The Struggle fqr Independence, I835-1836
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bility of cooperation between the Texans and the Mexican Liberals supporting the Constitution of 1824 had vanished, for the Matamoros expedition had failed miserably. There was now but one choice, complete independence. The confusion created by the quarrel between the Governor and the Council produced at least one beneficial result. The people of Texas were shown the absolute necessity of reorganizing the govern- ment so as to enable them to bring to a successful conclusion the struggle in which they were engaged. The men now assembled were as earnest as the members of the Consultation had been, but· they. were more experienced and possessed superior ability. Among them were the veteran sponsors of Texan independence since the days of Gutierrez and Magee: James Gaines, who contributed wisdom born of experience; Collin McKinney, who in spite of his seventy years was very active; Lorenzo de Zavala, who had once presided over the Constitutent Congress of Mexico that framed the Constitution of 1824, and who had resigned his post as minister of Mexico to France rather than become the hireling of tyranny; Robert Potter and Samuel Carson, former congressmen from North Carolina; Richard Ellis and Martin Palmer, framers of ~tate constitutions before they migrated to Texas; Samuel A. Maverick, Jose Antonio Navarro, and Francisco Ruiz, who, risking the wrath that would be visited upon their families by the vindictive Santa Anna, represented San Antonio; and from Goliad came William Motley and Encarnacion Vasquez (the latter unmentioned until 1936) ; 26 Victoria sent Jose M. Carvajal and John J. Linn; and Refugio was represented by the most influential member of the Convention, Samuel Houston.n There was no time to lose. Richard Ellis was immediately elected president and H. S. Kimble, secretary. When Zavala started a long speech with these words "Mr. President, an eminent Roman statesman once said," Rusk stopped him short by saying, "It behooves the Con- vention to give less thought to dead Romans and more attention to live Mexicans." George .C. Childress moved that the president appoint a committee of five to draft a declaration of independence. The motion carried and a committee was appointed at once. It worked tirelessly that day and through the night. Childress, the chairman, made his report the next day, March 2, 1836, which was unanimously adopted. The 2 'Binkley, of!. cit., I, 467-468. 27 For the most complete list of the member.;hip, see ;bid., 467-469; Dixon, The Men who Made Te:ra.t Free. The representatives from San Antonio, except Maverick, those from Goliad and Victoria, and Houston hin1self, were Catholics.
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