History of the Revolution in Texas by Chester Newell

Author:Chester Newell [Newell, Chester]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Geschichte
Publisher: Jazzybee Verlag
Published: 2018-05-15T22:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER XIII.

The period was now approaching for the people of Texas to go into a Constitutional Election of a President, Vice-President, and Members of Congress. President Burnet had issued his Proclamation, ordering that election, and requiring that, at the same time, there should be an expression of the public sentiment in respect to the annexation of Texas to the United States.

Gen. Austin was nominated to the Presidency on the 9th of August.

Gen. Houston—who had been for some time absent in the United States for the purpose of medical aid in recovering from a wound received at the battle of San Jacinto—had again appeared in Texas, and was nominated to the Presidency at Columbia, on the 20th, by more than six hundred persons.

Early in the month of September, Samuel Houston, the “hero of San Jacinto,” was elected first President of the Republic of Texas, and Mirabeau B. Lamar first Vice-President.

In respect to the annexation of Texas to the United States, the People, “with a unanimity unparalleled, declared that they would be united to the great political family of the North.”

The first Congress of the People met at Columbia on the 3d of October. Never, perhaps, had a Congress more to do, and less to do with. It had to bring order and system out of chaos, and raise means where none existed. The country was in a very disorganized state; the people impoverished; and the treasury exhausted. There was a large amount of claims and demands upon the Government; there was no law nor judiciary; and the army was naked and starving.

It is not the purpose of the writer to give a history of the various deliberations and acts of the Congress, by which it met the wants of the country, in its domestic as well as foreign relations, but only to notice some of the more important. During the session were passed, among others, the following acts:

An act authorising the President to fill vacancies in the offices of Treasurer, Secretary of State, Secretary of the Treasury, &c.

An act for the relief of Erastus Smith, allowing him, in consideration of his sacrifices, and very valuable services in the cause of Texas, the privilege of selecting any forfeited house and lot in San Antonio which he might choose, and to hold the same, himself and heirs, in fee simple forever; and to take possession of such house and lot so soon as the forfeiture of the same should be ascertained in a legal way. Also, allowing him to locate any where in the public domain one league and labore of land, and to hold the same, as the aforesaid house and lot.

An act authorizing the President to appoint a Minister, with ample and plenary powers, to proceed to the United States, to negociate for the recognition of the Independence of Texas, and for the speedy annexation of the same to the United States, according to the expressed wish of the people of Texas.

An act authorizing the President to issue bonds of one

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