Borders of Texas--Conclusion

A valley in Colorado near the source of the Rio Grande, the original western border of Texas. 

     Due to the efforts of Coronado and other Conquistadors, Spain was a super power by 1550.  For the next 200 years, the Spanish enjoyed a dominant world position, which began to erode by the mid 1700s.  Wars, revolutions, extravagance, inept rulers, and internal strife all depleted the vast fortune the nation had amassed.

     In 1788, Charles (Carlos) IV ascended to the Spanish throne, a job he didn’t particularly care for.  Consequently, he spent his days hunting, leaving the operation of the government to his wife and his trusted friend, the prime minister.  The queen and the prime minister dabbled in affairs of state and affairs with each other, and Spain continued to decay. Napoleon posed a growing threat, and outright rebellion was feared in the western colonies.  These external pressures, continued civil unrest, and the fear of bankruptcy forced the government into drastic action.

    Spain ceded Louisiana to France in 1800 to settle debts and escape conquest by Napoleon.  At that time, there was no clear border between Texas and Louisiana.  Spain owned everything west of the Mississippi River, and a large part of everything south of the Ohio River, making internal borders unnecessary.  Spain was weak and in a poor position to negotiate, and Napoleon promised never to allow the territory to fall into the control of any English-speaking nation, so a deal was struck.  Not one to allow a promise to interfere with a profit, three years later Bonaparte sold the whole thing to the United States for $12 million dollars.  All of a sudden, in 1803, the untrustworthy Anglos were next door neighbors and financially troubled Spain was forced to define and defend her borders.  

      General Andrew Jackson, sensing the Spanish weakness, obtained the Florida Territory simply by occupying it, then saying “Let’s talk.”  The talks resulted in the Adams-Onis treaty of 1819, which gave America all of Florida, all of West Florida, (which included southern sections of present day Alabama and Mississippi), and territory in the Pacific Northwest containing the current states of Washington and Oregon. In return for this territory, America paid $5 million compensation for property damage caused by American citizens who rebelled in Florida, and agreed to recognize the boundaries of Mexico and Texas.

     Even with the generous terms of the treaty, landowners in the south were furious.  They felt that the Texas border should have been pushed west to the Rio Grande.  With that simple change, Texas would have been included in the Louisiana Purchase, and the southerners would gain access to its rich cotton land.

      Jackson, however, was pleased with the outcome of his bluff.  When he was president, he sent his friend Sam Houston to Texas to attempt a similar ploy with the Mexicans.

     An important aspect of the Adams-Onis Treaty was the definition of the border between New Spain (Mexico/Texas) and the United States.  According to this treaty, the Mexico/Texas border followed the Sabine River from the Gulf of Mexico north to its source, and continued north to the Red River, and then west along that river to its intersection with 100W longitude.  The border turned north and followed the 100W line to its intersection with the Arkansas River, where it turned west along that river to its source in present day Colorado.  From the source of the Arkansas, the border went due north to 42 N latitude and then west along that line to the Pacific Ocean.  Spain owned outright this vast territory which eventually became ten western states.

     The Texas border, in 1819, followed the route of the Mexican border on the east and north sides, with the Gulf of Mexico on the south, and the Rio Grande River from the Gulf to its source on the west, dividing Texas from the rest of Mexico. At the source of the Rio Grande, the Texas border continued due north, across present day Colorado and into Wyoming where it terminated at the 42 N latitude.

     In 1821, Mexico gained its independence from a beleaguered Spain, took control of all this territory, and continued foolhardy efforts to establish American colonies in Texas.  The Mexicans wanted Anglo colonists to provide a buffer zone between the dreaded Comanche and good Mexican citizens.  That plan didn’t work out very well.

     Colonists from America believed they carried inalienable rights with them when they crossed into Texas—the Mexican government had no patience with such strange Anglo notions.  The ruling class in Mexico made the rules and the peons abided by them.  Discussion was not allowed.  A revolution was not only predictable, it was inevitable.

     When Texas won its independence from Mexico in 1836, Texas claimed its southern and western border was the Rio Grande River, while Mexico insisted the Nueces River was the border.  In 1841, during Mirabeau Lamar’s tenure as Texas President, he sent an expedition to Santa Fe to proclaim New Mexico the property of Texas.  Under the less than inspired leadership of Colonel Hugh McLeod, the expedition was captured and imprisoned in Mexico.  Texas claimed New Mexico as its territory, but lacked the military strength to enforce that claim.  Mexico still claimed Texas, and planned to take it back, just as soon as it got its stuff together.

      The United States and the Republic of Texas reached an agreement, and Texas became the twenty-eighth state on December 29, 1845.  Two weeks after the admission of Texas to the Union, U. S. President James Polk sent troops under the command of Zachary Taylor to South Texas.  America had the will and the military strength to insure the border of Texas was set at the Rio Grande.  Polk realized a war with Mexico could be the cheapest way to fulfill America’s “Manifest Destiny.”

      Hostilities started in the summer of 1846, and ended in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.  With this treaty, our old friend Santa Anna sold the United States all Mexican holdings north of the Rio Grande to the Pacific Ocean for the sum of $18.25 million.  America now stretched from sea to shining sea.

     The current borders of the State of Texas were finally established, oddly enough, by the Compromise of 1850, an agreement made in the U.S. Congress between the slave states and the abolitionists.   This agreement postponed the Civil War for a few years, and addressed the borders of Texas.  Cash-strapped Texas ceded its claim to half of New Mexico, one third of Colorado, and parts of Kansas, Wyoming, and Oklahoma for a total payment of ten million dollars.   After heated debate, the U. S. Senate determined the boundaries between Texas and the adjoining states. The panhandle of Oklahoma, which separated Texas from Kansas, was disputed territory for a period of time, but was eventually awarded to Oklahoma.

      Two years later, in 1852, the North Fork of the Red River was discovered and, of course, Texans claimed the border followed that fork and planned to add another county to Texas.  Okies screamed like smashed panthers and the U.S. Supreme Court placed the border along the South Fork of the river and awarded the disputed territory to Oklahoma.

      Texas could have used better lawyers. They lost every single border dispute with Oklahoma, and, because the whole area is covered with oil wells, there were many.  Continuous border disputes between Texas and Oklahoma have been resolved by the courts, and the border is now officially along the south bank of the Red River, which the courts say is the more stable bank.  That solution places the capricious river, and all the oil under it, in Oklahoma.  The last border dispute with Oklahoma was finally settled in August of 2000, and signed by Texas Governor George W. Bush.  This settlement placed the border as it crossed Lake Texhoma nearer to the southern shore.  Surprise, surprise!