The Hon. Stephen A. Douglas had taken his seat in the House with augmented self-assurance.  He had not only secured his re-election and the success of his party in Illinois, but he had served most acceptably as a campaign speaker in Polk’s own State.  Surely he was entitled to some consideration in the councils of his party.  In the appointment of standing committees, he could hardly hope for a chairmanship.  It was reward enough to be made a member of the Committee of Elections and of the Committee on the Judiciary.  On the paramount question before this Congress, he entertained strong convictions, which he had no hesitation in setting forth in a series of resolutions, while older members were still feeling their way.  The preamble of these “Joint Resolutions for the annexation of Texas” was in itself a little stump speech:  “Whereas the treaty of 1803 had provided that the people of Texas should be incorporated into the Union and admitted as soon as possible to citizenship, and whereas the present inhabitants have signified their willingness to be re-annexed; therefore"....  Particular interest attaches to the Eighth Resolution which proposed to extend the Missouri Compromise line through Texas, “inasmuch as the compromise had been made prior to the treaty of 1819, by which Texas was ceded to Spain."[187] The resolutions never commanded any support worth mentioning, attention being drawn to the joint resolution of the Committee on Foreign Affairs which was known to have the sanction of the President.  The proposal of Douglas to settle the matter of slavery in Texas in the act of annexation itself, was perhaps his only contribution to the discussion of ways and means.  An aggressive Southern group of representatives readily caught up the suggestion.

The debate upon the joint resolution was well under way before Douglas secured recognition from the Speaker.  The opposition was led by Winthrop of Massachusetts and motived by reluctance to admit slave territory, as well as by constitutional scruples regarding the process of annexation by joint resolution.  Douglas spoke largely in rejoinder to Winthrop.  A clever retort to Winthrop’s reference to “this odious measure devised for sinister purposes by a President not elected by the people,” won for Douglas the good-natured attention of the House.  It was President Adams and not President Tyler, Douglas remonstrated, who had first opened negotiations for annexation; but perhaps the gentleman from Massachusetts intended to designate his colleague, Mr. Adams, when he referred to “a president not elected by the people"![188] Moreover, it was Mr. Adams, who as Secretary of State had urged our claims to all the country as far as the Rio del Norte, under the Treaty of 1803.  In spite of these just boundary claims and our solemn promise to admit the inhabitants of the Louisiana purchase to citizenship, we had violated that pledge by ceding Texas to Spain in 1819.  These people had protested against this separation, only a few months after the signing of the treaty; they now asked us to redeem our ancient pledge.  Honor and violated faith required the immediate annexation of Texas.[189] Had Douglas known, or taken pains to ascertain, who these people were, who protested against the treaty of 1819, he would hardly have wasted his commiseration upon them.  Enough:  the argument served his immediate purpose.