The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 30, July 1926 - April, 1927 Page: 244
330 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
It is unfortunate that facts concerning the sitting of the com-
mittee and the drafting of the declaration have not been ascer-
tained. However, authorities that have referred to the author-
ship of the declaration have ascribed that honor to the credit of
the chairman, George C. Childress. It may be said with some
certainty that Childress was the one of the committee best fitted
for the phrasing of the document. 1VfcKinney's schooling had
been limited to six months when a mere boy-an experience com-
mon to many outstanding men of that day and since.s Gaines,
too, as clearly indicated by his letters, had been educated only in
the "school of experience." There is no available evidence that
Conrad was qualified for such a task, although he possessed more
than average training as evidenced later by his assignment to duty
as an army enlistment officer,1" and his resolution in the con-
vention.
Bailey Hardeman possessed legal training, but he had been out
of touch with affairs of state while with the military and may be
considered as not having been endowed with the initiative o re-
quired to prosecute such an effort.
Childress, as has been stated, had been trained in law, and was
experienced in writing as an attorney and newspaper editor. His
addresses in Tennessee in behalf of Texas are a fair index to his
ability with the pen. Certainly, his ability as an extemporaneous
speaker was unusual, and his association before the bar at Nash-
ville was with such men21 as enriched his experience in statesman-
ship. His letters were good evidence of his command of form
and of his ability to express his ideas.22 Writing was, he once
modestly admitted in a letter to President Lamar, not a task for
him. He said, "I write mechanically, with dispatch, and have
been somewhat in the practice of composition."''3
W. P. Zuber, a contemporary who visited the convention on
"1Mrs. W. C. Bryant, Anna, Texas, a direct descendant of McKinney,
to the -author, January 18, 1926.
"Gray, Diary, May 6, 18'36.
"According to James Power, delegate to the Convention, quoted by
Dixon in The Men Who Made Texas Free, 299-300.
"Felix Grundy, A. V. Brown, N. S. Brown, John Catron, James K. Polk
and others were lawyers at Nashville at this time.
"See any of his letters quoted in this paper, for instance.
"Childress to General M. B. Lamar, June 9, 1841.244
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 30, July 1926 - April, 1927, periodical, 1927; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth117142/m1/270/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.