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The following is a description of the addition to the State of Louisiana in terms of the act:

Beginning at the junction of the Iberville with the river Mississippi, thence along the middle of the Iberville, the river Amite, and of the lakes Maurepas and Pontchartrain, to the eastern mouth of the Pearl River; thence up the eastern branch of Pearl River to the thirty-first degree of north latitude; thence along the said degree of latitude to the river Mississippi; thence down the said river to the place of beginning, shall become and form a part of the State of Louisiana. (Twelfth Congress, first session.)

The north boundary of Louisiana was surveyed by a joint commission of the State and the United States.

TEXAS.

Texas declared its independence of Mexico in 1835. On December 29, 1845, it was admitted to the Union. As originally constituted, it embraced, besides its present area, the region east of the Rio Grande, now in New Mexico, extending north to the forty-second parallel, its eastern limits coinciding with the western limit of the United States, as laid down in the treaty with Spain of 1819. (See "Texas accession," p. 23.)

In 1848 the eastern boundary of the State was extended slightly, as noted in the following act:

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, That this Congress consents that the legislature of the State of Texas may extend her eastern boundary so as to include within her limits one-half of Sabine Pass, one-half of Sabine Lake, also one-half of Sabine River, from its mouth as far north as the thirty-second degree of north latitude.

In 1850 the State sold to the General Government for the sum of $10,000,000 that part lying north of the parallel of 36° 30′, and that portion lying west of longitude 103°, as far south as the parallel of 32°, as set forth in the following clause from the act of Congress relating to this transfer:

First. The State of Texas will agree that her boundary on the north shall commence at the point at which the meridian of one hundred degrees west from Greenwich is intersected by the parallel of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north latitude, and shall run from said point due west to the meridian of one hundred and three degrees west from Greenwich; thence her boundary shall run due south to the thirtysecond degree of north latitude; thence on the said parallel of thirty-two degrees of north latitude to the Rio Bravo del Norte, and thence with the channel of said river to the Gulf of Mexico. (Thirty-first Congress, first session.)

The following act defines the northern boundary of Texas:

AN ACT to authorize the President of the United States, in conjunction with the State of Texas, to run and mark the boundary lines between the Territories of the United States and the State of Texas.

Beginning at the point where the one hundreth degree of longitude west from Greenwich crosses Red River, and running thence north to the point where said one hundreth degree of longitude intersects the parallel of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north latitude, and thence west with the said parallel of thirty-six degrees

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and thirty minutes north latitude to the point where it intersects the one hundred and third degree of longitude west from Greenwich; and thence south with the said one hundred and third degree of longitude to the thirty-second parallel of north latitude; and thence west with said thirty-second degree of north latitude to the Rio Grande. (Thirty-fifth Congress, first session.)

The boundary line of Texas is as follows: Beginning in the Gulf of Mexico, at the outlet of Sabine Lake, the line passes northward through the middle of Sabine Lake and up the middle of Sabine River to the point where said river intersects the parallel of 32°; thence north along the meridian of that point of intersection to the point where said meridian intersects Red River; thence up Red River to the one hundredth meridian west of Greenwich; thence north on said meridian to the parallel of 36° 20′; west on said parallel to the meridian of 103° west of Greenwich; thence south on said meridian to the parallel of latitude of 32°; thence west on that parallel to its point of intersection with the Rio Grande; thence down the mid-channel of the Rio Grande to its mouth.

That portion of the east boundary between Red River and the Sabine was run and marked by a joint commission of the United States and Texas in 1841.

The boundary lines between Texas and New Mexico were run and marked in 1859-60, under the Department of the Interior.

ARKANSAS.

The Territory of Arkansas or Arkansaw, as it was originally spelled, was formed on March 2, 1819, from a part of Missouri Territory. The following clause from the act establishing it defines its limits in part:

All that part of the Territory of Missouri which lies south of a line beginning on the Mississippi River at thirty-six degrees north latitude, running thence west to the river St. François, thence up the same to thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north latitude, and thence west to the western Territorial boundary line, shall, for the purposes of a Territorial government, constitute a separate Territory and be called the Arkansaw Territory.

In 1824 an act was passed by Congress fixing the western boundary of the Territory. This was as follows:

AN ACT to fix the western boundary line of the Territory of Arkansas, and for other purposes. The western boundary line of the Territory of Arkansas shall begin at a point forty miles west of the southwest corner of the State of Missouri and run south to the right bank of the Red River, and thence down the river and with the Mexican boundary to the line of the State of Louisiana.

Four years later, in 1828, the following act was passed defining its southern boundary:

AN ACT to authorize the President of the United States to run and mark a line dividing the Territory of Arkansas from the State of Louisiana.

Commencing on the right bank of the Mississippi River at latitude thirty-three degrees north and running due west on that parallel of latitude to where a line running due north from latitude thirty-two degrees north on the Sabine River will intersect the same.

The south boundary was originally run in 1823, and again in 1843–45, by a joint commission of the two States of Arkansas and Missouri. The same year the following treaty changed materially the western line of the Territory, placing it in its present position:

TREATY WITH THE CHEROKEE INDIANS MAY 28, 1828.

ARTICLE 1. The western boundary of Arkansas shall be, and the same is, hereby defined, viz: A line shall be run, commencing on Red River at the point where the Eastern Choctaw line strikes said river, and run due north with said line to the river Arkansas; thence in a line to the southwest corner of Missouri.

The Eastern Choctaw line, referred to above, starts on the Arkansas River "one hundred paces west of Fort Smith, and thence due south to the Red River." (Treaty with Choctaw Nation, January 20, 1825.) This part of the west boundary was run and marked in 1825, and that part from Fort Smith to the southwestern corner of Missouri in 1831. The entire western boundary was resurveyed and re-marked in 1877.

Arkansas was admitted as a State June 15, 1836.

The following extracts from the enabling act, and from various constitutions, give statements of the boundaries, differing slightly from one another, but, for the most part, only in wording:

CONSTITUTION OF ARKANSAS, 1836.

Beginning in the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi River on the parallel of 36 degrees north latitude; running from thence west with the parallel of latitude to the Saint Francis River; thence up the middle of the main channel of said river to the parallel of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north; from thence west to the southwest corner of the State of Missouri; and from thence to be bounded on the west to the north bank of Red River, as by acts of Congress and treaties heretofore defining the western limits of the Territory of Arkansas, and to be bounded on the south side of Red River by the Mexican boundary line to the northwest corner of the State of Louisiana; thence east by the Louisiana State line to the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi River; thence up the middle of the main channel of said river to the thirty-sixth degree of north latitude, the point of beginning.

Again, in the enabling act for Arkansas, 1836 (Twenty-fourth Congress, first session), the boundaries are found to be defined as follows: Beginning in the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi River, on the parallel of thirty-six degrees north latitude, running from thence west, with the said parallel of latitude, to the St. Francis River; thence up the middle of the main channel of said river to the parallel of thirty-six degrees thirty minutes north; from thence west to the southwest corner of the State of Missouri; and from thence to be bounded on the west, to the north bank of Red River, by the line described in the first article of the treaty between the United States and the Cherokee Nation of Indians, west of the Mississippi, made and concluded at the city of Washington, on the twenty-sixth day of May, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight; and to be bounded on the south side of Red River by the Mexican boundary line to the northwest corner of the State of Louisiana; thence east with the Louisiana State line to the middle of the main channel of the Mississippi River; thence up the middle of the main channel of the said river to the thirty-sixth degree of north latitude, the point of beginning.

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