[Congressional Record Volume 146, Number 21 (Wednesday, March 1, 2000)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E212]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                 TEXAS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. GENE GREEN

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 1, 2000

  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, tomorrow is a special day in Texas 
because tomorrow, March 2, is the first Texas Independence Day of the 
new millennium. In 1836, 164 years ago today, the Republic of Texas was 
born.
  Let me set the stage for what happened 163 years ago. On March 1, 
1836, 54 delegates representing settlements across Texas gathered for 
the Convention of 1836 at the small farm village of Washington-on-the-
Brazos.
  From the beginning, it was an event marked by haste and urgency. 
Mexican forces under Santa Anna were closing in on the defenders of the 
Alamo. On March 2, the day after the opening of the convention, the 
delegates declared the independence of Texas from Mexico. Within days 
of that announcement, the Alamo would fall, the first in a chain of 
defeats for the small Texas Army, which would nevertheless emerge 
victorious at the battle of San Jacinto, 6 weeks later, on April 21.
  Mr. Speaker, what were these brave Texans fighting for? Up to the 
point when they gathered at Washington-on-the-Brazos, it was simply to 
restore the Mexican Constitution of 1824, which had been suspended by 
Santa Anna.
  On the night of March 1, however, a group of five men stayed up late 
into the night, drafting the document that would be approved the next 
day by the full convention. This document, which echoed the lines of 
its American counterpart, was the Texas Declaration of Independence.
  It started off in much the same way, with the words, ``When a 
government has ceased to protect the lives, liberty and property of the 
people.'' It spoke of the numerous injustices inflicted upon the 
settlers of the state of Coahuila y Tejas: the elimination of the 
state's legislative body, the denial of religious freedom, the 
elimination of the civil justice system, and the confiscation of 
firearms being the most intolerable, particularly among Texans.
  Finally, it ended with the declaration that, because of the injustice 
of Santa Anna's tyrannical government, Texans were severing their 
connection with the Mexican nation and declaring themselves ``a free, 
sovereign, and independent republic . . . fully invested with all the 
rights and attributes'' that belong to independent nations; and a 
declaration that they ``fearlessly and confidently'' committed their 
decision to ``the Supreme Arbiter of the destinies of nations.''
  Over the next two weeks, a constitution was drafted and an interim 
government was formed, despite daily reports from the front detailing 
the collapse of the Alamo and subsequent advance of the Mexican Army 
through Texas. On March 17, 1836, the government was forced to flee 
Washington-on-the-Brazos on the news of the advance of Santa Anna.
  Just over a month later, however, independence would be secured in 
the form of a victory over that same army by Sam Houston, a delegate at 
the very convention, and his courageous fighters at the battle of San 
Jacinto.
  Mr. Speaker, let me remind folks from Tennessee that Sam Houston 
served in this Congress from the State of Tennessee. I have at times 
told my friends from Tennessee ``The best of Tennessee immigrated to 
Texas in the 1830's.''
  From that point on, Texas was firmly established in the community of 
nations; and for 10 years she stood as an independent nation, until 
President James K. Polk signed the treaty admitting Texas to the United 
States in 1845.
  Mr. Speaker, I hope the Congress and the whole country will join us 
in a day that in Texas we celebrate, our schoolchildren celebrate, 
Texas Independence Day.




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