George Childress

George Campbell Childress (January 8, 1804 – October 6, 1841) was a lawyer, politician, and a principal author of the Texas Declaration of Independence.

Childress called the convention to order and subsequently introduced a resolution authorizing a committee of five members to draft a Declaration of Independence.

The committee finished the drafting in only one day, leading many to believe that Childress had gone to the convention with a draft already prepared (as such, Childress is almost universally acknowledged as the primary author of the document and a newspaper article for his brother Wyatt's memorial states George wrote it in his brother's blacksmith shop).

The document is modeled closely on the United States Declaration of Independence, where most of the signatories had moved from, often illegally.

In despair following several unsuccessful attempts at establishing a law practice that would support his family, on October 6, 1841, while living in Galveston, Childress took a Bowie knife and committed suicide by cutting open his abdomen.