John Cornyn: “I thank my desk mate and member of the freshman class of 2002 in the Senate, Lamar Alexander, for his comments and his…”

“I thank my desk mate and member of the freshman class of 2002 in the Senate, Lamar Alexander, for his comments and his friendship and his great service, not only on behalf of Tennessee but on behalf of the Nation. He did make a very appropriate observation about the connection between the people of the State of Tennessee and Texas. Some have said many of the people who populated Texas were evading their creditors in Tennessee, which is one reason for their going to Texas in the first place, where they believed there would be great opportunity. With a land the size of Texas, with the opportunity to till the soil and take risks and perhaps reap the rewards of that risk, many people came from all over the United States--indeed, the world--to Texas. One great Tennessean--and I want to just make this comment while Senator Alexander is here--with whom I am proud to connect myself is Sam Houston, who was a distinguished figure in Tennessee before he came to Texas, then served as Governor, President of the Republic, and whose seat in the U.S. Senate I now hold. When Texas was annexed to the United States of America in 1845, Thomas Jefferson Rusk, a former member of the Texas Supreme Court at that time, and Sam Houston, came to Washington to represent the State of Texas.”