William H. Wharton, an American politician and diplomat, played a significant role in Texas history as one of the signers of the Texas Declaration of Independence. His diplomatic efforts to secure recognition for the Republic of Texas abroad were instrumental in establishing its sovereignty. Wharton's contributions to Texas statehood and diplomacy are commemorated in the annals of American history.
"I pass over the toil and suffering and danger which attended the redemption and cultivation of their lands by the colonists, and turn to their civil condition and to the conduct and history of the government."
"It is equally demonstrable that so far as Texas is concerned, there have been equal confusion, insecurity and injustice in the administration of the State governments."
"In my last I contended that none of those ties which are necessary to bind a people together and make them one, existed between the colonists and Mexicans."
"Who of us knows or can by possibility arrive at a knowledge of the laws that govern our property and lives?"
"Who of us is able to read and understand and be entirely confident of the validity of his title to the land he lives on, and which he has redeemed from a state of nature by the most indefatigable industry and perseverance?"
"The lands granted were in the occupancy of savages and situated in a wilderness, of which the government had never taken possession, and of which it could not with its own citizens ever have taken possession."