Greer County, a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

created by the

Texas legislature The Texas Legislature is the state legislature of the US state of Texas. It is a bicameral body composed of a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives. The state legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin. It is a powerful ...

on February 8, 1860 (and was named for

John Alexander Greer John Alexander Greer (July 18, 1802 – July 4, 1855) was a Texan politician, and the second Lieutenant Governor of Texas serving under Governors George T. Wood and Peter H. Bell. Greer was born at Shelbyville, Tennessee on July 18, 1802. H ...

Lieutenant Governor of Texas The lieutenant governor of Texas is the second-highest executive office in the government of Texas, a state in the U.S. It is the second most powerful post in Texas government because its occupant controls the work of the Texas Senate and control ...

), was land claimed by both

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

and the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The region of Greer County is now in present-day Oklahoma.

Origin of the dispute

The dispute arose from a

map A map is a symbolic depiction emphasizing relationships between elements of some space, such as objects, regions, or themes. Many maps are static, fixed to paper or some other durable medium, while others are dynamic or interactive. Although ...

submitted with the

Adams–Onís Treaty The Adams–Onís Treaty () of 1819, also known as the Transcontinental Treaty, the Florida Purchase Treaty, or the Florida Treaty,Weeks, p.168. was a treaty between the United States and Spain in 1819 that ceded Florida to the U.S. and defined t ...

of 1819. The

treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations An international organization or international o ...

stated that the

boundary Boundary or Boundaries may refer to: * Border, in political geography Entertainment *Boundaries (2016 film), ''Boundaries'' (2016 film), a 2016 Canadian film *Boundaries (2018 film), ''Boundaries'' (2018 film), a 2018 American-Canadian road trip ...

between the French claims on the north and the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

claims on the south was Rio Roxo de Natchitoches ( Red River) until it reached the

100th meridian west The meridian 100° west of the Prime Meridian of Greenwich is a line of longitude that extends from the North Pole across the Arctic Ocean, North America, the Pacific Ocean, the Southern Ocean, and Antarctica to the South Pole. The 100th merid ...

as noted on John Melish's map published in 1818. The problem was that the 100th meridian on the Melish map was some east of the true 100th meridian and the Red River forked about east of the 100th meridian. Texas claimed the land south of the North Fork (red on the map) and the United States claimed the land north of the South Fork (blue on the map, later called the

Prairie Dog Town Fork Red River Prairie Dog Town Fork Red River is a sandy-braided stream about long, formed at the confluence of Palo Duro Creek and Tierra Blanca Creek, about northeast of Canyon in Randall County, Texas, and flowing east-southeastward to the Red River abou ...

''United States vs. State of Texas''

The dispute resulted in a

lawsuit - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil actio ...

, which was heard by the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

under its

original jurisdiction In common law legal systems original jurisdiction of a court is the power to hear a case for the first time, as opposed to appellate jurisdiction, when a higher court has the power to review a lower court's decision. India In India, the Sup ...

. The Court's opinion, in ''United States v. State of Texas'' , issued on March 16, held that the land of some belonged to the United States. Following that ruling, on May 4, 1896, the land was officially assigned by

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

Oklahoma Territory The Territory of Oklahoma was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from May 2, 1890, until November 16, 1907, when it was joined with the Indian Territory under a new constitution and admitted to the Union as th ...

. The Greer County Homestead Law, passed just afterwards, gave the Texas settlers the they were living on and the option to purchase an additional 160 acres for .

Legacy

When

Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw language, Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the nor ...

became the 46th

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

on November 16, 1907, old "Greer County" was divided into Greer,

Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Q ...

, and southwest Beckham counties. Harmon County was created May 22, 1909 by a vote of the people from a portion of Greer County.

References

*Estill-Harbour, Emma, Ph.D.
Greer County
, ''Chronicles of Oklahoma'' 12:2 (June 1934) 145-162 (retrieved August 16, 2006).

External links

* {{Authority control Former counties of Texas Pre-statehood history of Oklahoma Texas border disputes Red River of the South 1896 disestablishments in Texas

Origin of the dispute

''United States vs. State of Texas''

Legacy

See also

References

External links