[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 36 (Monday, March 2, 2009)]
[House]
[Page H2878]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


                    GENERAL SAM HOUSTON AND MARCH 2

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Madam Speaker, this day, March the 2nd, 1836, marks 
the day Texas declared independence from Mexico and its dictator, Santa 
Anna. Texas became a free, independent nation for 9 years.
  March 2 also marks the birth of the person who led Texas to 
independence, Sam Houston. Born in Virginia in 1793, he fought the 
Creeks with Andy Jackson, became a Congressman and a Governor from 
Tennessee.
  He went to Texas to champion the cause of Texas liberty, and was the 
commander of the outnumbered Army of Texas that defeated Santa Anna. 
General Sam became President of the Republic of Texas and, later, 
Governor and U.S. Senator when Texas was a State.
  When the War Between the States broke out--ironically, on Sam's 
birthday and on the 25th anniversary of Texas independence, March the 
2nd, 1861--Texas left the Union and joined the Confederacy. Houston 
refused to take the oath to support the South, so the Texas legislature 
removed Governor Houston from office.
  Houston is the only person to have served in Congress from different 
States, as Governor of two States and as president of a nation. His 
last words were ``Texas, Texas.''
  And that's just the way it is.

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