 Adams considered the issue of Texas to be "a question of far deeper root and more overshadowing branches than any or all others that agitate the country", and he emerged as one of the leading congressional opponents of annexation.Adams had sought to acquire Texas when he served as secretary of state, but he argued that, because Mexico had abolished slavery, the acquisition of Texas would transform the region from a free territory into a slave state.He also feared that the annexation of Texas would encourage Southern expansionists to pursue other potential slave states, including Cuba.