[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 37 (Wednesday, March 5, 2008)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E311]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         TEXAS INDEPENDENCE DAY

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. GENE GREEN

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, March 5, 2008

  Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Madam Speaker, Sunday, March 2, 2008, marked 
Texas Independence Day. 172 years ago that day, the Texas Declaration 
of Independence was ratified by the Convention of 1836 at Washington-
on-the-Brazos.
  Driven by the same spirit of freedom that drove the patriots of the 
American Revolution to throw off the shackles of tyranny and 
oppression, the Texas Declaration of Independence was produced, 
literally, overnight. Its urgency was crucial, because while it was 
being prepared, the Alamo in San Antonio was under siege by Santa 
Anna's army of Mexico.
  Immediately upon the assemblage of the Convention of 1836 on March 1, 
a committee of five of its delegates was appointed to draft the 
document. The committee worked long into the night to prepare the 
declaration. It was briefly reviewed, then adopted by the delegates of 
the convention the following day.
  The declaration was an announcement to the world that all Texans 
would fight to protect their rights. The declaration stated that they 
would no longer live under the dictatorship of Santa Anna or a 
government that had been ``forcibly changed, without their consent, 
from a restricted federative republic, composed of sovereign states, to 
a consolidated central military despotism.''
  It spoke of the numerous injustices inflicted upon the settlers of 
the state then known as 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, this last one being the most intolerable, particularly among 
Texans.
  The declaration stated that Texas was `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.'
  The Texan Army was ready to defend itself from the oppression of 
Santa Anna and his army. Outnumbered by the vastly larger Mexican army, 
approximately 200 Texans and Tejanos under the leadership of Lt. 
Colonel William Barrett Travis and Tennessee Congressman David Crockett 
made their stand in the defense of Texas at an old Spanish mission 
known as the Alamo.
  They bravely held their position for 13 days, enduring wave after 
wave of attack, and on the morning of March 6, 1836, they made the 
ultimate sacrifice for freedom as they were killed in action defending 
Texas at the Alamo. Two weeks later on March 27, 1836 Colonel James W. 
Fannin and 300 men under his command were massacred by Santa Anna's 
army at Goliad.
  The sacrifices made at the Alamo and Goliad would not be forgotten as 
they became the battle cry of the Texan Army: ``Remember the Alamo. 
Remember Goliad!''
  On April 21, 1836 a much smaller Texan Army led by General Sam 
Houston launched a surprise attack on the much larger Mexican force at 
San Jacinto. After only 18 minutes the Battle of San Jacinto was over, 
and Texas had won its independence.
  That battle is memorialized along the San Jacinto River with the San 
Jacinto Monument in Baytown, Texas in the 29th district, the district I 
represent.
  Texas Independence Day is important to all Americans because the 
events show that the brotherhood of freedom can be stronger than the 
brotherhood of ethnicity or nationality, as 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.
  People sometimes wonder what makes Texas and Texans so different, and 
I believe part of that answer is that the desire for freedom that gave 
us the first Texas Independence Day is still alive today.
  Madam Speaker, I hope that Congress and this whole country join all 
Texans in honoring these brave men who stood up for liberty and freedom 
172 years ago. God Bless Texas and God Bless America.

                          ____________________