Celebrate Texas history in March 2009
Sunday, March 1st, 2009By Jim Suydam
Press Secretary, General Land Office
AUSTIN — In Texas we’re surrounded by our history. From businesses that feature images of the Alamo to streets named after Texas heroes, history is a part of our daily lives. It’s easy to take it for granted.
For instance, I live in a city called Austin. I work in the Stephen F. Austin building. As land commissioner, I preside over the Texas General Land Office Archives, which contain historic documents from Stephen F. Austin himself.
His Registro is here, the ledger where he recorded the land grant information for his historic colony. His signature, in English and Spanish, graces countless documents hidden away in the 35 million pieces of paper that make up our collection.
Yet I rarely pause to remember the influence of this man. That is unfortunate, for so much of what we have today, so many things we enjoy, are due to those that came before us.
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Consider the battle that won Texas its independence, San Jacinto. In 18 minutes a small ragtag army soundly defeated a well-trained, well-equipped army and later captured its commander-in-chief.
That victory on April 21, 1836, led to the creation of the Republic of Texas.
After 10 years the Republic of Texas gave way to the state of Texas, which in part prompted the Mexican War. U.S. victory in the Mexican War brought the Southwest into the American fold, opening the western frontier and achieving manifest destiny.
Because of 18 minutes in 1836 the United States of America was launched as a world power, making San Jacinto one of the most important battles in world history.
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Examples abound. Because of the oil boom ushered in by Spindletop in 1901, Texas helped inaugurate the mass exploration and production of oil. Apart from vastly increasing the wealth of Texas, this gave birth to the modern petrochemical industry and thus changed the world.
Even the future is affected by the past. Texas is the largest generator of wind energy in the nation.
We also lead the nation in the promotion and exploration of offshore wind energy in the Gulf of Mexico.
Know who’s responsible? Sam Houston. Thanks to ol’ Sam Houston when Texas entered the Union in 1846 we maintained sovereign rights to all submerged lands 10 miles into the Gulf. This decision has earned Texas more than $6 billion that would have otherwise gone into federal coffers from offshore oil and gas.
Lesser coastal states don’t have the same provision. So more than 160 years ago Sam Houston ensured Texas would be the leader for offshore wind energy.
It is fitting the first major Gulf wind farm will be built just offshore from the city that bears his name.
Therefore, if you wonder why we celebrate Texas Independence Day, why there is still a Texas History Month, I hope you will remember that Texas is a special place and it is made so because of our history.
Thanks to Texans like Austin, Houston, Juan Seguin and others, we can see a bright future, for we stand on the shoulders of giants.
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The above op-ed piece brought to by Traders Guide of Texas and the Texas General Land Office, Jerry Patterson, commissioner. Mark Dallas Loeffler is director of the Office of Communications.
