[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5028]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         TEXAS INDEPENDENCE DAY

  (Mr. POE asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. POE. Madam Speaker, in the rainy season in central Texas at a 
place called Washington on the Brazos, Texas decided they had had 
enough of the new dictator of Mexico and declared themselves to be a 
free nation on March 2, 1836.
  Spain had control of what is Texas and Mexico for centuries. Mexico 
revolted and set up a constitutional government in 1824. But in 1825, 
Santa Ana, the Saddam Hussein of the 19th century, became dictator of 
Mexico and used military force to subject all of Mexico, including 
Texas.
  Hispanic and Anglo Texans resisted, and wanting a return to 
constitutional government declared independence, stating that Santa Ana 
had forced a new government upon them at the point of a bayonet. Santa 
Ana massacred freedom fighters at Goliad and the Alamo, but 
independence was gained at the swampy marshes at the Battle of San 
Jacinto, when Sam Houston and his boys routed and defeated the 
invaders.
  Texas was an independent nation for 9 years. Some say we are still an 
independent nation. Then later Texas joined the Union. And, Madam 
Speaker, the rest, they say, is Texas history.
  And that's just the way it is.

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