The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 19, July 1915 - April, 1916 Page: 101
452 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Book Reviews and Notices 101
for half a century; the evolution of this idea and its importance
have not been fully appreciated. [3] The sale of Louisiana by
France having been consummated, Spain carried out an effective
plan for restricting the limits of the purchase; this has never re-
ceived adequate treatment. [4] The reason for Wilkinson's be-
trayal of Burr and for entering into the Neutral Ground Treaty has
been the subject of much discussion and various theories have been
advanced.; the truth of the matter seems to lie in the fact that
Wilkinson sold his services to the Spanish government while he
was stationed on the western frontier. [5] The activity of Spain
in making a boundary investigation, which was carried on even
during the Napoleonic occupation, has not previously received ade-
quate notice. [6] Historians have usually accepted the view that
the claim to Texas was given up in exchange for Florida. The
writer believes that the purchase of Florida was a foregone con-
clusion from early in 1818, and thereafter Adams yielded the
claim to Texas and advanced a claim to the Oregon country; it
would perhaps be more correct then to say that Texas was given
up in exchange for Spanish claims to the Oregon country.
"The writer disagrees fundamentally with the views of some his-
torians regarding the purity of Andrew Jackson's motives con-
cerning Texas. The operations of General Edmund P. Gaines on
the Sabine frontier in 1836 have never before been examined crit-
ically. Lastly, the Sabine boundary question during the period of
the Texas republic has heretofore been dismissed without com-
ment."
These points are suggestive, but several of them seem to the
reviewer to rest on insufficient evidence: It is always a safe
assumption that Wilkinson sold his services to the Spanish gov-
ernment whenever he could induce it to buy them, but the anony-
mous letter (pages 30-31) from the New York Spectator of June
7, 1807, in Monette's Mississippi Valley hardly affords a conclu-
sive explanation for Wilkinson's desertion of Burr. At best it
seems to leave the question pretty much where it was before. Even
granting its accuracy, why did Wilkinson now see the chance of
greater profit in alliance with Spain than in pursuing his earlier
plans with Burr? It is true, as Dr. Marshall shows (pages 58-
59), that Adams tried to get the 41st instead of the 42d parallel
for the boundary west of the mountains, and that the United
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 19, July 1915 - April, 1916, periodical, 1916; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101067/m1/110/?rotate=90: accessed April 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.