89R21149 KSM-D
By: Lowe H.C.R. No. 123
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
WHEREAS, July 4, 2026, will mark the 250th anniversary of the
adoption of the American 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.