The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 5, July 1901 - April, 1902 Page: 43
370 p. : ill. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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The A nnexation of Tlexas and the Mexican War. 43
regarded as at the Aransas, the San Antonio, the Medina, and the
Nueces.
-I. H. Bancroft, who has compiled probably the most elaborate
history of Mexico extant, and who may be regarded as standard
authority on that subject, when discussing questions free from the
polar disturbance of the slavery issue, says, in Vol. I, History
North Mexican States and Texas, on page 375, "Coahuila, in the
17th century, was the region north of 26 between the Bolson de
Mapimi on the west and the Rio del Norte on the east."
Writing of a later period he says (Ibid., p. 604): "Coahuila
extended northeast across the Rio Del Norte, to the Medina, which
was generally regarded as the boundary between that province and
Texas."
How, when, or by what authority the boundary line was moved
from the Rio Grande to the Medina, he does not state; but, in a
note, says: "This boundary is not a satisfactory one. * * *
As a matter of fact there were no exact bounds, for none were
needed. * * * Why the Medina, rather than the Nueces or
Hondo, was generally spoken of as the boundary it is hard to
determine."
As Tamaulipas was not organized until after the middle of the
17th century, we have to rely upon the circumstances attending the
subjugation of that region and its organization into a province to
determine what was regarded as the boundary between that prov-
ince and Texas.
In this connection it must be remembered that the local affairs
of the provinces of Mexico under Spain were under the control of
a tripartite government, ecclesiastical, civil, and military, first one
and then another, particularly the military and ecclesiastical, per-
forming all the functions of government. Their jurisdictions,
functional and territorial, were different, and in speaking generally
of divisional lines there is uncertainty as to which is meant, mili-
tary, civil, or ecclesiastical.
When Jos6 de Escandon, a military subaltern at Quer6taro, was
commissioned to subjugate, settle, and organize the Tamaulipas
region, the extent of his operations north confined him to a dis-
tance which took him to the Rio Grande. When he reached that
point he stopped, but permitted Basterra, one of his captains, to go
on to the Nueces. This officer went as far east as the Guadalupe
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Texas State Historical Association. The Quarterly of the Texas State Historical Association, Volume 5, July 1901 - April, 1902, periodical, 1902; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101021/m1/49/?rotate=270: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.