[Congressional Record Volume 149, Number 2 (Wednesday, January 8, 2003)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E14-E15]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  JUAN NEPOMUCENO SEGUIN POSTAGE STAMP

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. GENE GREEN

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, January 7, 2003

  Mr. GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, I rise to introduce a resolution 
which urges the United States Postal Service to commission a postage 
stamp commemorating Juan N. Seguin, hero of Texas' War for 
Independence.
  Juan Seguin believed in the freedoms that we enjoy today, many of 
which we take for granted.
  He was fair minded, did not tolerate injustice, and fought for basic 
human rights for all people, despite the constant risk of imprisonment 
or death.
  He was one of the key leaders of Texas' War for Independence.
  As territorial governor of Texas, he protested the dismantling of the 
Mexican Republic of General Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana, and was the 
first to sound the alarm in response to Santa Ana's tyrannical actions.
  He renounced General Santa Ana's overturning of the Mexican 
Constitution of 1824, which had granted all citizens and subjects of 
Mexico their basic human rights.
  This was what the men in the Alamo were fighting to restore, as 
represented by the famous image of the Mexican flag with the number 
``1824'' painted across the middle.
  In October 1934, Seguin convened the first revolutionary meeting 
protesting the actions of Santa Ana's government.
  Once the revolution was underway, he fought in the successful battle 
to retake San Antonio from General Martin Perfecto de Cos.

[[Page E15]]

  Later he was one of the 189 defenders of the Alamo, and his life was 
spared by Colonel William Travis' decision to send him with a request 
for reinforcements to Colonel James Fannin at Goliad, Texas.
  He left on March 5, 1836, the day before the fall of the Alamo and 
the slaughter of its defenders.
  He was able to rejoin the remainder of the Texas Army under General 
Sam Houston, and thus became the only man to fight at both the Alamo 
and San Jacinto.
  Juan Seguin was a legendary leader in the Texas Revolution and an 
unsung hero of Texas. Though he is seldom given credit for his 
contributions, he helped establish the Texas that we are so proud of 
today.
  I urge my colleagues to join me in support of this resolution.

                          ____________________