Chapter 9, Section 3

The Convention of 1836

Santa Anna Crosses into Texas• General Santa Anna began

marching into Texas with a large army to stop the rebellion.

• Crossed the Rio Grande in early February, 1836

• Arrived in San Antonio on February 23

• Texans still in San Antonio moved into the Alamo & started fortifying it.

www.tsl.state.tx.us/.../part2/santa_anna.jpg

Convention Declares Independence• Met at Washington-on-the-Brazos• No library, no printing press,

no convention hall• Unfinished building • Hung cloth over

the open windows

www.davidsanger.com/images/texas

U.S. Independence Hall, Philadelphia,

Pennsylvania

Room where U.S. Declaration of Independence was signed

Texas Independence Hall, Washington on the Brazos, Texas

Room where Texas Declaration of Independence was signed.

Who was at the convention?

• 59 delegates• Only 2 native born Texans• 52 from the United States – mostly

from Southern states.• 1 each from Mexico, England,

Scotland, Ireland, and Canada

• What conclusion can you make from this information?

Texas Declaration of Independence• Written by

George C. Childress, newly arrived from Tennessee

• Approved by unanimous vote of the Convention on March 2, 1836

• March 2 is TEXAS INDEPENDENCE DAY !

•Stated that Santa Anna had violated liberties guaranteed under the Mexican Constitution of 1824.

•Texans had been deprived of freedom of religion, right to trial by jury, right to bear arms, and the right to petition (request something of) the government.

•Mexico failed to provide a system of public schools.

•Mexico had used military force against the Texan protests.

Grievances

Texas Constitution – approved March 16, 1836• Similar to the U.S. Constitution• 3 branches of government• Executive (President) –

the person in charge of carrying out the laws

• Legislative (Congress) – makes laws

• Judicial (System of Courts) – punishes lawbreakers

Texas Bill of Rights

• Freedom of speech

• Freedom of the press

• Freedom of religion

• Trial by jury

• Other basic civil rights (basic human rights)

Some ideas from Spanish and Mexican Rule

•Community Property Law -Property jointly owned by husbands and wives

•Homestead Law – protects people in debt

Original Ideas

•Ministers and priests were barred (not allowed) to hold public office.

•(a strict interpretation of separation of Church and State)

The bad news …

• Legalized slavery in Texas• Legislature not allowed to free

slaves or stop importation of slaves• Free African Americans were not

allowed to live in Texas without permission of the Texas Congress

• (This meant that free African Americans who fought for Texas independence were not allowed to live in Texas.)

Ad Interim Government(temporary)

•Ad Interim President - David G. Burnet

•Ad Interim Vice President –Lorenzo de Zavala

www.tspb.state.tx.us/spb/

gallery/govs/images/...

www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/images/zavalalorenzo.jpg

• Ad Interim Secretary of War –Thomas J. Rusk

• Commander in Chief of the Texas Army – Sam Houston

www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~txhousto/index_ima...

www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/images/trusk.jpg

Meanwhile in San Antonio, the Alamo had fallen.

• Word came that Santa Anna’s army was marching toward Washington-on-the-Brazos .

• The convention broke up in panic.

• President Burnet and his cabinet left for Harrisburg.

• As Santa Anna’s army approached, Burnet’s government fled to New Washington and then on to Galveston, barely escaping with their lives.