[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 28 (Wednesday, February 27, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E202]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            TEXAS INDEPENDENCE DAY, SATURDAY, MARCH 2, 2013

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. GENE GREEN

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, February 27, 2013

  Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, this Saturday, March 2, 2013, 
marks Texas Independence Day. 177 years ago on March 2, 1836, after 
more than a year of negotiations, citizen delegates met at Washington-
on-the-Brazos and declared Texas independent.
  The story of Texas independence dates back to 1830s, when a military 
dictatorship seized power in Mexico and abolished the Mexican 
Constitution. Once in power, the dictatorship refused to provide the 
most basic of rights, including a trial by jury, freedom of religion, 
public education for their citizens and the right to bear arms, this 
last one being the most intolerable, particularly among Texans.
  Failure to provide these basic rights violated the sacred contract 
between a government and the people, and Texans did what we still do 
today--stand up for our rights.
  At the Convention of 1836 on March 1, a committee of five delegates 
was appointed to draft the Texas Declaration of Independence. The 
committee, consisting of George C. Childress, Edward Conrad, James 
Gaines, Bailey Hardeman, and Collin McKinney, prepared the declaration 
in record time. It was briefly reviewed, then adopted by the delegates 
of the convention the following day, March 2.
  The Texas Declaration of Independence states that Texas' government 
had been ``forcibly changed, without their consent, from a restricted 
federative republic, composed of sovereign states, to a consolidated 
central military despotism.''
  The Texas Declaration of Independence was truly produced overnight. 
Its urgency was paramount, because while it was being prepared, the 
Alamo in San Antonio was under siege by Santa Anna's army of Mexico.
  On March 6, four days after the signing, the Alamo fell with her 
commander Lt. Colonel William Barrett Travis, Colonel Jim Bowie, Former 
Tennessee Congressman David Crockett, and approximately 200 other Texan 
defenders.
  However, on the afternoon of April 21, 1836, the Texan army avenged 
their losses at the Alamo and attacked Santa Anna's camp near the San 
Jacinto River. The Mexican army was taken by surprise, and the roughly 
900 members of the Texan army were able to overpower the much larger 
Mexican army. During the fighting, many of the Texan soldiers 
repeatedly cried, ``Remember the Alamo!'' The Battle of San Jacinto was 
over after just 18 minutes. Santa Anna was forced to order his troops 
out of Texas, thus ending Mexico's control.
  Today we give thanks to the many Texans that sacrificed for the 
freedom we now enjoy. God bless Texas and God bless America.

                          ____________________