[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 50 (Friday, April 22, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E751]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


[[Page E751]]
                    RECOGNIZING SAN JACINTO DAY 2005

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. GENE GREEN

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 21, 2005

  Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, today marks the Battle of San 
Jacinto, the victory of independence for Texas from Mexico--the 
greatest State in the Union in my opinion. This day reminds the world 
that Texans refuse oppression from any source.
  On April 21, 1836, 169 years ago, approximately 900 Texans and 
Tejanos volunteers overpowered a larger, professional Mexican army. 
Today, Texans are celebrating all day at the San Jacinto Battleground 
State Historic Site in our congressional district, including impressive 
historic re-enactments.
  Less than 100 years after American patriots threw off the tyrannical 
British Empire's military domination, Texans and Tejanos succeeded in a 
similar struggle against a military dictator, General Santa Anna.
  In the words of the Texas Declaration of Independence, the people's 
government had been ``forcibly changed, without their consent, from a 
restricted federative republic, composed of sovereign states, to a 
consolidated central military despotism.''
  Military dictatorships are the world's most notoriously evil 
governments and the moral justification for the Texas Revolution is 
equally applicable to certain countries today. Unfortunately, as Texans 
know, freedom requires great sacrifice.
  After the tragedy at the Alamo, Texan and Tejano forces retreated, 
but in late April 1836, they took a stand on the banks of the bayous 
outside Houston, Texas.
  As a result of their bravery, the nation, and then the State of Texas 
were born. Like the American Revolution, the Texan Revolution brought 
many different people together fighting military oppression.
  The Texas Revolution proves the bands of freedom are stranger than 
ethnicity, as many Tejanos proved at Gonzalez, Bexar, Goliad, the 
Alamo, along the banks of the San Jacinto River, and in the government 
of the Republic of Texas.
  Like on July 4th, on San Jacinto Day Texans celebrate the 
achievements of our patriots, and give thanks for our opportunity to 
have representative government.
  Thank you Mr. Speaker, God bless Texas.

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