Our Catlzolic Heritage in Texas
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was appointed Secretary of State; Wharton, Secretary of the Treasury; General Rusk, Secretary of War; and James Collinsworth was appointed the first Chief Justice when that office was created. By the end of October the new Republic was formally constituted and placed under duly elected and constitutional officers. Austin, the real founder of the new commonwealth, threw himself into his labors with characteristic zeal. But work, exposure, and fatigue, had so weakened his body and perhaps human ingratitude had so broken his spirit that he died of pneumonia just before Christmas. Stephen F. Austin lived barely long enough to see the fight for freedom, first from Spain and then from Mexico, brought to a successful conclusion, and the Republic established on a permanent, constitutional basis. 62 62 For brief excerpts and authoritative summaries of the establishment of the Republic, see E. C. Barker, Life of Stephen F. Austin, and his Readi11gs in Texas Histor,y; George P. Garrison, Texas: A Contest of Civilization; and Johnson, T e%1JS and T e:xans.
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