The Texas Declaration of Independence was signed, adopted unanimously, by the 54 delegates to the Convention of 1836. They met on March 1 at the presumptive capitol, Washington-on-the-Brazos, now a ghost town. The Declaration was drafted overnight and hurriedly signed the next day, March 2,1836. It was urgent business. Mexican armies were bearing down on them; San Antonio and the Alamo were under siege.
The Convention proceeded with business, electing State officers, and remained in Washington-on-the-Brazos until adjourning on March 17, in the face of the approaching armies of Santa Anna. General Sam Houston, a signer of the Declaration, left the Convention early to begin organization of the Texas Army.
Most of us Texas school-kids learned our history from comic books, the Texas History Movies. Originally a comic strip in the Dallas News, booklets of the Movies were distributed free to the school children of Texas. The sweep of Texas history, explained in cartoons, still lives in our memories. (I have a copy of the little booklet, reissued in 1985. ISBN 0-935759-00-x; available used from Amazon associates). The Texas revolutionaries, the Mexican army, the fall of the Alamo – many of us still hold mental images based on drawings from those comics.
By 1836, American immigrants greatly outnumbered the original Mexican settlers. The list of signers of the Declaration includes but three with Spanish-sounding names. One of them was Lorenzo de Zavala, who ranched near San Jacinto. De Zavala had been a Spanish citizen who fought in the Mexican war for independence, and then became a Texan who fought against Mexico in 1836. De Zavala became interim Vice President of the Republic of Texas.
I loved Texas History. Wasn't our teacher Miss Doris ??? Can't remember her last name.
Posted by: EJ | March 01, 2008 at 11:26 PM