Fifty-nine delegates gathered in a drafty, unfinished building at Washington-on-the-Brazos to sign a declaration modeled on America's own, accusing Mexican President Antonio López de Santa Anna of abandoning constitutional government. The declaration came just days before the Alamo fell, and it set the stage for a nine-year independent republic before annexation by the United States in 1845.
The convention that produced the Texas Declaration of Independence met under grim circumstances: word had already reached delegates that Santa Anna's army was marching north, and within days the Alamo would be under siege. Working through the night of March 1 into March 2, a committee chaired by George Childress produced a document echoing Jefferson's language of natural rights and self-government, listing grievances against Mexico's centralist turn under Santa Anna.
Sam Houston, who would soon leave the convention to take command of the ragtag Texian army, signed the declaration before departing for Gonzales. The delegates elected an interim government even as Mexican forces closed in, a remarkable act of political theater performed under existential threat.
The republic they founded would last less than a decade, but its symbols — the Lone Star, the memory of the Alamo, the myth of Texan exceptionalism — became foundational to state identity long after annexation. March 2 is still celebrated as Texas Independence Day, complete with parades and no small amount of state pride.