Document A (Modified) Texas Declaration of Independence (March 2,1836) [Adapted]
When a government has ceased to protect the lives, liberty and property of the people . . . it is the
right of the people to abolish such government, and create another one that will secure their
future welfare and happiness. General Santa Anna, has overturned the constitution of his country,
and now offers us the cruel option either to abandon our homes, or submit to the most intolerable
of all tyranny. The Mexican government has failed to establish any public system of education…
It denies us the right of worshipping the Almighty as we want to… It has demanded that we give
up our arms, which are essential to our defense… It has invaded our country both by sea and by
land, with intent to lay waste our territory, and drive us from our homes… It has encouraged the
merciless Indians to massacre the inhabitants of our defenseless frontiers…. We, therefore, do
hereby resolve and declare, that our political connection with the Mexican nation has forever
ended, and that the people of Texas do now constitute a free, Sovereign, and independent
republic…
Source Info: This is an excerpt from the Texas Declaration of Independence of March 2, 1836. It
was drafted in only one day by delegates to the Convention of 1836, which had been called by
leaders of the revolution to discuss the future of Texas (main author was an American named
George C. Childress).

3. Sourcing: What is the purpose of the document? How might this affect the
trustworthiness of the document as evidence for why Texans revolted?