The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 7, July 1903 - April, 1904 Page: 183
xvi, 340 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Adjustment of the Texas Boundary in 1850. 183
of his brilliant triumphs. Clay, whose name had been associated
with so many pacific measures, remained to champion his last com-
promise, but that session virtually closed his long, distinguished
career. There were other eminent statesmen in both chambers,
many of whom lived to see the apprehended dissolution of the
Union become an accomplished fact and to participate in the legis-
lation of the Reconstruction period.
As before observed, upon this congress devolved the duty of
considering measures affecting the status of the new acquisition,
the most serious of which was the adjustment of the boundary
between Texas and New Mexico. As the Democrats had a majority
of only eight in the senate, while thirteen Free Soliers held the
balance of power in the house between 112 Democrats and 105
Whigs,' it was obvious that a fierce and protracted struggle would
ensue in the effort to secure a fair scheme of pacification.
To settle the disputed boundary, Mr. Benton introduced a bill
early in the session to retire the western limit of Texas to the
parallel of 102 degrees of west longitude, and the northern bound-
ary "from the frozen region of 42 to the genial clime of 34," two
and one-half degrees south of the Missouri compromise line, ced-
ing to the United State all the territory exterior to these limits.
The senator said that the territory which Texas claimed at the
time of her admission into the Union was too large. "She covers
sixteen degrees of latitude, and fourteen degrees of longitude.
She extends from 26 to 42 degrees of north latitude, and from 96
to 110 west longitude; that is to say, from four degree south of
New Orleans to near four degrees north of St. Louis, and from
the longitude of Western Missouri to the summit of the Rocky
Mountains. Her southeast corner is in the mouth of the Rio
Grande-region of perpetual flowers; her northwest corner is near
the South Pass in the Rocky Mountains-region of eternal snow."2
By the line Benton proposed, the boundary commenced about
three hundred miles, on a straight line, below El Paso, near the
mouth of the Pecos, and extended northward to the 34th degree
of north latitude, which he said conformed to the civil and geo-
graphical divisions of both countries.8
1 Cong. Globe, 31st Cong., 1st Sess., 1.
'Cong. Globe, 31st Cong., 1st Sess., 165.
&Ibid., 1380.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 7, July 1903 - April, 1904, periodical, 1904; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101030/m1/187/: accessed May 7, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.