Whereas Juan Nepomuceno Seguin was born October 27, 1806,
in San Fernando de Bejar, New Spain (known today as San Antonio, Texas), and
died on August 27, 1889;
Whereas Juan Nepomuceno Seguin fought for the rights of
all native Texans, despite constant threat of death, by opposing General
Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana’s blatant disregard of the Mexican Constitution of
1824, which granted all citizens and subjects of Mexico their basic human
rights;
Whereas in 1835 Juan Nepomuceno Seguin sought to convene
the first revolutionary meeting in protest of the devastating demands and
actions of the government of General Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana;
Whereas on October 24, 1835, Juan Nepomuceno Seguin was
commended for his interception of vital documents sent to General Martin
Perfecto de Cos, commander of the Mexican Army in Texas, and was appointed by
the Commander in Chief of the Texas volunteer army, Stephen F. Austin, as the
captain of a volunteer company of Hispanic farmers and ranchers;
Whereas the Seguin family supplied the Texas volunteer
army with cattle and crops from their ranch without compensation, and
encouraged other Hispanic ranchers to do the same;
Whereas Juan Nepomuceno Seguin fought in the Battle of
Concepcion, which led to the occupation of the Mission San Antonio de Valero
(commonly known as the Alamo);
Whereas on December 9, 1835, Juan Nepomuceno Seguin was an
active participant in the liberation of San Antonio, during which General
Martin Perfecto de Cos surrendered and paroled his army by withdrawing it south
of the Rio Grande;
Whereas Juan Nepomuceno Seguin and the other volunteers in
his company were among the 189 brave and heroic men who, on February 22, 1836,
fell back to the reinforced battlements of the Alamo to which the Mexican Army
under the command of General Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana laid siege;
Whereas Juan Nepomuceno Seguin escaped the fate of the
other defenders of the Alamo because Colonel William B. Travis sent him on an
urgent mission to the town of Goliad to seek reinforcements from Colonel James
W. Fannin on March 5, 1836, the day before the fall of the Alamo;
Whereas Juan Nepomuceno Seguin, upon hearing of the fall
of the Alamo, promptly raised a new company for the defense of Texas, and
joined forces with General Sam Houston, commander of the remaining Texas
volunteer army;
Whereas Juan Nepomuceno Seguin was among the 750 Texans
who defeated 1,500 soldiers of the Mexican Army near the confluence of Buffalo
Bayou and the San Jacinto River, which led to the establishment of the Republic
of Texas and, later, statehood for Texas;
Whereas Juan Nepomuceno Seguin was an important political
figure in both the Republic and the State of Texas, serving as mayor of San
Antonio, senator in the Congress of the Republic of Texas, and judge of Wilson
County, Texas;
Whereas Juan Nepomuceno Seguin has been recognized by the
State of Texas as a hero of its war for independence, and has been honored by
the citizens of Walnut Spring, Texas, who renamed their town Seguin,
Texas;
Whereas all children in the United States, regardless of
where they live, currently learn about Juan Nepomuceno Seguin, a historically
significant Hispanic figure; and
Whereas Juan Nepomuceno Seguin fought for freedom,
justice, and dignity for all peoples: Now, therefore, be it
That it is the sense of the House of
Representatives that—
(1)the United States
Postal Service should issue a postage stamp commemorating Juan Nepomuceno
Seguin; and
(2)the Citizens’
Stamp Advisory Committee should recommend to the Postmaster General that such a
postage stamp be issued.