Ted Poe: “As I mentioned earlier, I believe history is something that we should remember and talk about. Today, is March 6. It…”

“As I mentioned earlier, I believe history is something that we should remember and talk about. Today, is March 6. It probably doesn't mean much to a lot of folks in the United States, but to those of us from the State of Texas, March 6 is an important day. I want to put it in context. There are 3 important, very important days for those of us from Texas, March 2, March 6, and April 21, and I will get to the significance in just a moment. Many, many years ago, parts of Texas, Mexico, Central America, and even South America, were controlled by the European country of Spain. It controlled all of that area. The people of Mexico decided that they wanted to have their own independent country. It sounds familiar, does it not? They rebelled against the Spanish, and they formed the Republic of Mexico. They established a Constitution. It was called the Constitution of 1824. As sometimes happens with new democracies, the President takes over. His name was Santa Anna. Santa Anna, when he took power legally, constitutionally, under a democratic regime, did what some dictators, unfortunately, still do. He abolished the government. He abolished the Constitution of 1824. He created a centralist, authoritarian government. But several areas, states, if you will, in Mexico dissented, objected, vocally objected, even rebelled.…”