DH> Did not Texas write a new constitution after reconstruction? If they
DH> did not, then I can only assume that the current constitution has the
DH> support of a majority of Texans. IOW the current constitution is legal
DH> and your claims are nothing more than pipe dreams.
 
     The 1872 Constitution was written for Texans by the post Civil War
military government.  The "ratification" process by which that
Constitution, which remains the present Consitution today, not only
excluded the bulk of Texas citizens because of their involvement in the
recent conflict, but also included votes by federal troops sent to hold
Texas under military law.  Texas, unlike most seccessionist states,
went through "reconstruction" twice.  In 1868 Texas was released from
martial law and allowed to elect it's own civilian government.  It
readopted the 1845 Constitution and then appealed to the United States
government for recognition of Texas independence.  That petition was
never answered and still sits before the US Congress.  In 1869, in
response to Texas appeal, Texas was replaced under martial law, the
elected government was disbanded, and we went though another three
years of military occupation, then only emerging after most Texans were
disenfranchised from the election process by more stringent application
of the Reconstruction Acts.
       It is true the 1872 Constitution that we have today is
considered the legitimate consitution of Texas, but it was not a
consitution that Texans either wrote or we ourselves approved.  It is a
legacy of the military occupation of Texas by the United States and is
a document that was forced upon us by that government.  It is also one
of the worst written constitutions in the western world with almost 300
amendments and used major universities as an example of how to not
write a constitution.
       The Treaty of Annexation and the Constitution of 1845 were a
solomn agreement between the people of Texas and the people of the
United States.  Those documents represent the last voluntary agreements
between our nations and no agreement since that time has been without
the use of military force by the United States against our people. 
 
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