PIML 96051403 / Posted to Patriot Information Mailing List:



[All of you subscribers outside of the "independent republican

State of Texas" (quoted from Texas Constitution) can breath a

great sigh of relief; hopefully this will be the last posting on

the subject of the Republic of Texas.  I have been spending far

too much time debating the subject of RoT.  Most of that has been

on the separate RoT mailing list but some has been posted on PIML.

With this posting, enough will have been said.  National and

international subscribers to PIML can relax their "delete"

finger.]  PIML



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               The Republic of Texas Movement - 

      a Dream of 'Quick-Fix' Liberty with No Foundation.

                                

                                

The Republic of Texas movement (which I abbreviate as RoT, for

short) is calling for Texas patriots to join in their dream of

'quick fix' liberty.  There is, regrettably, no quick fix for our

problems with our state and, especially, federal governments

having gone out-of-control.  We can regain control of our

out-of-control governments - but it will require hard work and

dedication.  RoT's dream is based on the myth that Texas was

never annexed as a state in the Union.  Many Texas patriots have

joined in this dream, almost to the point of becoming a political

religion - but the fact is that the dream has no foundation.



I purchased fifty copies of the new RoT magazine for sale in my

bookstore and asked Laurie Wiglesworth of WOAI Radio to see if she

could schedule the co-publisher, Wes Burnett, on Carl

Wiglesworth's talk show.  Then I eagerly read the magazine,

looking for the proof of RoT's claims.  When I did not find proof

in the magazine I read everything on the RoT internet web page.

When I did not find proof on the web page I asked for evidence of

RoT's claims April 30 on the RoT computer e-mail mailing list.

RoT has promised to answer my questions.  I'm still waiting for

answers.



First of all, we are talking about the geographical area known as 

"Texas" and the people who either were born there or who have 

lived there long enough to claim Texas citizenship.  All legalisms 

aside, there is only one physical "Texas" and only one physical 

"people of Texas."  The people of Texas have the inalienable right 

of self determination; which is to say that the current people of 

Texas have the right to alter, reform, or abolish their government 

in such manner as they may think expedient.  This means that, 

notwithstanding constitutions or the so-called "law of nations",

it has been in the past and is now up to the people of Texas to

choose the government they desire.  No outside group (such as the

federal government) or no subset of the people of Texas (such as

the RoT General Council) has the right to impose any form of

government upon the people of Texas.  No outside group or subset

of the people of Texas has the right to claim to be the government

of Texas until specific, limited powers of government are

delegated to that group or subset by the people of Texas.



RoT recently published a document on their internet web page.

This document, dated April 21, 1996, is entitled "Diplomatic

Notice of Perfection of International Relations Between the UNITED

STATES OF AMERlCA and the "Republic of Texas.""  I would think

that RoT would want to put forth their strongest arguments in a

document of this importance.  If this is all that RoT has to

offer, then RoT has no foundation at all.  I have moved from being

a RoT supporter to feeling that RoT is a dream of liberty which

will vanish when RoT supporters awaken to the fact that RoT has no

foundation.  Until this happens, Texas patriot energy and

resources are being diverted from useful causes which offer

opportunities for effective action. 



Paragraph one states:

That no clause of perpetuity or the right of annexation of a 

foreign nation ever existed in the Constitution of the united

States of America or within the Constitution of the Republic of

Texas in 1845 to perfect a permanent union in accord with the law

of nations either then or now in effect in accordance with the

Foreign Relations Law of the United States with respect to a Joint

Resolution dated March 1, 1845.



Even though the paragraph is worded to say that no clause of right

of annexation of a foreign nation existed in the federal

Constitution to effect a permanent union, what it suggests is that

nothing in the federal Constitution allows annexation of a foreign

nation.  This is untrue.  Article IV, Section 3 of the U.S.

Constitution states, "New States may be admitted by the Congress

into this Union . . ."  This is followed by three specific

limitations on this broad power, all three of which are concerned

with existing states, and none of which are concerned with foreign

nations.  Congress has the delegated power to annex Cuba or the

moon as a state if that seemed desirable, and the manner of

annexation is left up to the discretion of Congress.  



Annexation of a foreign nation would need to be accomplished by a

treaty with that nation which would require a two-thirds vote of

the federal Senate.  This was attempted in 1844 in regard to Texas

but the federal Senate rejected the proposed treaty by a vote of

thirty-five to sixteen.  This was a good thing, too, as the treaty

- if accepted by Texas - would have given all Texas government

lands to the federal government.



The next step was for the federal Congress to suggest to the

people of Texas that annexation would be possible if they chose to

rescind their status as a foreign nation and become a geographical

area with a state constitution (that was not a foreign nation)

which desired to be annexed by the federal government as a state

on equal footing with the other states.  In this scenario there

would be no need for a treaty or a two-thirds vote by the federal

Senate.  In fact, this scenario is very similar to the process

whereby most of the other states were formed from territories.



On 2/28/1845 the federal House and Senate voted to approve a Joint

Resolution that told the people of the Republic of Texas, in

effect, that if they would enact a new constitution to be a state

in the Union and that new state constitution was approved by the

federal Congress, then Texas could be annexed to the Union as an

equal state.



The Texas Congress voted on 6/23/1845 in favor of annexation.  A

Texas Annexation Convention, called for the purpose (as required

by the federal Joint Resolution), accepted the offer in the Joint

Resolution on 7/4/1845 by passing an Ordinance of annexation.  The

Annexation Convention wrote the 1845 Texas Constitution and

completed it on 8/28/1845.  The preamble states that the 1845

State Constitution was established "in accordance with the

provisions of the joint resolution for annexing Texas to the

United States" and the 7/4/1845 Texas Ordinance of annexation was

included as the last section of the 1845 State Constitution.  The

people of Texas voted on 10/13/1845 to approve annexation and to

enact the 1845 Texas State Constitution.



At this point the Republic of Texas ceased to exist and the

State of Texas came into being (subject to the approval of the

federal Congress).



On 12/16/1845 the federal House, on 12/22/1845 the federal Senate,

and on 12/29/1845 the federal President recognized Texas as a

state in the Union.



Paragraph 3 states:

That in February of 1861 the People and their agents of

delegation of Texas declared the invalid treaty of 1845, styled as

a joint Resolution of March 1, 1845, to be invalid in accordance

with the law of nations, and dissolved the union with the United

States of America, joined with the lawful states of the Union

known as the Confederate States of America, and made war on the

remaining members of the UNlTED STATES.



This is untrue.  In February of 1861 the people of Texas and their

state government did not declare the Joint Resolution (which was

not a treaty) to be invalid.  Instead they confirmed the validity

of Texas' status as a state in the Union and acted to repeal and

annul the 7/4/1845 Texas Ordinance of annexation so as to dissolve

the union they recognized as proper and lawful.



Paragraph 4 states:

That the Republic of Texas after the Civil War became a captured

nation of war under reconstruction and war powers, and thus

remained until by acts of the Sovereign aggregate body of Citizens

as described in the preamble to the Texas Constitution of December

29, 1845, in a political subdivision so declared and operational,

by acts in convention under the law of nations, the People and

Citizens of the Republic of Texas did lawfully dissolve the war

powers acts, and did so by reconstituting the common law for

remedy under a provisional government and developing a

foundational court system and full national character of

government for the nation of Texas;



All of this legalese apparently means that the Republic of Texas

after the Civil War became a captured nation of war under

reconstruction and war powers, and thus remained until Rick

McLaren and friends recently started generating pseudo-legal

paperwork.  The fact is that Texas was a captured nation of war

from 1865 until 1876, when the people of Texas chose to rejoin the

Union by freely voting to enact the 1876 Texas State Constitution.



As if it were not enough for the unelected "General Council of the

Provisional Government of the Republic of Texas", or RoT, to claim

to be the government of Texas and of the people of Texas, this

self-styled "government" has also taken it upon themselves to

enact "amendments" to the Texas Constitution.  Strangely, instead

of the 1836 Republic Constitution, they selected the 1845 State

Constitution to amend.  Someone needs to tell RoT that the people

of Texas enacted the Texas Constitution in 1876 and only the

people of Texas can enact a Texas Constitution - or amend a Texas

Constitution - or elect a Texas government; and there is only one

"people of Texas."  The RoT internet web page currently shows

the 1836 constitution being amended by amendments to the 1845

constitution, which is confusing.  The amendments to the 1845

constitution do not even attempt to change the sections of that

constitution which make Texas a state.



It is unfortunate that no one until now has publicly questioned

RoT's claims that Texas was never a state in the Union.

"Question authority" is always a good idea, even when the

authority being questioned is that of a pseudo-government.  The

actual Texas government seems to have decided to ignore RoT,

giving rise to more claims from RoT that RoT is legitimate because

it is being ignored (?).  What is even more unfortunate is that

many of the cream-of-the-crop of Texas patriots are accepting

RoT's claims at face value without taking the time to investigate. 



Fellow Texan patriots, be careful what you are swallowing.  RoT

has published in the RoT Magazine, ". . . anyone, citizens,

businesses, governments, or banks, holding money or credit for the

STATE OF TEXAS has legal authority to pay those funds directly to

the Republic of Texas . . ." and "Citizens have option to send

sales tax to Republic."  The $1,000 worth of sales tax you send to

RoT today will almost equal the $1,000+ worth of money from your

pocket which you will later be required to pay to the actual

government of Texas for sales tax plus penalty and interest.



I sincerely understand the intense desire on the part of Texas

patriots for a quick fix to get the federal government out of

Texas.  It is an unhappy fact that RoT has no quick fix to offer.

The only option that RoT can truly offer is the option for Texas

to again secede from the Union.  This option is always available

but I, for one, am not at this time desiring to accept the

consequences which would follow such an action.



The best answer I can perceive is to elect patriots to the Texas

Legislature who will pass a Tenth Amendment Act and tell the feds,

in effect, "If you can't show Constitutional authority for your

attempted actions - then get the hell out of Texas!"  It is for

this primary reason that I am a candidate for District 45 of the

Texas House of Representatives.



Bill Utterback





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