Thursday, March 28, AD 2024 11:12am

March 2, 1836: Texas Declaration of Independence

 

Four days before the fall of the Alamo on March 6, 1836, the people of Texas in Convention assembled proclaimed the independence of the Republic of Texas.  Surely few such proclamations have been issued in more dire straits.  Texas had no military other than some raw militia units.  The Texan garrison at the Alamo was under siege by a large professional Mexican army under Santa Anna.  It seemed as if the Republic of Texas was a still-born State, doomed to be forgotten soon after its birth, its advocates lucky to be alive if they survived the coming military debacle.  However, General Sam Houston, commander of all of the non-existent armies of Texas, had other ideas.  Here is the text of the Declaration:

 

 

The Unanimous
Declaration of Independence
made by the
Delegates of the People of Texas
in General Convention
at the town of Washington
on the 2nd day of March 1836.

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 the Federal Republican Constitution of their country, which they have sworn to support, no longer has a substantial existence, and the whole nature of their government has been forcibly changed, without their consent, from a restricted federative republic, composed of sovereign states, to a consolidated central military despotism, in which every interest is disregarded but that of the army and the priesthood, both the eternal enemies of civil liberty, the ever ready minions of power, and the usual instruments of tyrants.

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.

When, in consequence of such acts of malfeasance and abdication on the part of the government, anarchy prevails, and civil society is dissolved into its original elements. In such a crisis, the first law of nature, the right of self-preservation, the inherent and inalienable rights of the people to appeal to first principles, and take their political affairs into their own hands in extreme cases, enjoins it as a right towards themselves, and a sacred obligation to their posterity, to abolish such government, and create another in its stead, calculated to rescue them from impending dangers, and to secure their future welfare and happiness.

Nations, as well as individuals, are amenable for their acts to the public opinion of mankind. A statement of a part of our grievances is therefore submitted to an impartial world, in justification of the hazardous but unavoidable step now taken, of severing our political connection with the Mexican people, and assuming an independent attitude among the nations of the earth.

The Mexican government, by its colonization laws, invited and induced the Anglo-American population of Texas to colonize its wilderness under the pledged faith of a written constitution, that they should continue to enjoy that constitutional liberty and republican government to which they had been habituated in the land of their birth, the United States of America.

In this expectation they have been cruelly disappointed, inasmuch as the Mexican nation has acquiesced in the late changes made in the government by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, who having overturned the constitution of his country, now offers us the cruel alternative, either to abandon our homes, acquired by so many privations, or submit to the most intolerable of all tyranny, the combined despotism of the sword and the priesthood.

It has sacrificed our welfare to the state of Coahuila, by which our interests have been continually depressed through a jealous and partial course of legislation, carried on at a far distant seat of government, by a hostile majority, in an unknown tongue, and this too, notwithstanding we have petitioned in the humblest terms for the establishment of a separate state government, and have, in accordance with the provisions of the national constitution, presented to the general Congress a republican constitution, which was, without just cause, contemptuously rejected.

It incarcerated in a dungeon, for a long time, one of our citizens, for no other cause but a zealous endeavor to procure the acceptance of our constitution, and the establishment of a state government.

It has failed and refused to secure, on a firm basis, the right of trial by jury, that palladium of civil liberty, and only safe guarantee for the life, liberty, and property of the citizen.

It has failed to establish any public system of education, although possessed of almost boundless resources, (the public domain,) and although it is an axiom in political science, that unless a people are educated and enlightened, it is idle to expect the continuance of civil liberty, or the capacity for self government.

It has suffered the military commandants, stationed among us, to exercise arbitrary acts of oppression and tyrrany, thus trampling upon the most sacred rights of the citizens, and rendering the military superior to the civil power.

It has dissolved, by force of arms, the state Congress of Coahuila and Texas, and obliged our representatives to fly for their lives from the seat of government, thus depriving us of the fundamental political right of representation.

It has demanded the surrender of a number of our citizens, and ordered military detachments to seize and carry them into the Interior for trial, in contempt of the civil authorities, and in defiance of the laws and the constitution.

It has made piratical attacks upon our commerce, by commissioning foreign desperadoes, and authorizing them to seize our vessels, and convey the property of our citizens to far distant ports for confiscation.

It denies us the right of worshipping the Almighty according to the dictates of our own conscience, by the support of a national religion, calculated to promote the temporal interest of its human functionaries, rather than the glory of the true and living God.

It has demanded us to deliver up our arms, which are essential to our defence, the rightful property of freemen, and formidable only to tyrannical governments.

It has invaded our country both by sea and by land, with intent to lay waste our territory, and drive us from our homes; and has now a large mercenary army advancing, to carry on against us a war of extermination.

It has, through its emissaries, incited the merciless savage, with the tomahawk and scalping knife, to massacre the inhabitants of our defenseless frontiers.

It hath been, during the whole time of our connection with it, the contemptible sport and victim of successive military revolutions, and hath continually exhibited every characteristic of a weak, corrupt, and tyrranical government.

These, and other grievances, were patiently borne by the people of Texas, untill they reached that point at which forbearance ceases to be a virtue. We then took up arms in defence of the national constitution. We appealed to our Mexican brethren for assistance. Our appeal has been made in vain. Though months have elapsed, no sympathetic response has yet been heard from the Interior. We are, therefore, forced to the melancholy conclusion, that the Mexican people have acquiesced in the destruction of their liberty, and the substitution therfor of a military government; that they are unfit to be free, and incapable of self government.

The necessity of self-preservation, therefore, now decrees our eternal political separation.

We, therefore, the delegates with plenary powers of the people of Texas, in solemn convention assembled, appealing to a candid world for the necessities of our condition, do hereby resolve and declare, that our political connection with the Mexican nation has forever ended, and that the people of Texas do now constitute a free, Sovereign, and independent republic, and are fully invested with all the rights and attributes which properly belong to independent nations; and, conscious of the rectitude of our intentions, we fearlessly and confidently commit the issue to the decision of the Supreme arbiter of the destinies of nations.

 

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Cassandra
Cassandra
Thursday, March 2, AD 2017 10:36am

When a government has ceased to protect the lives, liberty and property of the people, from whom its legitimate powers are derived,

When has it ever been a Catholic principle that authority comes from below (i.e. the people) rather than from God? The more revolutionary documents I read, the more they all seem to boil down to non serviam.

They sure had a particular disdain for the Church with no less than three direct attacks against the Church.
the army and the priesthood, both the eternal enemies of civil liberty
the most intolerable of all tyranny, the combined despotism of the sword and the priesthood
It denies us the right of worshipping the Almighty according to the dictates of our own conscience, by the support of a national religion (that is, the Church)

Cassandra
Cassandra
Saturday, March 4, AD 2017 3:40pm

Actually Saint Thomas Aquinas:
Novak fails to make his case in attempting to push back onto Aquinas Novak’s own politics.

In doing background research while reading your Novak article, I see that article is part of the growing dispute among Catholics over the reconciling of certain American/liberal principles and Catholicism. It led me to your fellow contributor, Christopher Blosser’s blog sites compiling articles, as well as a previous American Catholic article on the debate. I don’t we’re going to get very far on our disagreement here. Your link to Novak suggests you’re sympathetic to his position. I’m not.
http://www.theamericanconservative.com/2014/02/06/a-catholic-showdown-worth-watching/ :
For those in the Murray/Neuhaus/Weigel school, it’s simply a matter of returning us to the better days, and reviving the sound basis on which the nation was founded. For those in the MacIntyre/Schindler school, America was never well-founded, so either needs to be differently re-founded or at least endured, even survived.

While I don’t care to get pigeon-holed with names of others, I arrived independently with the same general conclusion as the apparent MacIntyre/Schindler school that the philosophical principles (and implementation) of the American (and Texas) founding fathers is incompatible with Catholicism. Today, we are seeing not the abandonment of original principles, but inevitable fruits.

The Texans were rightfully upset that the Mexicans restricted citizenship to Catholics only
Do you have a citation that citizenship was actually restricted rather than simply that Catholicism was officially recognized and other practices prohibited? Remember, a nation has the right to regulate immigration to avoid the detriment of its citizens.
The Church today would object to such a provision.
I’m sure you’ll understand that I’m not going to be impressed with statements that start with The Church today would …, considering that one can fill the ellipses with pretty much anything.

I have a particularly difficult time being sympathetic with any group’s complaints about despotism while itself practiced slavery. The Texians were importing slaves and slavery contrary to existing Mexican law. The Church then did not approve, much less today. Again, the Texians turned right around and restricted Texas citizenship on the basis of race. Care to defend that?

Cassandra
Cassandra
Saturday, March 4, AD 2017 3:45pm

Oops. Sorry.

My poor old eyes skimmed over “theamericanconservative.com” and interpreted “the-american-catholic.com.” That article didn’t come from this site. It was just linked to by Mr. Blosser.

Cassandra
Cassandra
Saturday, March 4, AD 2017 10:16pm

Catholicism has flourished in the United States
Really? I think you are mistaking flourishing within the US qua US, with the establishment of communities of Catholic immigrants. Once the influence of those first generation catholics waned and the assimilation to American culture took root, the Catholicism began to wither on the vine. Point out just where Catholicism is flourishing in the US today. The US can not even produce enough priests for its own needs. I think you use a different definition of flourishing.
Yes, things are bad in other first world countries. The same philosophical principles took root there, too (although much originally came from the continent). However, the “it’s worse elsewhere” argument does not demonstrate that the philosophical principles in the US founding are compatible with Catholicism. That is just deflection.

You merely lend support to the lies of anti-Catholic bigots that Catholicism is inevitably the enemy of free institutions.
That is an astounding outburst of emotion. You’ve completely disengaged from rational discourse.

The Constitution of 1824 prohibited any faith other than Catholicism, and settlers were required to convert to Catholicism. If you think such provisions aided Catholicism in Mexico you are incorrect.
Title I, Article 3. The Religion of the Mexican Nation, is, and will be perpetually, the Roman Catholic Apostolic. The Nation will protect it by wise and just laws, and prohibit the exercise of any other whatever.
No mention of the requirement for conversion. Care to point that out.

Yes, Catholics in Mexico have suffered much at the hands of atheists and Masons. Subsequent constitutions turned very anti-clerical. De Santa Anna himself was no supporter of the Church.
The US itself did Catholics no favors in the Mexican conflicts. Particularly in the Cristeros war, the US was supplying the anti-Catholic regime.

Church did not condemn slavery until 1839
Actually there were condemnations much earlier.

Spain and Portugal long ignored the condemnation of slavery by the Pope.
Ahh! The “Billy’s mom lets him do it” justification.

I admit defeat. I cannot compete with Billy’s mom.

Cassandra
Cassandra
Sunday, March 5, AD 2017 7:54am

You would use Caesar to eliminate the public worship of all groups except Catholics. You are far more useful to anti-Catholic bigots than any Jack Chick comic book.
I stated no such thing. You made an emotional jump to an irrational assertion.

Seems to me you should review your own Comments Policy:
I will express my disagreements with others’ ideas without insulting, mocking, or slandering them personally.
I will not exaggerate others’ beliefs nor make unfounded prejudicial assumptions based on labels, categories, or stereotypes. I will always extend the benefit of the doubt.
Making wild, unfounded assertions about my position and what I would or would not do, hardly seems to conform.

I would have thought by now you’d have enough experience to know that anti-Catholic bigots don’t need any excuses for their hostility. It isn’t the external enemies that the Church has ever had to truly worry about. It’s always those on the inside collaborating, compromising, and falling for false doctrines. That’s what brings the Church down.

I’m familiar with Morrow’s role while the US was supplying weapons to Calles and trying to obtain oil leases. The so-called peace deal won no concessions for the Cristeros. Yes the Vatican and the Mexican bishops approved it. It was not the first (nor will be the last) mistake the hierarchy has made.

You still have not shown how Catholicism is “flourishing” in the US. Good luck with that. How the Church is doing in other parts of the world is irrelevant to the evaluation of the Church in the US. The 2nd largest denomination in the US is ex-Catholics. Somehow American culture is not conducive to reinforcing Catholicism.

But let’s be real. This is a very emotional topic for you, and further discourse on it will not render any good fruits. If you want to hold the position that American founding principles are good for Catholicism, you’re certainly in good company. The American hierarchy holds that view, too. Of course, they’re too busy closing parishes to comment at this time.

John Schuh
John Schuh
Sunday, March 5, AD 2017 10:11am

The relationship between religion and the state is a main theme of the Bible. It certainly comes up in the story of the passion story. But Our Lord doesn’t waste much time on that. Give to Caresar the things that are caesar’s, and to to God these things that are God’s . Ironic, because everything belongs to God

Nathan Ang
Nathan Ang
Sunday, March 5, AD 2017 8:58pm

It is a historical fact that Anglo settlers in Texas made a bargain – convert to Catholicism, and get free land in Texas. Before 1836, it seemed like a good bargain. When relations between the Anglo settlers and the Mexican government soured, the Anglo settlers made their objection to forced conversions an article in their Declaration of Independence. So, it is a historical fact that Texas independence was (temporarily) a setback for Catholicism. I am a Texan and a Catholic, and while I love my home state, I am aware that the history is full of the good, the bad and the ugly.

Mary De Voe
Sunday, March 5, AD 2017 9:02pm

John Schuh: “Give to Caresar the things that are caesar’s, and to to God these things that are God’s.” Ironic, because everything belongs to God;
Caesar belongs to God.
The sovereign personhood that institutes government is endowed by God. God gives man free will and freedom. The state is founded by sovereign citizens to guard the endowed gifts of God, in that order. Yes, the Son of God instituted the Catholic Church to free men from sin. Free men wrote our Founding Principles. Slaves know their freedom. In the Catholic Church men find their freedom. So to find their freedom, men sometimes use the Catholic Church and using the Catholic Church, men find their God.

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