Governor Wood to President Polk

Executive Office, Austin, October 6th, 1848

To His Excellency James K. Polk

President of the United States

Sir,

The people of Texas have observed with

much surprise the manifestation of a disposi-

tion on the part of some of the public men

of the Union, to deprive them of a large and

valuable portion of their territory, by prescribing

for this State new and hitherto unrecognized

boundaries; and their mortification is even greater

than their surprise, at the disregard of right

and the violation of faith involved in this

attempt.

That a certain boundary was determined

upon and clearly defined and prescribed as such

by the legitimate authority in Texas, is admitted

on all hands; and that this same boundary

was recognized by the Federal Government by

the most solemn acts, and on more than one

occasion, is capable of recorded proof.

From the very dawn of our revolution,

equally amidst the disasters and triumphs of our

arms in its progress, the Rio Grande from its

source to its mouth was insisted on as our

western boundary; and in the darkest hour of

that unequal struggle, a spirit so craven was

not to be found in our ranks, who would have

been satisfied with less. So univeral and radical