[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 5369]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1915
                         TEXAS INDEPENDENCE DAY

  (Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas asked and was given permission to address 
the House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GENE GREEN of Texas. Mr. Speaker, last Friday, March 2, 2007, 
marked Texas Independence Day. 171 years ago that day the Texas 
Declaration of Independence was ratified by the Convention of 1836 at 
Washington-on-the-Brazos in Texas.
  The Texas Declaration of Independence was produced literally 
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.
  Immediately upon the assemblage of the Convention of 1836 on March 1, 
a committee of five delegates were appointed to draft the document. The 
committee consisted of George C. Childress, Edward Conrad, James 
Gaines, Bailey Hardeman, and Colin McKinney. It was briefly reviewed 
then adopted by the delegates the following day.
  It started off echoing the lines of the American counterpart with the 
words: ``When a government has ceased to protect the lives and liberty 
and property of the people . . . ''
  It spoke of numerous injustices inflicted upon the people 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, which was 
one particularly intolerable act among Texans.
  Finally, it stated that because of the injustice of Santa Anna's 
tyrannical government, Texans were severing their connection with the 
Mexican nation and declaring themselves ``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.''
  Mr. Speaker, I hope that Congress and this whole country join all 
Texans in honoring these brave men who stood up for liberty and freedom 
171 years ago.

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