| |
| |
|
|
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
|
|
|
WHEREAS, July 4, 2026, marks the 250th anniversary of the |
|
|
adoption of the Declaration of Independence by the Second |
|
|
Continental Congress, which was convened in Philadelphia in 1776; |
|
|
and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Beginning in the 1760s, Great Britain's taxation and |
|
|
frontier policies became increasingly onerous to residents of its |
|
|
13 North American colonies; their vigorous protests were met with |
|
|
declaration of martial law in Massachusetts and the closing of the |
|
|
port of Boston; delegates from colonial governments met in a |
|
|
Continental Congress to organize a boycott of British goods; as |
|
|
fighting broke out between colonists and British troops in |
|
|
Massachusetts, the Continental Congress coordinated resistance |
|
|
efforts; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, The prospect of reconciliation with Britain grew |
|
|
increasingly unlikely; on December 22, 1775, the British Parliament |
|
|
prohibited trade with the colonies, and the Continental Congress |
|
|
responded the following April by opening colonial ports; Thomas |
|
|
Paine championed the cause of independence in a widely-distributed |
|
|
pamphlet, Common Sense, and on June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee |
|
|
introduced a motion in the Continental Congress to declare |
|
|
independence; although not all members were ready to make this |
|
|
break, the Continental Congress formed a committee to write such a |
|
|
declaration, composed of five delegates: Thomas Jefferson, John |
|
|
Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, and Benjamin Franklin; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Mr. Jefferson, a junior delegate from Virginia, was |
|
|
assigned to write the initial draft; drawing on George Mason's |
|
|
Virginia Declaration of Rights, as well as Mr. Jefferson's own |
|
|
drafts of the Virginia Constitution and Summary View of the Rights |
|
|
of British Americans, Mr. Jefferson produced a rough draft in a |
|
|
matter of days; Mr. Adams and Mr. Franklin made revisions, followed |
|
|
by the full committee, which then presented the final version to the |
|
|
full Continental Congress on June 28; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, After voting for independence on July 2, 1776, the |
|
|
Continental Congress made 39 additional revisions to the committee |
|
|
draft; on the morning of July 4, the Declaration of Independence was |
|
|
adopted, a defining moment in the American Revolution; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, The Declaration of Independence consists of 27 |
|
|
grievances against England's King George III in which the colonists |
|
|
outline the complaints that "impel them to the separation" from the |
|
|
"mother country"; among the most familiar and enduring protests has |
|
|
been against the oft-repeated "taxation without representation"--a |
|
|
refrain that continues in use today in various contexts; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, Additionally, the Declaration of Independence |
|
|
asserts "Laws of Nature and of Nature's God" to which a people are |
|
|
"entitle[d]," including the belief that "all men are created equal, |
|
|
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable |
|
|
Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of |
|
|
Happiness"; and |
|
|
WHEREAS, The Declaration of Independence provided a firm and |
|
|
enduring foundation for our liberty, and over the course of nearly |
|
|
two and a half centuries, this pivotal document has been a source of |
|
|
inspiration to people the world over; now, therefore, be it |
|
|
RESOLVED, That the 89th Legislature of the State of Texas |
|
|
hereby commemorate the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the |
|
|
Declaration of Independence, which founded the United States of |
|
|
America on July 4, 1776. |