Samuel Maverick - Texas Congress

Texas Congress

By June, Maverick had returned to San Antonio on court and land business. He was reelected to the Texas House of Representatives, gaining 202 votes, the highest total of the 3 candidates. As part of the 8th Texas Congress, Maverick and his colleagues met at Washington-on-the-Brazos rather than at the state capital, Austin, which was vulnerable to Indian and Mexican raids. In his time in office, Maverick helped pass a bill, over President Sam Houston's veto, which repealed Houston's ability to grant colonization contracts. Maverick added a clause specifying that previously granted contracts would be forfeited if their terms were not met in the future. As chair of the Enrolled Bills Committee, he helped certify which bills were correctly submitted to the President. He was also a member of the Finance, Public Lands and Indian Affairs committees, as well as the committee on Foreign Relations, which castigated Houston for not providing information to the Congress on his annexation negotiations with the United States.

One may note conflicting reports as to whether Maverick signed the Declaration. While his name is among those omitted from the print published version, his signature clearly appears on page 11 of the hand-written original as "Saml. A Maverick (from Bejar)."