The book opens with a warning from the great Roman historian Tacitus about the Germanic barbarians, warning, "Freedom, however, and specious names are their pretexts; but no man has ever been ambitious to enslave another or to win dominion for himself without using those very same words." With this ominous opening, the Minister of War, Jose Maria Tornel, opens his defense of the Texas Revolution.

Entitled "Texas and the United States of America and their Relations with the Republic of Mexico," the book was published in 1837 to justify the loss of Texas and the failure of Mexico to crush the revolution. Join us as we learn more about the excuses and motivations that drove the Minister of War to issue the Tornel decree, one of the most influential but little-known documents driving the course of the Texas Revolution.