Talk:Miller County, Arkansas Territory

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Abolishment Date[edit]

Many online sources say that Miller County was abolished in 1838, but I've been unable to find a source that specifies a particular date.

The general picture as I understand it: an 1819 treaty defined the U.S.–Mexico border on paper, but it remained unsurveyed for a long time. Uncertainty on the ground lead to large overlapping claims of jurisdiction. In 1836 when Arkansas became a state and Texas became an independent country, the Mexico & Arkansas Territory dispute became a Republic of Texas & Arkansas State dispute. From 1836 to 1838, Texas and Arkansas jokeyed for control of the Miller County area; Texas established two counties on the same territory (Red River and Fannin); Arkansas made it a misdemeanor for a resident of Miller to hold elected office in Texas. Public sentiment was largely with Texas. In 1838, the U.S. and Texas agreed to honor the 1819 border agreement and to jointly survey the line [1]. Prior to the completion of that effort, possibly sometime in late 1838, Arkansas abolished Miller County, apparently accepting Texas's claims to the western portion and incorporating the remaining, easternmost portion into its Lafayette County. But the joint U.S.–Texas survey which affirmed this division wasn't concluded until three years later in 1841.

Good sources are here [2] (see p.29) and here [3] (see p.110, footnote 53). It would be helpful if someone can make sense of all this for the article and pull in a conclusive citation for the actual Arkansas legislative act finalizing this episode. --Joseph Hewes (talk) 08:29, 7 May 2012 (UTC)[reply]

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