Notes to teacher:
1. These following pages are student response sheets that accompany the PowerPoint
Lesson titled Translating a Primary Sources: The Texas Declaration of Independence.
2. Students are grouped in pairs to work in specific sections of the Declaration. ( student
pages follow this) After discussing the questions in red, they are to restate the quote in
their own words.
3. Students can be called to present their results to the class by placing their restatement
on the document camera. The class records group results on their individual note pages.
(A note page is provided here) The result will be a “translated” Declaration of
Independence.
4. After all students have presented their findings, return to the PowerPoint and as a class
determine what the People of Texas were declaring.
Declaration of Independence of the Republic of Texas
All of us _______________ that we are ________________.
Voted on by ___________________ _____________________________ of
________________________ settlers at our meeting at _________________________
on ____________________, 1836
1. Government gets its powers from________________________________________ .
Santa Anna is using his government to ______________________________Texas.
2. Texans favored a government that shared power between the ______________
and ___________________ governments.
3. The Constitution has been________________ and _______________________ has
been thrown in jail.
4. The ____________________ Government invited Americans to ________.
Settlers expected to live under a constitution that was similar to the
one in the _____________________________________
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In this expectation they (Texans) have been cruelly disappointed, [because] the Mexican
nation has acquiesced ( given in to) in the late changes made in the government by
General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, who, having overturned the constitution of his
country, now offers us the cruel alternative either to abandon our homes, acquired (which
were built) by so many privations (with hard work) , or submit to the most intolerable of
all tyranny, the combined despotism (repression) of the sword and the priesthood.
5. Who do Texans blame for the changes in government? What will Texans have to do if
they do not agree to go along with the requirement to “ abandon our homes”?
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It has sacrificed our welfare to the state of Coahuila,* carried on at a far distant seat of
government, by a hostile majority, in an unknown tongue; and this [government] we have
petitioned in the humblest terms, for the establishment of a separate state government,
and have been contemptuously rejected.
*Look at the map on page 168. Find “Coahuila y Texas”. Find the capital at Saltillo
6. What did Texans find wrong with the state government in Coahuila? Where was the
capital of Coahuila, which group had more voting power – Coahuila or Texas? What
language was used? What happened to Texan’s “petitions”?
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It (the Mexican government) has failed and refused to secure on a firm basis, the right of
trial by jury;
7. Where do Texans get the idea that they have a right to trial by jury? ( Hint: look on
page 11 of your spiral. Be specific, where does trial by jury get mentioned?) Why is trial
by jury important? (Note: the other choices were trial by a judge only or military court)
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It ( the Mexican government) has failed to establish any public system of education,
although possessed of almost boundless resources (the public domain) and, although, it is
an axiom, in political science, that unless a people are educated and enlightened it is idle
to expect the continuance of civil liberty, or the capacity for self-government.
8. Why do Texans think public schools are important? Where does the money for public
schools come from? Without education, what could happen to liberty?
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It ( the Mexican government) has suffered (forced) the military commandants stationed
among us to exercise arbitrary acts of oppression and tyranny; thus trampling upon the
most sacred rights of the citizen and rendering the military superior to the civil power.
9. Why are Texans angry that soldiers are sent to their towns? Who has more power –
the military or civilian leaders?
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It has demanded the surrender (give up) of a number of our citizens, and ordered military
detachments to seize and carry them into the Interior for trial; in contempt of the civil
authorities, and in defiance of the laws and constitution.
10. What has the government demanded that Texans do? Where will Texans be taken?
Who were some of the citizens who were being arrested?
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It ( the Mexican government) has made piratical ( like pirates) attacks upon our
commerce; by commissioning (hiring) foreign desperadoes (thieves), and authorizing
them to seize our vessels, and convey the property of our citizens to far distant ports of
confiscation.
11. What has been happening to ships leaving Texas? Who is ordering this? What is
happening to the Texans’ property?
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It (denies us the right of worshipping the Almighty according to the dictates of our own
consciences, by the support of a national religion calculated to promote the temporal
interests of its human functionaries rather than the glory of the true and living God.
12. What is the official religion on Mexico in 1824? How do Texans feel about being
forced to join a church? Where do they get their idea of religious freedom? ( hint: look at
pages 11 and 36 in your spiral)
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It has demanded us to deliver up our arms; which are essential to our defense, the rightful
property of freemen, and formidable only to tyrannical governments.
13. What has the government demanded that Texans give up? Where do Texans get the
idea that they have the right to have “arms”? ( hint: look at page 11 in your spiral. Be
specific, where does religion get mentioned? Look at page 36. What does the Mexican
Constitution of 1824 say about “arms”)
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It has invaded our country, both by sea and by land, with intent to lay waste our territory
and drive us from our homes; and has now a large mercenary * army advancing to carry
on against us a war of extermination.
* look up mercenary in a dictionary
14. What do Texans say the Mexican government is threatening to do? What is a
“mercenary” army?
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These, and other grievances, were patiently borne by the people of Texas until they
reached that point at which forbearance ceases to be a virtue. We then took up arms in
defense of the national constitution. We appealed to our Mexican brethren for assistance.
Our appeal has been made in vain. Though months have elapsed, no sympathetic
response has yet been heard from the Interior. We are, therefore, forced to the
melancholy conclusion that the Mexican people have acquiesced in the destruction of
their liberty, and the substitution therefore of a military government – that they are unfit
to be free and incapable of self-government.
15. What have Texans done and how have Texans acted? Why do Texans feel they have
no other choice but to declare independence? Who is right and who is wrong?
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