The primary source is part of a letter to Senator Henry Clay in 1837. Read the document and then answer the questions.

. . . I proceed now to a consideration of what is to me the strongest argument against annexing Texas to the United States. This measure will extend and perpetuate slavery. . . . By this act, slavery will be perpetuated in the old states as well as spread over new. It is well known that the soil of some of the old states has become exhausted by slave cultivation. . . . They now adhere to slavery, not on account of the wealth which it extracts from the soil, but because it furnishes men and women to be sold in newly settled and more southern districts. It is by slave breeding and slave selling that these states subsist. Take away from them a foreign market, and slavery would die. . . . By annexing Texas, we shall not only create it where it does not exist, but breathe new life into it . . . .

Reverend William Ellery Channing

1. Who is the author of this letter?
2. What is the general topic of this letter?
3. Does the author support or reject the annexation of Texas?
4. What is the authors main reason for this viewpoint?
5. According to this letter, why did the annexation of Texas produce strong conflicts among Americans in the 1830s and 1840s?