TYLER, Texas — In the fall of 1835 many Texans, both Anglo-American colonists and Tejanos, concluded that liberalism and republicanism in Mexico, as reflected in its Constitution of 1824, were dead.
The dictatorship of President Antonio López de Santa Anna, supported by rich landowners, had seized control of the governments and subverted the constitution. As dissension and discord mounted in Texas, both on the military front and at the seat of the provisional government of the Consultation at San Felipe, the colonists agreed that another popular assembly was needed to chart a course of action.
On December 10, 1835, the General Council of the provisional government issued a call for an election on February 1, 1836, to choose 44 delegates to assemble on March 1 at Washington-on-the-Brazos. These delegates represented the 17 Texas municipalities and the small settlement at Pecan Point on the Red River.
The idea of independence from Mexico was growing.
The Consultation sent Branch T. Archer, William H. Wharton, and Stephen F. Austin to the United States to solicit men, money, supplies and sympathy for the Texas cause.
At New Orleans, in early January of 1836, the agents found enthusiastic support, but advised aid would not be forthcoming so long as Texans squabbled over whether to sustain the Mexican constitution.
The convention held at Washington-on-the-Brazos on March 1, 1836, was quite different from the Consultation.
Forty-one delegates were present at the opening session, and 59 individuals attended the convention at some time. Two delegates, José Francisco Ruiz and José Antonio Navarro, were native Texans, and one Lorenzo de Zavala, had been born in Mexico. Only 10 of the delegates had been in Texas by 1836. A majority were from other places-primarily from the United States, but also from Europe. Two-thirds of the delegates were not yet 40-years-old. Several had broad political experience.
Samuel P. Carson of Pecan Point and Robert Potter, both of Nacogdoches, had served, respectively, in the North Carolina legislature and in the United States House of Representatives. Richard Ellis, representing the Red River district and president of the convention, and Martin Parmer, of San Augustine, had participated in constitutional conventions in Alabama (1819) and Missouri (1821), respectively. Sam Houston, a former United States congressman and governor of Tennessee, was a close friend of United States president Andrew Jackson. Houston was chosen commander in chief of the revolutionary army and left the convention early to take charge of the forces gathering at Gonzales. He had control of all troops in the field-militia, volunteers, and regular army enlistees. The convention delegates knew they must declare independence-or submit to Mexican authority.
If they chose independence they had to draft a constitution for a new nation, establish a strong provisional government, and prepare to combat the Mexican armies invading Texas.
On March 1 George C. Childress, who had recently visited President Jackson in Tennessee, presented a resolution calling for independence. At its adoption, the chairman of the convention appointed Childress to head a committee of five to draft a declaration of independence. When the committee met that evening, Childress drew from his pocket a statement he had brought from Tennessee that followed the outline and main features of the United States Declaration of Independence.
The next day, March 2, the delegates unanimously adopted Childress’s suggestion for independence. Ultimately 58 members signed the document.
Thus was born the Republic of Texas.
QUOTES ABOUT TEXAS
"You may all go to Hell, and I will go to Texas." - Davy Crockett
"Texas is neither southern or western. Texas is Texas." - Senator William Blakley
"I done drew the line. Just like the Alamo. You're either on one side of the line or the other. I don't want to ever leave Texas again!"- Bum Phillips
"Texas is a state of mind. Texas is an obsession. Above all, Texas is a nation in every sense of the word." - John Steinbeck
"Some folks look at me and see a certain swagger, which in Texas is called 'walking.'" - President George W. Bush
"If a man's from Texas, he'll tell you. If he's not, why embarrass him by asking?" - John Gunther
"Football is to Texas what religion is to a priest." - Tom Landry
The Texas Military Department contributed to this article.
