The existing condition of California and of that part of New Mexico
lying west of the Rio Grande and without the limits of Texas imperiously
demands that Congress should at its present session organize Territorial
governments over them.
Upon the exchange of ratifications of the treaty of peace with Mexico,
on the 30th of May last, the temporary governments which had been
established over New Mexico and California by our military and naval
commanders by virtue of the rights of war ceased to derive any
obligatory force from that source of authority, and having been ceded
to the United States, all government and control over them under the
authority of Mexico had ceased to exist. Impressed with the necessity
of establishing Territorial governments over them, I recommended the
subject to the favorable consideration of Congress in my message
communicating the ratified treaty of peace, on the 6th of July last, and
invoked their action at that session. Congress adjourned without making
any provision for their government. The inhabitants by the transfer
of their country had become entitled to the benefit of our laws and
Constitution, and yet were left without any regularly organized
government.
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