¹ For a general examination of such attitudes on his part, see Alamán’s, “autobiografía” in volume 4 of his Documentos diversos (inéditos y muy raros). 4 vols, (compilación de Rafael Aguayo Spencer; México, 1945–1947).Google Scholar Alamán’s complete writings are found in twelve volumes in the series entitled Colección de grandes autores mexicanos. In this collection are the Disertaciones (3 vols.), the Documentos diversos (4 vols.), and the famous Historia de Méjico (5 vols.). The invaluable Alamán papers in the Genaro García Collection in the Latin American Collection of the University of Texas Library are included in the Documentos diversos, as are the bulk of his official diplomatic dispatches, and, as noted, his autobiography.

² See Bemis’, Samuel Flagg excellent study, John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy (New York, 1949),Google Scholar for an analysis of Adams’ outlook on this question.

³ U.S., Congress, Annals of Congress: Debates and Proceedings in the Congress of the United States 1789–1824, 42 vols. (Washington, D.C., 1834–1856), 18th Congress, 1st session; 42: 2703.

⁴ Manning, William R., Early Diplomatic Relations Between the United States and Mexico (Baltimore, 1916), 7–8.Google Scholar

⁵ Ibid, 167. For Alamán’s correspondence with the Mexican representative in Washington, see U.S., National Archives, Department of State MSS, Record Group 59, Notes from the Mexican Legation, Washington, August-October 1823. See also the Alamán-Torrens correspondence in México, de Relaciones Exteriores, Secretaría, La diplomacia mexicana, 3vols. (México, 1910–1913), 2:9–45.Google Scholar

⁶ Alamán, to Torrens, , August 21, 1823, La diplomacia mexicana, 2:26–27 Google Scholar; Alamán, , Documentos diversos, 1:563–564.Google Scholar

⁷ Alamán, to Torrens, , October 1, 1823, La diplomacia mexicana, 2: 33–34 Google Scholar; Cue Canovas, Agustín, Historia política de México (México, 1957), 340.Google Scholar For further background reading concerning the boundary problem, see Brooks, P. C., Diplomacy and the Borderlands: The Adams-Onís Treaty of 1819 (Berkeley, 1939).Google Scholar

⁸ Alamán’s biographer has questioned his wisdom in accepting the position for a third time, particularly at this point. He observed that “if Alamán committed errors in his political career, one of the greatest of these was his participation in the ministry of a president who… is considered a fool.” See Valadés, José C., Alamán:estadista e historiador(México, 1938), 198–199.Google Scholar This monograph is the standard secondary account of Alamán’s life and is actually the only extensive work on him. There is no satisfactory study of Alamán available in English.

⁹ Smith, Justin H., The Annexation of Texas (New York, 1919), 8. Google Scholar

¹⁰ Ibid. See also Ward’s, Mexico in 1827, 2 vols. (London, 1829).Google Scholar

¹¹ Rippy, J. Fred, Joel R. Poinsett, Versatile American (Durham, N. C, 1935), 104.Google Scholar The identity of “Senator Brown” is still something of a mystery. At first, this writer concluded that Rippy meant Montfort Brown, a prominent figure in territorial activities in Mississippi. But he was never a senator. The person to whom Rippy probably referred was J. R. Brown, a state senator serving during this period. On the other hand, if Rippy was referring to the well-known Albert G. Brown, he was mistaken, for A. G. Brown did not attain prominence until a later period. Yet he is mentioned in the Dictionary of American Biography as a man of ability, learning, and means. For further information on the Browns see McLemore, R. D., ed., A History of Mississippi, 2 vols. (Jackson, Miss., 1973),Google Scholar Rowland, Dunbar, History of Mississippi, The Heart of the South, 4 vols. (Jackson, Miss., 1925),Google Scholar and the Archives of the State of Mississippi (1678 – ), containing provincial, territorial, and state archives, located in Jackson.

¹² Rippy, , Poinsett, 104–105.Google Scholar For Ninian Edwards’ letter of resignation, see U.S., National Archives, Department of State MSS, RG 59, Diplomatic Despatches, Mexico (hereafter cited as DDM), Edwards to John Quincy Adams, June 22, 1824.

¹³ Rippy, , Poinsett,105.Google Scholar

^l4 Valadés, , Alamán. 175. Google Scholar

¹⁵ Rippy, , Poinsett. 105–106.Google Scholar

¹⁶ Putnam, Herbert Everett, Joel Roberts Poinsett: A Political Biography (Washington, D.C., 1935), 68.Google Scholar

^l7 Burton, Theodore E. in The American Secretaries of State and Their Diplomacy, ed. Bemis, Samuel Flagg, 10 vols. (New York, 1927–1929), 4:133.Google Scholar

¹⁸ Britain, Great, Foreign Office, British and Foreign State Papers, 166 vols. (London, 1841– ),Google Scholar 2:985. The Spanish version can be found in Alamán, Documentos diversos, 1:122. Also see Manning, , Early Diplomatic Relations, 67–68,Google Scholar for further consideration of this obvious difference in feeling exhibited by Alamán.

¹⁹ Burton in American Secretaries of State, ed. Bemis, 4:133.

²⁰ Ibid., 4:133–134. The text of Clay’s first letter of instructions concerning these points, missing from DDM, can be consulted in British and Foreign State Papers, 26:830.

²¹ Delgado, Jaime, España y México en el siglo XIX, 3 vols. (Madrid, 1950), 1:302.Google Scholar

²² U.S., Congress, American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, 38 vols. (Washington, D.C., 1832–1861), 6:578–580, Doc. 454.

²³ Rippy, J. Fred, The United States and Mexico (Boston, 1926), 5; Poinsett, 106.Google Scholar

²⁴ Rippy, , United Stales and Mexico, 5.Google Scholar

²⁵ Delgado, , España y México. 1:302–303.Google Scholar

²⁶ Poinsett to Clay, June 4, 1825, DDM.

²⁷ Delgado, , España y México, 1:303.Google Scholar

²⁸ Niles’ Weekly Register, 28 (July 9, 1825): 294.

²⁹ Canovas, Cue, Historia política, 306–308.Google Scholar

³⁰ de Onís, José, Los Estados Unidos vistos por escritores hispano-americanos (Madrid, 1956), 163–164.Google Scholar

³¹ For an overall examination of United States-British rivalry in Mexico and its significance, see Rippy’s, J. Fred Rivalry of the United States and Great Britain Over Latin America (1808–1820) (Baltimore, 1929).Google Scholar

³² Mares, José Fuentes, Poinsett: historia de una gran intriga (México, 1958), 71, 72.Google Scholar On May 5, 1825, Poinsett had informed Clay that “the British Gov’t, has anticipated us” and revealed that the treaty was on the verge of ratification by the Mexican Congress. He obviously was disappointed. Poinsett to Clay, May 5, 1825, DDM. A copy of the treaty, signed by Alamán, Esteva, and Ward, is attached to Poinsett’s letter.

³³ Poinsett to Clay, June 18, 1825, DDM.

³⁴ Manning, William R., “Texas and the Boundary Issue, 1822–1829,” The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, 17 (1913): 226 Google Scholar; Marshall, Thomas Maitland, A History of the Western Boundary of the Louisiana Purchase, 1819–1841 (University of California Publications in History, 2; Berkeley, 1914), 76.Google Scholar

³⁵ Poinsett, to Clay, July 18, 1825, British and Foreign State Papers, 26:831.Google Scholar This communication is missing in DDM. For secondary accounts of the meeting, consult Zorrilla, Luis G., Historia de las relaciones entre México y Los Estados Unidos de America 1800–1958, 2 vols. (México, 1965), 1:65Google Scholar; Parton, Dorothy M., The Diplomatie Career of Joel Roberts Poinsett (Washington, D.C., 1934), 85–86 Google Scholar; and Canovas, Cue, Historia política, 342.Google Scholar Official minutes of this first meeting, if indeed any were made, are not extant. These secondary accounts apparently were based on Poinsett’s subsequent correspondence with Clay.

³⁶ Smith, Justin H., The War with Mexico. 2 vols. (New York, 1919), 1:60.Google Scholar

³⁷ Poinsett, to Clay, July 18,1825, British and Foreign State Papers, 26:831.Google Scholar This letter is missing in DDM.

³⁸ Manning, , Early Diplomatic Relations, 166, 170–171 Google Scholar; Mares, Fuentes, Poinsett, 70 Google Scholar; Zorrilla, , Historia de las relaciones, 1:68.Google Scholar For Poinsett’s letter of June 17 to Alamán, see DDM.

³⁹ Alamán to Poinsett, July 20,1825, DDM. If Alamán made personal records of these sessions, which would be the logical assumption, they have not yet been discovered by this writer. Research in the Alamán manuscripts in the University of Texas Library’s Latin American Collection holdings revealed no such records. Likewise, while I was in Mexico City on one of many research efforts, an intensive and thorough examination of numerous sources proved to be fruitless, and one archivist, Miss Gloria Grajales, expressed her doubt that they existed. An attempt on my part to gain access to the most important government documents of the period, housed inthe archives of the Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, was thwarted politely by a staff member of that agency. In a personal letter to me, the late Dr. Howard F. Cline explained the apparent reason for this occurrence: “One of the reasons you were denied access to that archive is that it is completely disorganized, and not knowing what is in it, Mexicans are very reluctant to let even their own researchers plow through the unsorted materials.” The above-mentioned sources consulted in Mexico City were housed, respectively, in the Archivo General de la Nación, in the Hemeroteca Nacional de México, and in the Biblioteca Nacional de México.

⁴⁰ Alamán to Poinsett, July 20, 1825, DDM.

^4l Valadés, , Alamán, 207.Google Scholar

⁴² Poinsett to Clay, July 27, 1825, DDM.

⁴³ Poinsett to Alamán, July 27, 1825, ibid.

⁴⁴ Poinsett to Clay, August 5, 1825, ibid.

⁴⁵ Alamán, to Poinsett, , August 10, 1825, British and Foreign Slate Papers, 26:835.Google Scholar This communication is missing in DDM. On the same day, Poinsett wrote Clay that Alamán was entirely devoted to England and was not inclined to “cultivate friendly relations with the United States.” Poinsett to Clay, August 10, 1825, DDM.

⁴⁶ Poinsett to Clay, September 20, 1825, DDM.

⁴⁷ Mares, Fuentes, Poinsett, 69 Google Scholar; Valadés, , Alamán, 205.Google Scholar

⁴⁸ Valadés, , Alamán, 208 Google Scholar; Manning, William R., “Poinsett’s Mission to Mexico: A Discussion of His Interference in International Affairs,” American Journal of International Law, 7 (1913): 794.CrossRefGoogle Scholar In his Mexico in 1827, Ward never alluded to Alamán, directly or indirectly. In view of Alamán’s position and influence, this omission of his name by Ward is proof enough of their personal dislike for one another.

⁴⁹ For Poinsett’s correspondence concerning his situation between late 1825 and 1829, see DDM. During this time Poinsett provoked the Mexican authorities on innumerable occasions due to his tendency to involve himself in their affairs. The most famous episode was that regarding Masonic controversy, which had deep political overtones. Also, his ideological exchange with the state legislature of Vera Cruz was rather noteworthy throughout both Mexico and the United States. For further discussion of Poinsett and his involvement in the Masonic controversy, see Rippy’s Poinsett, Chapter 9; for commentary on the Vera Cruz affair and on Poinsett’s mission to Mexico, see a series of articles in Niles’ Weekly Register, 33, throughout September 1827, and numerous editoriáls in El Sol (Mexico City) between 1827 and 1829.