Celebrating Texas Independence
Today, we celebrate Texas Independence Day.
It is a day unique to Texas:
On the frozen morning of March 1, 1836, forty-four men shivered in an unfinished house in the tiny hamlet of Washington, Texas. They and fifteen other men who later joined them, representing all the municipalities, declared the Mexican province of Texas to be a free and independent republic.
Many people could name several signers of the American Declaration of Independence. But, can you name three signers of the Texas Declaration?
Chances are, you cannot. And, did you know that many, many of the signers of the declaration were in their late 20s and early 30s? One man, William B. Scates, was a mere 23-years-old when he signed the Texas Declaration. Humanities Interactive has up information on other signers as well.
I’ve written about Texas Independence Day every year I’ve been a blogger. My favorite post on the topic is one I did for BOR in 2005. You can read it here.
So, this year, I’m going to direct you to some other writings I just came across…
In arguing the justice of their cause to the world and to history, the 59 men who signed the instrument came to that moment from a variety of backgrounds and motivations. There were Tejanos who believed they had seen the liberties won in the Mexican Revolution and the Constitution of 1824 subverted by the dictatorship of Santa Anna. Chosen Vice-President of the Republic was a Yucatecan legislator who had sought refuge in the one Mexican province (Texas) that still resisted Santa Anna’s armies. There were Anglo-American colonists who believed that the deal they had struck with the legitimate Mexican government had been betrayed by the destruction of the democratic process. And there were American latecomers, some of whom simply sought to make new lives for themselves, and others who wanted to protect the fortunes they had invested in land speculation.
…and remind you that the spirit that was alive and well in 1836 remains alive in us all.
May we all remember the sacrafices of these brave pioneers and strive always to make Texas the best it can be. I leave you with this quote:
When a government has ceased to protect the lives, liberty and property of the people, from whom its legitimate powers are derived, and for the advancement of whose happiness it was instituted, and so far from being a guarantee for the enjoyment of those inestimable and inalienable rights, becomes an instrument in the hands of evil rulers for their oppression.
[...]When, long after the spirit of the constitution has departed, moderation is at length so far lost by those in power, that even the semblance of freedom is removed, and the forms themselves of the constitution discontinued, and so far from their petitions and remonstrances being regarded, the agents who bear them are thrown into dungeons, and mercenary armies sent forth to force a new government upon them at the point of the bayonet.
Written by Vince Leibowitz
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