition, and occasional crankery, was an exemplary nineteenth-century American figure.
In 1841, Andrews hatched a plan to make his political and moral beliefs a lived reality: He would convince Great Britain to buy up all the land in Texas on the condition that they free Texas’s slaves. The idea was not as outlandish as it might sound. In 1833, Great Britain had done something similar in abolishing slavery on its plantations in the West Indies. There, slaveholders were paid a total of $20 million sterling in recompense for their lost property, though they retained the land",
"It did not seem to bother Andrews that his plan would hand a large chunk of North American territory over to Great Britain. Nor did it seem to bother the abolitionist leaders whom he informed of his plan, including Lewis Tappan, a successful businessman, energetic abolitionist, and former client of Andrews’s. Tappan agreed to use his influence in Great Britain. Nor still did it seem to bother anyone that neither Andrews nor Tappan were authorized by the Texas government to do any of this. Andrews, who was a compelling speaker, did take his plan to the public, announcing his intention to raise funds from Great Britain to buy Texas land. And while he was denounced as an abolitionist, he won the crowd over",
"Despite the danger, Andrews remained undeterred. With letters of introduction in hand, Andrews and Tappan sailed for Liverpool from Boston on June 1, 1843. Upon landing, they were introduced around England’s anti-slavery circles, gave speeches in support of their plan, and formed a committee to make their pitch to the seemingly sympathetic British Foreign Secretary and future Prime Minister Lord Aberdeen",
"Aberdeen seemed to think the plan worthwhile, and Andrews and Tappan went about drumming up more support, drafting documents, and meeting more contacts in England. Neither of them realized that the charge d’affaires from Texas to England, Ashbel Smith, had already been in contact with Aberdeen for some time, well before the voyage to Liverpool. In fact, Smith had gone along in person to England, where he kept tabs on Andrews and made clear to Aberdeen that neither Andrews nor Tappan had the authority to make the kind of deal proposed, and that such an offer would be unwelcome. Though Aberdeen was no supporter of slavery, he did not want to interfere in Texas, which was even then beginning the process of annexation into the Union as a slave state",
So, what if Aberdeen was willing to buy up all the slaveholders' land in Texas and effectively take it over?