<P> In early December 1860, before South Carolina even seceded, a group of State officials published via newspaper a call for a statewide election of convention delegates on January 8, 1861 . This election was highly irregular, even for the standards of the day . It often relied on voice vote at public meetings, although "viva voce" (voice) voting for popular elections had been used since at least March 1846, less than three months after statehood . Unionists were often discouraged from attending or chose not to participate . This resulted in lopsided representation of secessionists delegates . </P> <P> The election call had stipulated for the delegates to assemble in convention on January 28 . Houston called the Legislature into session, hoping that the elected body would declare the unauthorized convention illegal . Though he expressed reservations about the election of Abraham Lincoln, he urged the State of Texas to reject secession, citing the horrors of war and a probable defeat of the South . The convention removed Houston from the governorship, then promoted the Lieutenant Governor, Edward Clark . However, the Texas Legislature voted the delegates' expense money and supplies and--over Houston's veto--made a pledge to uphold the legality of the Convention's actions . The only stipulation was that the people of Texas have the final say in referendum . </P> <P> With gubernatorial forces routed, the Secession Convention convened on January 28 and, in the first order of business, voted to back the legislature 140--28 in that an ordinance of secession, if adopted, be submitted for statewide consideration . The following day, convention president Oran Roberts introduced a resolution suggesting Texas leave the Union . The ordinance was read on the floor the next day, citing the failures of the federal government to protect the lives and property of Texas citizens and accusing the Northern states of using the same as a weapon to "strike down the interests and prosperity" of the Southern people . </P> <P> After the grievances were listed, the ordinance repealed the one of July 4, 1845, in which Texas approved annexation by the United States and the Constitution of the United States, and revoked all powers of, obligations to, and allegiance to, the U.S. federal government and the U.S. Constitution . </P>

The oldest and most prominent university in texas during the pre-civil war years was