The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 62, July 1958 - April, 1959 Page: 30
617 p. : ill., maps, ports. ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
area. Her refusal to admit the loss of Texas was not hidden from
the leaders of the new Republic. Fear of a renewal of the war
of 1836 motivated much of the foreign policy undertaken by
Texas in the six years after San Jacinto. The year 1842 merely
saw the culmination of those forces of enmity between the two
states which grew out of the frictions of those previous years.
The major source of irritation between the protagonists was
the question of the boundary line. The treaty of Velasco of May
14, 1836, stated that "The Mexican troops will evacuate the ter-
ritory of Texas, passing to the other side of the Rio Grande del
Norte."' A secret agreement was also concluded at the same time
between the Texas Republic and Santa Anna. Article IV of this
convention stated that "A treaty of commerce, amity and limits
will be established between Mexico and Texas, the territory of
the latter not to extend beyond the Rio Grande del Norte."2
These were the only definite commitments made with the captive
Mexican president concerning the boundary. The second agree-
ment, although definitive, left the matter open for some future
settlement. The legal worth of such instruments is questionable
since the Mexican Congress had previously declared that any
promises Santa Anna made as a captive would not be honored
by Mexico. Santa Anna's attitude concerning the boundary, aside
from the treaty, is worth noting because it reflects a completely
opposite point of view from that which he would assume in 1842.
While still a prisoner in 1836, he wrote to Houston that the line
of demarcation between the two countries "could easily be fixed
either by the River Nueces, the Rio Grande or some other point
of demarcation."3 Santa Anna also stated that Texas could never
be successfully rejoined to the Republic of Mexico and that it
would be foolhardy to try to recover a territory that was as worth-
less to Mexico as Texas had proven itself to be.'
On December 19, 1836, following the negotiations with Santa
1 For text of treaty of Velasco, see Henderson Yoakum, History of Texas from Its
First Settlement in x685 to Its Annexation to the United States in 1846 (2 vols.; New
York, 1855), II, 526.
2For text of Secret Agreement, see ibid., 528.
Santa Anna to Houston, November 5, 1836, quoted in Niles' Weekly Register,
April 23, 1842.
4Ibid.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 62, July 1958 - April, 1959, periodical, 1959; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101173/m1/48/: accessed April 25, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.