Jay Wallis (WFAA)
Tejano Jose Antonio Navarro helped write the constitution that gave Texas its independence and eventually made it the 28th state of the United States.
The son of Ángel Navarro and Josefa María Ruiz y Peña, Navarro was born in the Viceroyalty of New Spain on Febraury 27, 1795. This area is now known as San Antonio.
Navarro had political roots in the family and 11 siblings. Navarro taught himself law and built himself up into a successful merchant, rancher and land investor.
Navarro served as a leader in the Texas Revolution in the early 1830s. While many of his friends and peers fought at the Battle of the Alamo, Navarro was at Washington on the Brazos working to bring Texas its independence.
Not only was Navarro the only native Texan to serve on the committee that wrote the Constitution for the Republic of Texas, he was one of only two native Texans who helped draft and sign the Texas Declaration of Independence.
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