Page:History of the War between the United States and Mexico.djvu/59

Rh exhibited towards her, and forgetting what courtesy, in view of this fact, appeared to require at her hands, would listen to no terms — would hear no propositions. All intercourse was suspended, and no other course remained for the government of the United States to pursue, but that of asserting her title to the territory acquired, by an armed occupation. The boundary was left "an open question," as stated by Mr. Calhoun, in the treaty of 1844, and the joint resolutions of annexation asserted no claim to any territory except that "rightfully belonging" to Texas. Mexico chose not to enter into any negotiations on the subject of the boundary, and it was therefore necessary for the United States to decide for themselves, and to act upon that decision, until the matter was settled by negotiation.

The political limits of Texas Proper, previous to the revolution, "were the Nueces river on the west; along the Red River on the north; the Sabine on the east; and the Gulf of Mexico on the south." The dissolution of the Mexican confederacy, and her separation from the other states composing the federal association, gave her no greater extent of territory than what she already possessed; and her title to all accessions made subsequent to the revolution, must rest upon conquest and occupation, or the assent, express or implied, of the Mexican government. The advantages of the Rio Grande as a great natural military obstacle,