Texas V. White

3 Pages 713 Words

TEXAS V. WHITE. Texas v. White, a suit of the state of Texas against George W. White, John Chiles, and others, was filed in the United States
Supreme Court on February 15, 1867, during the administration of A. J. Hamilton,qv ad interim Reconstructionqv governor of Texas, and sought an
injunction to restrain the defendants from using Texas Indemnity Bonds paid to them by Texas after secessionqv for supplies for the Confederate
States of America and to obtain the restoration of fifty-one of the bonds. The case was argued by George W. Paschalqv and R. T. Merrick for the
state and Philip Philips, Albert Pike, J. W. Carlisle, and J. W. Moore for the defense. The most historically significant question involved was whether
or not Texas, having seceded and not having completed Reconstruction, had status in the Union and therefore the right to sue in the United States
Supreme Court. The specific legal questions concerned the authority of Paschal, as financial agent of Texas, to represent the Texas government; the
validity and enforceability of the contract made by Texas acting as a member of the Confederate States; the right of injunction in the case; and
technical questions relating to the transfer of the bonds. The case was argued on all counts, but both the attorneys and the court recognized that the
main issue was the status of Texas. This question had a bearing not only on the case in point but involved the legality of all Reconstruction
government in the South. Paschal argued that the Union was indestructable and that Texas's status in the Union therefore had been unchanged by
the war. The defense argued that Texas, by seceding from the Union and later waging a war against the United States, had lost the status of a state
in the Union and therefore had no right to sue in the United States Supreme Court. The court had the opportunity ...