Happy Independance Day Texas

[Jimbuna]

[kraznyi_oktjabr]

I thought that Americans have not yet kicked Texans out of the Union.

[Herr-Berbunch]

1836? A few hours still to go then.

[mookiemookie]

My favorite story about Texas independence:



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Gonzales

[Onkel Neal]

I love Texas. It's a great state, a great concept. Not perfect, not by a long shot, but there is a place and a need in this world for a Texas, and I am so glad to be part of it.

Sometimes it's the history, sometimes it's the places, sometimes the myth and shameless braggadocio and swagger in the face of common sense (but never carried too far).

Sometimes it's the people. Sam Houston earned his legend.

Although Houston was a slave owner and opposed abolition, he opposed the secession of Texas from the Union.

An elected convention voted to secede from the United States on February 1, 1861, and Texas joined the Confederate States of America on March 2, 1861. Houston refused to recognize its legality, but the Texas legislature upheld the legitimacy of secession. The political forces that brought about Texas's secession were powerful enough to replace the state's Unionist governor.

Houston chose not to resist, stating, "I love Texas too well to bring civil strife and bloodshed upon her. To avert this calamity, I shall make no endeavor to maintain my authority as Chief Executive of this State, except by the peaceful exercise of my functions ... " He was evicted from his office on March 16, 1861, for refusing to take an oath of loyalty to the Confederacy, writing,

"Fellow-Citizens, in the name of your rights and liberties, which I believe have been trampled upon, I refuse to take this oath. In the name of the nationality of Texas, which has been betrayed by the Convention, I refuse to take this oath. In the name of the Constitution of Texas, I refuse to take this oath. In the name of my own conscience and manhood, which this Convention would degrade by dragging me before it, to pander to the malice of my enemies, I refuse to take this oath. I deny the power of this Convention to speak for Texas....I protest....against all the acts and doings of this convention and I declare them null and void."

God bless Texas

[Jimbuna]

Of all the photos I took on our visit to the USS Texas I never took one with the San Jacinto monument nearby

I borrowed this one off the web and added two sparates.







Why did someone have to go and tell Dan he was on the poop deck?

[Platapus]

So learn me something about history.

If the United States WON the Mexican American war, how did we get stuck with Texas?

(maybe we didn't win that war... we just thought we did?)

[vienna]

If the United States WON the Mexican American war, how did we get stuck with Texas?

Must have been in the small print of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: just goes to show you should always throughly read anything before you sign it...

[_dgn_]

When I read about this history about (300) people coming from outside the country,

- who didn't want to speak the local language
- who didn't want to adopt the local religion
- who didn't want to become local citizens
- who flouted local laws
- who rebelled when the legitimate authority tried to force them
- who called for the aid a foreign country
- who celebrated their "liberation" and their following "independence"

it's impossible for me to forget what is happening now (and soon tomorrow) in Europe with people coming from outside the continent ...

Yes, Happy Independance Day Texas !

[Onkel Neal]

Originally Posted by _dgn_

When I read about this history about (300) people coming from outside the country,

- who didn't want to speak the local language
- who didn't want to adopt the local religion
- who didn't want to become local citizens
- who flouted local laws
- who rebelled when the legitimate authority tried to force them
- who called for the aid a foreign country
- who celebrated their "liberation" and their following "independence"

it's impossible for me to forget what is happening now (and soon tomorrow) in Europe with people coming from outside the continent ...

Yes, Happy Independance Day Texas !

You forgot, they fought a small war and won

[_dgn_]

Originally Posted by Neal Stevens

You forgot, they fought a small war and won

Sorry, I forgot this essential point ...

Europe won in 732.

But now ???

[TarJak]

So where's the BBQ Neal?

[Torplexed]

Originally Posted by TarJak

So where's the BBQ Neal?

On the cake probably.

[mookiemookie]

Originally Posted by _dgn_

When I read about this history about (300) people coming from outside the country,

- who didn't want to speak the local language
- who didn't want to adopt the local religion
- who didn't want to become local citizens
- who flouted local laws
- who rebelled when the legitimate authority tried to force them
- who called for the aid a foreign country
- who celebrated their "liberation" and their following "independence"

Sounds like you should read a bit more on Texas history since you've got some important pieces wrong, and it's a tad insulting.

[_dgn_]

Originally Posted by mookiemookie

Sounds like you should read a bit more on Texas history since you've got some important pieces wrong, and it's a tad insulting.

Your version is the usual one, which is teached in Texas and in the United States : some valorous colonists, oppressed by a dictatorial authority, take guns and occupy a fort. They are all exterminated by brutal enemy soldiers. But their sacrifice needs a revenge and the fraternal United States run and bring peace and freedom.

But a flattering (WASP ?) and mythical version ! What are thinking in Texas the Spanish speaking people, or the descendants of people who where living here before Union rules, about it ?

When I was younger, I studied American history in Saint-Cyr (the French equivalent of West Point) and I got a Master's in History.

I learned that history is unfortunately history. Nothing in the past can be changed. But in theory, only. Because events can be differently presented, great events unawared, and minor ones magnified.

In this case, it's no more history, only propaganda.

Insulting ? No, only disturbing !