"Some years ago when I was out of the Senate in the hospital, I wrote a book on eight U. S. Senators who I thought had set a standard for public service, who had served the public and not always their own private careers. One of those eight Senators, and I selected them from all sections of the United States, was a distinguished Texan, Sam Houston, and the reason I selected Sam Houston was because though he was a faithful son of Texas, he was also a faithful son of the United States and even though he strongly believed and helped found the Texas Republic, he journeyed to Tennessee to tell Andrew Jackson that he was leading Texas into the U. S. Union. Even in the end of the 1850's, when forces were dividing Texas from the Union, Sam Houston to the end of his career, even though his son finally was wounded at Shiloh, he fought for Texas as part of the United States. "--Amazon. com.