Texas Revolution continued… & Texas Gains Independence

The Convention of 1836 The delegates gathered at Washington-on-the- Brazos for the Convention of By the time the meeting started, Santa Anna had made his way to San Antonio and was about to win his first major victory. They met in an unfinished building with one open side and the temperature was near freezing. The delegates declared Texas independent the next day, March 2… and within two weeks they would write a constitution. While one group of revolutionaries was fighting for Texas at the Alamo, another group was meeting to decide Texas’s fate. The defenders at the Alamo were under fire from Santa Anna, and Texas still had not officially declared independence from Mexico.

The Texas Declaration of Independence The Texas Declaration was modeled on the U.S. Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson 60 years earlier in Both declarations have three main sections… 1 st Section: declares the right of revolution. 2 nd Section: lists the grievances, or complaints, against the central government. 3 rd Section: proclaims independence and pledges the support of all who sign the declaration. Santa Anna’s name only appeared once in the declaration… “When a government has ceased to protect the lives, liberty, and property of the people, from whom its legitimate powers are derived…”

The Author George Childress George Campbell Childress, representing Milam colony Birthplace: Tennessee, 1804 Occupation: Lawyer Age in 1836: 32 years old Arrived in Texas: Dec 1835 During the Convention: Childress is considered by many to be the author of the Texas Declaration of Independence. After 3 futile trips to Texas to establish a law practice, Childress killed himself in Galveston in 1841.