AP, Texas independence, urban legends, myths, lies

Let me spell out a few mistruths and half-truths that lie behind this Associated Press story on the 175th anniversary of Texas declaring itself independent from Mexico.

What came out of the discussions over a few days 175 years ago this coming week was the Texas Declaration of Independence, a handwritten document proclaiming Texas was freeing itself from its oppressive ruling government in Mexico. The declaration was modeled after the American Declaration of Independence authored 60 years earlier by Thomas Jefferson.

No other U.S. state has such a distinction.

Wrong.

Four U.S. states established themselves as independent republics before joining the United States: Vermont, California and Hawaii as well as Texas.

Otherwise? Vermont also had a declaration of independence. So did California, from Mexico. In both cases, I'm talking about official documents, just like in Texas.

I have e-mailed author Michael Graczyk at what I am guessing is his address, mgraczyk@ap.org. We'll see if I get a response.