National boundary

“ One of the most insuperable difficulties before the world at the present time is the lack of any central authority to which may be referred those matters of general and vital concern that affect the peoples of more than one nation. The peoples feel this lack. They are aware of the fact that industry, science, commerce, art, literature have all leaped the national boundary fence. ”

“ The history of civil government under such circumstances must necessarily be different from that of territory fully acquired by the national government. It is clear that it must connect, indissolubly, the question of a government with that of the boundary, and render any satisfactory solution of the former impossible until the settlement of the latter. The framing of any kind of a plan of government that would really be efficient without giving cause for offense to the partner to the title of the land must be a problem of the most difficult nature, as it was found to be. ”

“ For, in truth, just as a stone piller constitutes a boundary, not because it is a stone, but because of the place in which is stands, so a river is made the limit of nations, not because it is running water bearing a certain geographical name, but because it is water flowing in a given channel, and within given banks, which are the real international boundary. ”

“ And in Alaska the desirability of a better knowledge of our possessions has been emphasized by the fear of international complications on the boundary, which has resulted in a small appropriation by the Congress for surveys, with a view to obtaining a better knowledge of the country, whereby a more reasonable delimitation of the boundary can be made. ”

“ Gradually however natural features of the land lose value as national boundaries. This is the result of man’s progress, of the development of railways or wireless stations. It is the removal of natural obstacles; the conquest of distance by speed. All these advances tend to promote intercourse. They are opening the vista of a day when an international boundary will [328] have no greater importance in world affairs than the limiting line of a city plot. ”

“ Although an astronomical boundary once decided on and formally recorded in a treaty leaves no excuse for national quarrels as to its position, it is evident that its far-reaching and perhaps highly complex influences on the development of neighbouring peoples are likely to be such that the natural resources, conditions affecting transportation, etc., of the region through which it passes should be thoroughly understood before a final decision is reached. ”

“ We can easily understand that it requires no very marked natural boundary to form the line of division between nations which differ in language, religion, and descent, as in the case of European states. ”

“ Treaties with foreign states concerning changes of national boundaries are concluded by the Republic, after the consent of the Land thereby affected has been obtained. Boundary changes may be effected only by a law of the Republic, unless a mere rectification of boundaries in uninhabited areas is involved.
Article 118 (1) Germany forms a single customs and trade area, bounded by a common customs frontier.
(2) Territories of foreign states or parts of such territories may be included in the German customs area by treaty or convention. ”

“ In the absence of a violation of treaty, or of conflict with an act of the Congress, there can be no doubt as to the power of the state to establish such an aid to commerce. An undertaking of this character by the state falls within the familiar category of cases in which a state may make reasonable provision for local improvements until its authority is superseded by dominant Federal action. [13] The fact that the stream forms part of the international boundary does not make this principle inapplicable. ”

“ Justice Story, after observing that 'it is a part of the general right of sovereignty belonging to independent nations to establish and fix the disputed boundaries between their respective territories, and the boundaries so established and fixed by compact between nations become conclusive upon all the subjects and citizens thereof, and bind their rights, and are to be treated, to all intents and purposes, as the true and real boundary,' adds: 'This is a doctrine universally recognized in the law and practice of nations. ”

“ I therefore recommend your early adoption of the legislation in the same direction necessary on the part of this Government.
The joint commission for determining the boundary line between the United States and the British possessions between the Lake of the Woods and the Rocky Mountains has organized and entered upon its work. It is desirable that the force be increased, in order that the completion of the survey and determination of the line may be the sooner attained. To this end I recommend that a sufficient appropriation be made. ”

“ We do not want you, and have no designs upon you, but—purely for the sake of argument, and talking as enlightened persons—is it not rather fantastic? Is a boundary-line such an object in itself? May not a good deal that has stood for patriotism in the past be a mere provincial narrowness? ”

“ No new state boundary is being created, but a State which qualifies simply is being given the same area it had when it entered the Union. Unlike the three-mile grant where this Court held that Congress left boundary definitions up to it, here Congress granted land the boundaries of which are determined by fixed historical facts. ”

“ To the intrinsic difficulties of questions of boundary lines, especially those described in regions unoccupied and but partially known, is to be added in our country the embarrassment necessarily arising out of our Constitution by which the General Government is made the organ of negotiating and deciding upon the particular interests of the States on whose frontiers these lines are to be traced. ”

“ To contrast our position thirty years ago, under the old common law of England, with that we occupy under the advanced legislation of to-day, is enough to assure us that we have passed the boundary line—from slavery to freedom. We already see the mile-stones of a new civilization on every highway. ”

“ In stating the position of the Government of the United States, he declared that to determine the true boundary line was its right, duty, and interest. He recommended that the Government itself appoint a commission for this purpose, and he asserted that this line, when found, must be maintained as the lawful boundary. Should Great Britain continue to exercise jurisdiction beyond it, the United States must resist by every means in its power. "In making these recommendations I am fully alive to the responsibility incurred, and keenly realize all the consequences that may follow." ”

“ The gradual settlement of the country by industrious and moral people, a strict and friendly observance of the terms of the treaty, a selfimposed system of government suited to existing needs, a final settlement of the boundary that would preserve the territory that rightly belonged to the United States, and a final incorporation into the nation when possible, would seem to express his position. ”

“ By the constitution, as is now well settled, the United States, having rightfully acquired the territories, and being the only government which can impose laws upon them, have the entire dominion and sovereignty, national and municipal, federal and state, over all the territories, so long as they remain in a territorial condition. ”

“ Any man that knew his right hand from his left, and who could follow a ridge, and not get off of it to cross any water flowing to the right or the left, could trace the boundary, and establish it in the very words of the treaty. ”

“ Nations must, of necessity, submit their rights to these great alterations which nature predisposes and consummates. * * * But when the change is not total, but progressive only,-that is to say, when the river does not abandon either state, but only gradually shifts its course by accretions, then it continues still to be the boundary, and the augmentation of territory which one country gains at the expense of the other is to be held by it as a new acquisition of property.' Derecho Internacional, tom. ”

“ Year after year they had memorialized Congress, asking the Government to take pity on them, and give the necessary notice to Great Britain that the convention of mutual occupancy was at an end. After repeated disappointments from promises long deferred in fulfillment, in 1846 the desired notice was given, and a few months after the boundary question was settled: the United States retaining the whole of the territory south of the forty-ninth parallel, and giving up their claim to the coast lying north of that and south of the fifty-fourth parallel—thus, no doubt, averting bloodshed. ”

“ It is said, rather, that the order actually was designed to affect only the White River Valley lands-lands which are some nine miles south of the 'first standard parallel north.' That interpretation of the intent of the framers of the order would make the northern boundary of the Executive Order land coterminous with the northern boundary of the true treaty reservation. ”

“ A land boundary between two States is an easily understood concept. It marks the place where the full sovereignty of one State ends and that of the other begins. The concept of a boundary in the sea, however, is a more elusive one. The high seas, as distinguished from inland waters, are generally conceded by modern nations to be subject to the exclusive sovereignty of no single nation. ”

“ This is the case to the present day; our patience is now entirely worn out; you see the difficulties we labor under, so that we cannot, at present, rise from our seats and attend your council at Venango agreeable to your invitation. The boundary line we pointed out we think is a just one, although the United States claim lands west of that line; the trifle that has been paid by the United States can be no object in comparison to what a peace would be. ”

“ Provided the United States had accepted our proposed boundary line, we should have sent immediately to our Western brethren, who know our sentiments, and we should have attended your council and confirmed it.
"Brothers: Make your minds easy; but, in consequence of the importance of your speech, we must have time to deliberate very seriously upon it; we cannot give you an immediate answer; we must have a general council of all the Chiefs; only a few are now present, and we should all be together. ”

“ A change in the federal territory, which is at the same time a change in State territory, just as the change of a State boundary within federal territory, can, apart from peace treaties, only be effected by corresponding constitutional laws of the Federation and the State whose territory undergoes change. ”

“ Sincerely desirous of living in their peace, of cultivating it by every act of justice and friendship, and of rendering them better neighbors by introducing among them some of the most useful arts, it was necessary to begin by a precise definition of boundary. ”

“ Some one must determine when and how far the people of a territory, part of our national domain, can be entrusted with governing powers of a local nature, and when the broader powers of statehood shall be conferred. ”

“ The Senate, February 9, voted to strike out the fifth article of Rufus King's boundary convention, and to approve the other articles, which provided for fixing the disputed boundary-line of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont. ”

“ In arcifinious lands, where the bounds are formed by nature, any gradual change in the course of the river makes a change also in the boundaries of territory, and whatever accession is given by the river to one side, it will belong to the possessor of the land on that side. Because the respective nations are supposed originally to have taken possession of those lands, with an intention of making the MIDDLE of that river, as a natural boundary, the line of separation between them. ”

“ PURPOSES.--The chief purposes of the territorial government are to give the people the protection of the law, and to prepare the Territory for admission into the Union as a State. A State is a member of the Union, with all the rights and privileges of self-government; a Territory is under the Union, subject at all times, and in all things, to regulation by the government of the United States. ”

“ The Government of the United States, by a friendly interposition of good offices, succeeded in prevailing upon the parties to place their reliance upon some form of pacific settlement. Accordingly, on the friendly suggestion of this Government, the two Governments empowered commissioners to meet at Washington in conference at the State Department in order to arrange the terms of submission to arbitration of the boundary controversy. ”

“ If the ultimate right of Congress, after the formation of a new State, to alter the boundary be doubted, they have a right to remove all doubts by so declaring at this time. It is certain that at present great inconvenience would arise from drawing the boundary as fixed in the resolution.
The population of the Territory does not amount to that which is sufficient to give it admission into the Union. He had, however, no disposition to oppose its admission, notwithstanding this circumstance. The population in the Eastern State does not exceed forty-five thousand. ”

“ That the United States in Congress assembled shall have the sole and exclusive right and power to ascertain and fix the western boundary of such States as claim to the Mississippi or South Sea, and lay out the land beyond the boundary so ascertained into separate and independent States from time to time as the numbers and circumstances of the people thereof may require. ”

“ The lieutenant-governor of New Brunswick, in calling upon the governor of Maine for the recall of the land agent and his party from the disputed territory, and the British minister, in making a similar demand upon the Government of the United States, proceed upon the assumption that an agreement exists between the two nations conceding to Great Britain, until the final settlement of the boundary question, exclusive possession of and jurisdiction over the territory in dispute. ”