Manifesto of the Committee of Vigilance and Safety of Houston

Abstract

Sam Houston served as General of the Texan Army in 1836 and went on to serve two terms as President of the Republic of Texas. His first term lasted from October 22, 1836, to December 10, 1838. The town of Houston was founded in 1836, named in his honor, and served as the capital of the republic during most of his first administration. After leaving office because the Constitution of the Republic of Texas barred a president from succeeding himself, Houston served in the Texas House of Representatives as a congressman from San Augustine from 1839 to 1841. Houston succeeded Mirabeau B. Lamar to a second term as president from December 12, 1841, to December 9, 1844. When Texas joined the union, Houston became one of its two United States senators, along with Thomas Jefferson Rusk, serving in the U.S. Senate from February 21, 1846, until March 4, 1859. (excerpted from Handbook of Texas Online, "Samuel Houston," http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/HH/fho73.html, accessed April 10, 2007).