Who was Sam Houston?

Subscribe! New show on a new channel. Thanks for watching! Social Media Instagram: instagram.com/storyden_insta Twitter: @StoryDenHQ Facebook: facebook.com/StoryDenHQ/ Full text below: Texas The second largest state in the united states by size, only Alaska is bigger, and the second largest state by population after California. Texas has carved out it’s own identity with nearly 28 million people living in its borders. Texas was orignally part of Mexico, which itself was part of Spain. But that all changed in 1836. Spain recognized Mexican indepedence around the same time Texans wanted their own independance from Mexico. This chain of events all started in the 1820’s So Texas declared independance from Mexico as Mexico was dealing with Spain who was refusing to recognize Mexico’s independence from them, all while some dude name Samuel Colt was making a gun named “Texas” that would be used by Texans against Mexicans? Dang, that’s what I call a Text-Mess… The northern Mexican territory of Texas was sparsely populated So the Mexican Government made a deal they would later come to regret Mexico invited American settlers to immigrate to Mexico and work the land. One future Texan, Sam Houston, would hear the call and make his way west But right now he was little busy. You might recognize Sam Houston’s last name Spoiler Alert, it’s a giant city in Texas. But it didn’t start as the name of a giant city in Texas Sam Houston was born in Virginia He served his country honorably in the War of 1812 Rising from a private to a third lieutenant in the US Army Serving directly under the future President of the United States, Andrew Jackson. Andrew Jackson, by the way, had the nickname “Old Hickory” Which sounds like a flavor of Beef Jerky Andrew Jackson played an instrumental role in Sam Houston’s life He encouraged the young lieutenant to pursue a career in politics. Another Spoiler Alert-- Sam Houston pursued a career in politics. After the war Houston moved to tennessee for law school After getting all smart and stuff He was elected to congress for two terms Then got a promotion, kind of, when he was became the Governor of Tennessee. I know it’s not a “promotion”, but whatever He got a cool new job title Life got tough for Sam in Tennessee, though. He had a drinking problem and his marriage was not going so well Eventually he and his wife divorced so Sam picked up and eventually settled on Texas. He was married again, controversially to a Cherokee Woman named Tiana Rogers And they would arrive together crossing the Texas border in 1832 as illegal immigrants Mexico had banned immigration from America into Texas in 1830, but that didn’t stop anyone Tons of illegal immigrants poured into Mexico The Americans living in Mexico, some new and some old, began seeking independence And Sam Houston thought that was a great idea And became an active voice in the call for revolution And Texans listened Making today, March 2nd in 1836 the day Texas declared itself an independent country Separate from Mexico And not yet an American state With Sam Houston as its commander in chief and first president Giving Sam Houston two reasons to celebrate What was the other reason? It’s Sam’s 43rd birthday! That’s right. For his 43rd birthday Sam Houston got the independant country of Texas Not bad. Didn ’t even need to save the receipt for that one The declaration would be the foundation of the Texas Republic With Sam Houston as the first President of Texas He was also the third president of Texas Then later, when the Texas Republic became the the State of Texas Sam Houston would lead again as a Texas State Senator and as governor of Texas No wonder they named a city after him In fact Sam Houston is the only person in US history to be the governor of two different states. Tennessee and Texas. Sam Houston served as Governor for two years before he was removed from office for refusing to swear loyalty to the Confederacy as Texas seceded from the Union Today Sam Houston is remembered as a Texas Legend Which he definitely is. But in a lot of ways, Texas did for Sam Houston a lot more than Sam Houston did for Texas Texas Independance and the eventual running of the country, then the state, gave Sam a chance to be a legend. Without that opportunity we might not have a giant city in Texas named what it is today