Sunday, March 2, 2014

Tejas y Libertad Para Siempre!


Mack Hall, HSG


 

Tejas y Libertad Para Siempre!

 

This Sunday is the 178th anniversary of Texas’ declaration of independence from Mexico.  An assembly of dubious legality in Washington-on-the-Brazos put together a most noble document, signed it, and then fled for their lives.  Within a few years the short-lived Republic of Texas was absorbed by the United States.  When, in 1861, Texas voted herself out of the Union, the Union welcomed her errant child back into her arms by force of arms.  Joining the United States is not unlike joining the Mafia – you can’t unjoin.

 

Our Texas Declaration of Independence might seem like a pretty dead letter, but it is still worth reading for its elegant language, the rightness of its cause, and its occasional wild and inexplicable failures.

 

The first four paragraphs are long, complex, dependent clauses beginning with “When” but never concluded.  This is the sort of thing that gives delicate English teachers the vapors.

 

The dependent clauses are brilliant, though, because, without a resolution, they sort of propel the reader forward, looking for a verb and the recipient of action.

 

The following paragraphs then make a series of excellent complaints – freedom of speech, trial by jury, public education, ownership of firearms (“the rightful property of freemen”) – and does so excellently.  The flaw here is that the complaints are made against Mexico, not against the usurper, Santa Anna

 

To fault Mexico in 1836 for being in a mess is rather like blaming the Polish government for poor domestic policies in 1942.  In 1942 there was no Polish government, only occupiers, just as in 1836 there was no Mexican government, only a tyrant who had replaced a previous tyrant who had crushed Mexican democracy.

 

A real irony is that almost all of the rebels were Mexican citizens, some by pledge of allegiance, others by birth who risked their lives, their families, their friends, and their hard-earned property to join in the fight against the tyrant.  Tragically, after the Revolution those truly native to the soil were betrayed by the young nation they had helped build.  Colonel Juan Seguin, a hero of the Revolution, was to the later immigrants a non-citizen, a non-person, and he withdrew into exile.  The citizens of Goliad, who rescued as many of Fannin’s men as they could without being shot by their own soldiers, were thanked by the new government by being burnt out and forced to flee.

 

The declaration of independence dismisses all Mexicans – including those who fought for Texas – as “unfit to be free, and incapable of self government.”  This dismissal should have been addressed only to one man, the wicked Santa Anna.

 

The declaration of independence dismisses the Spanish language, the language of Texas for over three hundred years to that point, as “an unknown tongue.” 

 

The declaration of independence dismisses Indians, who lived on this land long before the Spanish, French, Mexicans, and Americans got off the boat or rowed across the Rio Sabina, as “merciless savages.”  And, yes, they were rough, especially the Comanches.  No one, not even the Apaches, ever thought of the Comanches as especially nice neighbors.

 

That’s a whole lot of long-time residents to annoy when starting up a new nation – what were the boys in Washington-on-the-Brazos thinking?

 

And then, after the fight for freedom was won, new immigrants introduced slavery into Texas, an evil forbidden by the constitution Santa Anna had discarded.  History is heavy with bitter ironies.

 

Every nation has its myths – King Arthur for Britain, Roland for France, El Cid for Spain, Davy Crockett for Texas, Brian Boru for Ireland, ice hockey medals for Canada, Mel Gibson for welfare-state Scotland – and myths are good for encouraging unity.   But no one should substitute myths for hard facts, or employ them to cover up injustice. 

 

Anyway, I say it’s a hard fact that in Texas we’re far better, freer, and more just than those 49 provinces who think they’re something, so may God bless Texas, and may He confound all our enemies, on our Independence Day and always.

 

Tejas y libertad para siempre!

 

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