Bill Text: TX HR124 | 2025-2026 | 89th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Commemorating the 233rd anniversary of the birth of Sam Houston.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2025-02-19 - Referred to Local & Consent Calendars [HR124 Detail]
Download: Texas-2025-HR124-Introduced.html
89R11736 BPG-D | ||
By: Cain | H.R. No. 124 |
|
||
WHEREAS, March 2, 2026, marks the 233rd anniversary of the | ||
birth of Texas icon Sam Houston; and | ||
WHEREAS, Born in Virginia in 1793, Sam Houston was the son of | ||
Samuel and Elizabeth Houston; his father died when he was 13, and | ||
his mother resettled the family on a farm in Tennessee; in 1809, he | ||
left home to live among the Cherokees; he enlisted in the U.S. Army | ||
during the War of 1812 and quickly earned promotion to third | ||
lieutenant; serving under General Andrew Jackson, he demonstrated | ||
great valor and leadership in the Battle of Horseshoe Bend, despite | ||
suffering three near-fatal wounds; and | ||
WHEREAS, General Jackson became a mentor, spurring his | ||
protégé's swift rise in the military and politics; elected to the | ||
U.S. House of Representatives in 1823, Mr. Houston served two terms | ||
before winning the governor's race in Tennessee; he resigned two | ||
years later and went to live among the Cherokees in Oklahoma, where | ||
he often acted as a tribal emissary and worked to keep peace among | ||
tribes; perceiving Texas as a land of promise, he relocated in 1832 | ||
and soon became involved in the Anglo-Texan independence movement; | ||
he was a delegate from Refugio to the convention at | ||
Washington-on-the-Brazos, where the Texas Declaration of | ||
Independence was signed on March 2, 1836; appointed major general | ||
of the new republic's army, he led his troops to victory over | ||
Mexican General Santa Anna in the Battle of San Jacinto; and | ||
WHEREAS, Hailed as a hero, Mr. Houston became the first | ||
regularly elected president of the Republic of Texas and guided it | ||
through many perils during two terms, separated by a stint | ||
representing San Augustine in the Texas House; he facilitated the | ||
Lone Star State's entry into the Union and then became a U.S. | ||
senator, serving from 1846 to 1859; a staunch Unionist and powerful | ||
orator, he strenuously opposed rising sectionalism; opposition | ||
from proslavery factions caused his political fortunes to wane, but | ||
after an unsuccessful run for governor in 1857, he triumphed in the | ||
next gubernatorial election; as the clamor for secession rose, he | ||
warned that civil war would result in the destruction of the South; | ||
he refused to take the oath of loyalty to the newly formed | ||
Confederate States of America, and the Texas Secession Convention | ||
removed him from office; retiring from public life, he moved his | ||
family to Huntsville in 1862; he died of pneumonia on July 26 of the | ||
following year, at the age of 70; and | ||
WHEREAS, Bold and resolute, Sam Houston was a towering figure | ||
in the history of our state and nation, and his enormously | ||
consequential accomplishments remain a source of inspiration | ||
today; now, therefore, be it | ||
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 89th Texas | ||
Legislature hereby commemorate the 233rd anniversary of the birth | ||
of Sam Houston. |