adequate treatment. The reason for Wilkinson's betrayal 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. The activity of Spain in making a boundary investigation, which was carried on even during the Napoleonic occupation, has not previously received adequate notice. 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 conclusion 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 historians regarding the purity of Andrew Jackson's motives concerning Texas. The operations of General Edmund P. Gaines on the Sabine frontier in 1836 have never before been examined critically. Lastly, the Sabine boundary question during the period of the Texan republic has heretofore been dismissed without comment. Thanks are due to the officials of the Bancroft Library. to Mr. Joseph C. Rowell, Librarian of the University of California, and to Mr. George T. Clark, Librarian of Leland Stanford Junior University, for many courtesies extended. Acknowledgments are also due to Professor Eugene C. Barker of the University of Texas, who read the proof and offered many valuable suggestions, to Professor Eugene I. McCormac of the University of California, and to Mr. Tom P. Martin for calling attention to important materials; to Dr. William Tappan Lum for structural criticisms, to Mr. William E. Dunn of the University of Texas, who gathered materials in Mexico, to Mr. E. W. Winkler, X Preface State Librarian of Texas, who furnished copies of important documents, to Mr. A. H. Allen of the University of California Press for many valuable suggestions, and to my wife, who aided in innumerable ways. The writer above all wishes to express his sincere appreciation of the assistance rendered by Professor Herbert E. Bolton, who gave him unstinted use of his collection of documents, who guided him when guidance was most necessary, who encouraged him in the hours of discouragement, and who unselfishly gave of time he could little afford to lose. THOMAS MAITLAND MARSHALL. Alameda, CALIFORNIA, September 28, 1914. xi |