In their first election after Texas won its independence, Texans voted overwhelmingly in favor of annexation to the United States. However, throughout the Republic period, no annexation treaty was approved by both countries.
With nothing solid to indicate that Mexico accepted the defeat at San Jacinto (Treaties of Velasco were ignored by both the Republic of Texas and Mexico) and fearful of a second attack by the powerful Mexican army to the south perhaps joined by the Comanches and Apaches, Texas again petitioned to become a State of the U.S.
Thus begins the story of how the Republic of Texas became the 28th State of the United States of America.
It's a fascinating tale about a fascinating place.
Although I am now living 2000 miles from the land of my birth, she is forever in my heart and I am forever her Son, separated by time and distance yet connected by Fate and Destiny.
Throughout her history, Texas has nurtured a special breed of people, a people that former football coach Bum Phillips described as "forged of a hotter fire." Coach Phillips went on, "The same spirit that made 186 men cross that line in the sand in San Antonio damned near 165 years ago is still in you today. Why else would my friend send me William Barrett Travis' plea for help in an email just a week ago, or why would Charles Stanfield ask me to reprint a Texas Independence column from a year ago? What would make my friend Elizabeth say, "I don't know if I can marry a man who doesn't love Texas like I do?" Why in the hell are 1,000 people coming to my house this weekend to celebrate a holiday for what used to be a nation that is now a state?
Because the spirit that made that nation is the spirit that burned in every person who founded this great place we call Texas, and they passed it on through blood or sweat to everyone of us.
You see, that spirit that made Texas what it is is alive in all of us, even if we can't stand next to a cannon to prove it, and it's our responsibility to keep that fire burning.
Forged of a hotter fire. That's me, that's you and that's millions of Texans from her very first people of ten milennia ago to the guy next door who just arrived from California and is now a Texan by choice. Bonded by an insatiable desire for freedom and a fierce yearning for independence, we are all the children of the damnedest lady you ever saw.
By the Grace of God, we are Texans.
God Bless Texas!
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