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  83S20600 BPG-D
 
  By: Branch H.R. No. 150
 
 
 
R E S O L U T I O N
         WHEREAS, July 26, 2013, marks the 150th anniversary of the
  death of Sam Houston, a towering figure in Texas history; and
         WHEREAS, Born in Virginia on March 2, 1793, Houston emigrated
  to eastern Tennessee with his family after the death of his father,
  and as an adolescent, he left home to live for a time among the
  Cherokees; he joined the United States Army at the age of 20 and
  fought the British under Andrew Jackson's command in the Battle of
  Horseshoe Bend, receiving three near-fatal wounds; and
         WHEREAS, Houston subsequently studied law and opened a
  practice in Lebanon, Tennessee; with General Jackson's
  endorsement, he was named adjutant general of the state militia,
  and he was later elected attorney general for the District of
  Nashville in 1818; he went on to become major general of the state
  militia and then served two terms in the United States House of
  Representatives before becoming governor of Tennessee; and
         WHEREAS, In the wake of a brief, disastrous marriage, Houston
  resigned from office and went to live among the Cherokees in what is
  now Oklahoma; he took an active role in Native American affairs,
  working as a peacemaker among tribes and serving as a tribal
  emissary; after moving to Mexican Texas in 1832, he practiced law
  and became involved in the Anglo-Texan movement for independence;
  he served as a delegate from Nacogdoches to the Consultation of
  1835, which appointed him major general of the Texas army; and
         WHEREAS, In February 1836, Houston helped negotiate a treaty
  with the Cherokees as a commissioner for the provisional
  government; the following month, he served as a delegate from
  Refugio to the convention at Washington-on-the-Brazos, where the
  assembly adopted the Texas Declaration of Independence and
  appointed Houston commander in chief of the Texas army; Houston set
  high standards for his troops, and he ultimately led them to victory
  over the Mexican army at the Battle of San Jacinto on April 21,
  1836; and
         WHEREAS, Acclaimed as "Old Sam Jacinto," Houston became the
  first regularly elected president of the Republic of Texas; the
  town of Houston, which was named in his honor in 1836, served as
  capital of the Republic for most of his first administration;
  because the constitution barred him from succeeding himself, he
  represented San Augustine in the Texas House from 1839 to 1841
  before returning to serve a second term as president; and
         WHEREAS, When Texas joined the Union, Houston became one of
  its two United States senators and served for 13 years in that
  capacity; he was considered presidential material, but at home, his
  staunch commitment to the Union became increasingly controversial;
  although he was a slave owner himself, he drew the wrath of
  proslavery elements by supporting the 1820 Missouri Compromise, the
  1848 Oregon Bill, and the Compromise of 1850, all designed to limit
  slavery north of latitude 36 degrees 30 minutes; in 1855, the Texas
  Legislature officially condemned his opposition to the
  Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repealed the Missouri Compromise, and
  his future in the U.S. Senate was doomed; he met defeat in an 1857
  gubernatorial campaign but was returned to the Governor's Mansion
  two years later; and
         WHEREAS, Houston vehemently opposed the swelling secession
  movement during his term as governor, warning that civil war would
  lead to the destruction of the South; desperate to avoid bloodshed
  within Texas, however, he ultimately acquiesced to the secessionist
  tide, but he refused to take the oath of loyalty to the Confederate
  States of America and was removed from office; two years later, at
  the age of 70, he succumbed to pneumonia at his home in Huntsville;
  and
         WHEREAS, A proud Texan and a prominent, fiercely loyal
  American, Sam Houston played a monumental role in founding the Lone
  Star State and setting the course of its future, and his colorful
  life and extraordinary record of public service have continued to
  fascinate and inspire Texans to the present day; now, therefore, be
  it
         RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 83rd Texas
  Legislature, 2nd Called Session, hereby commemorate the
  sesquicentennial of the death of Sam Houston.