When the Texians declared independence on March 2, 1836, it was an act of defiance. The military situation was bleak. It’s hard not to see similarities in today’s fight by the Ukrainians against the Russians.
You can make an excellent case that the only reason Mexico lost that war was because of the arrogance and incompetence of its leader, Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Lt. Col. José Enrique de la Peña, an officer on the general’s staff, made that case. If you’re interested in the details, I have an essay about the colonel’s diary at hebertaylor.com.
I love that spirit of defiance.
But anyone who celebrates this day must also come to terms with this: The men who signed that declaration were clear that they intended to build a republic based on slavery. The writings of Texas’s founding fathers are clear expressions of white supremacy. They envisioned a country where people were treated like property and children were torn from their parents and sold at markets.
Among the founders were souls of remarkable courage and souls that had been poisoned by their own hatred and cruelty. Extreme good and extreme evil, often in the same soul, in the same place.
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