Whereas by an act of the Congress of the United States of the 9th of
September, 1850, entitled "An act proposing to the State of Texas the
establishment of her northern and western boundaries, the relinquishment
by the said State of all territory claimed by her exterior to said
boundaries and of all her claims upon the United States, and to
establish a Territorial government for New Mexico," it was provided that
the following propositions should be, and the same were thereby, offered
to the State of Texas, which, when agreed to by the said State in an act
passed by the general assembly, should be binding and obligatory upon
the United States and upon the said State of Texas, provided the said
agreement by the said general assembly should be given on or before the
1st day of December, 1850, namely:
"First. The State of Texas will agree that her boundary on the north
shall commence at the point at which the meridian of 100° west from
Greenwich is intersected by the parallel of 36° 30' north latitude, and
shall run from said point due west to the meridian of 103° west from
Greenwich; thence her boundary shall run due south to the thirty-second
degree of north latitude; thence on the said parallel of 32° of north
latitude to the Rio Bravo del Norte, and thence with the channel of said
river to the Gulf of Mexico.
"Second. The State of Texas cedes to the United States all her claim to
territory exterior to the limits and boundaries which she agrees to
establish by the first article of this agreement.
"Third. The State of Texas relinquishes all claim upon the United States
for liability of the debts of Texas and for compensation or indemnity
for the surrender to the United States of her ships, forts, arsenals,
custom-houses, custom-house revenue, arms and munitions of war, and
public buildings with their sites, which became the property of the
United States at the time of the annexation.
"Fourth. The United States, in consideration of said establishment of
boundaries, cession of claim to territory, and relinquishment of claims,
will pay to the State of Texas the sum of $10,000,000 in a stock bearing
5 per cent interest, and redeemable at the end of fourteen years, the
interest payable half-yearly at the Treasury of the United States.
"Fifth. Immediately after the President of the United States shall have
been furnished with an authentic copy of the act of the general assembly
of Texas accepting these propositions, he shall cause the stock to be
issued in favor of the State of Texas, as provided for in the fourth
article of this agreement: _Provided also_, That no more than $5,000,000
of said stock shall be issued until the creditors of the State holding
bonds and other certificates of stock of Texas for which duties on
imports were specially pledged shall first file at the Treasury of
the United States releases of all claim against the United States
for or on account of said bonds or certificates in such form as
shall be prescribed by the Secretary of the Treasury and approved by
the President of the United States: _Provided_, That nothing herein
contained shall be construed to impair or qualify anything contained in
the third article of the second section of the 'Joint resolution for
annexing Texas to the United States,' approved March 1, 1845, either as
regards the number of States that may hereafter be formed out of the
State of Texas or otherwise;" and
Whereas it was further provided by the eighteenth section of the same
act of Congress "that the provisions of this act be, and they are
hereby, suspended until the boundary between the United States and the
State of Texas shall be adjusted, and when such adjustment shall have
been effected the President of the United States shall issue his
proclamation declaring this act to be in full force and operation;" and
Whereas the legislature of the State of Texas, by an act approved the
25th of November last, entitled "An act accepting the propositions made
by the United States to the State of Texas in an act of the Congress of
the United States approved the 9th day of September, A.D. 1850, and
entitled 'An act proposing to the State of Texas the establishment of
her northern and western boundaries, the relinquishment by the said
State of all territory claimed by her exterior to said boundaries and of
all her claims upon the United States, and to establish a Territorial
government for New Mexico,'" of which act a copy, authenticated under
the seal of the State, has been furnished to the President, enacts "that
the State of Texas hereby agrees to and accepts said propositions, and
it is hereby declared that the said State shall be bound by the terms
thereof, according to their true import and meaning."
Now, therefore, I, Millard Fillmore, President of the United States
of America, do hereby declare and proclaim that the said act of the
Congress of the United States of the 9th of September last is in full
force and operation.
[SEAL.]
Given under my hand, at the city of Washington, this 13th day of
December, A.D. 1850, and the seventy-fifth of the Independence of these
United States.