[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 18]
[House]
[Pages 24748-24749]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   STEPHEN F. AUSTIN, FATHER OF TEXAS

  (Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. POE. Madam Speaker, on this day 212 years ago, the Father of 
Texas, Stephen F. Austin, was born. Austin, only 27 years of age, 
organized, financed, and led the first legal colony of Americans to 
settle a portion of Mexico called Tejas, or Texas as we call it.
  In 1822, 300 families entered Texas, this fantastic frontier on the 
plains of civilization. Although the settlers were loyal to Mexico, a 
new Mexican Government soon began abolishing the civil rights of the 
colonists, so Austin went to Mexico to voice concerns over the abuses, 
but he was imprisoned for over 2 years.
  After finally being released, Austin and other Texans decided to go 
their own way. Texas declared independence from Mexico. Thousands of 
well-trained Mexican troops poured into Texas to stop the rebellion. 
The outnumbered Texas volunteers and settlers fought and died at the 
brutal battles of Goliad and the Alamo, but ultimate victory occurred 
at the battle of San Jacinto in 1836. Austin and others, like Crockett, 
Travis, Bowie, and Houston, finally won the day for freedom.

[[Page 24749]]

Texas was free, a new nation, a new republic. The rest, they say, is 
Texas history.

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