N.M. Const. art. I
The name of this state is New Mexico, and its boundaries are as follows:
Beginning at the point where the thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude intersects the one hundred and third meridian west from Greenwich; thence along said one hundred and third meridian to the thirty-second parallel of north latitude; thence along said thirty-second parallel to the Rio Grande, also known as the Rio Bravo del Norte, as it existed on the ninth day of September, one thousand eight hundred and fifty; thence, following the main channel of said river, as it existed on the ninth day of September, one thousand eight hundred and fifty, to the parallel of thirty-one degrees forty-seven minutes north latitude; thence west one hundred miles to a point; thence south to the parallel of thirty-one degrees twenty minutes north latitude; thence along said parallel of thirty-one degrees twenty minutes, to the thirty-second meridian of longitude west from Washington; thence along said thirty-second meridian to the thirty-seventh parallel of north latitude; thence along said thirty-seventh parallel to the point of beginning.
Compiler's note. — State boundaries: The New Mexico Constitution does not accurately reflect the boundaries of the state in at least two respects. The following explanation was extracted from "THE NEW MEXICO CONSTITUTION MEETS THE 'FACTS ON THE GROUND'" by Mark B. Thompson III.
The delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1910 used legal descriptions from preexisting legal documents: (1) the "Organic Act" establishing the Territory of New Mexico in 1850; (2) the "Gadsden Treaty" signed December 30, 1853; (3) the act creating the temporary government for the Territory of Colorado; and, (4) the act providing for the temporary government of the Territory of Arizona. The borders described in the Constitution do not completely match the actual borders of New Mexico.
Section one of the Organic Act reflects the compromise whereby Texas gave up its claim of territory from the 103rd meridian to the Rio Grande River for a Ten Million Dollar bond issued by the United States. Section two then used the 103rd as the eastern boundary of New Mexico, from, at that time, the 32nd to the 38th parallel north of the Equator. But the so-called "Clark Survey" of 1859 deviated from the 103rd at the S.W. corner of what is now the Oklahoma panhandle, resulting in the boundary moving west and a loss of approximately 600,000 acres to Texas.
Congress passed Senate Joint Resolution 124 on February 16, 1911, three months after the adjournment of the New Mexico Constitutional Convention, declaring that the Clark Survey was conclusive and settled the boundary. Eight months after ratification of the proposed constitution by the voters, Congress adopted the act admitting New Mexico to statehood with a declaration that "admission shall be subject to the terms and conditions" of the February resolution. That part of the southern boundary in the Organic Act using 32 degrees North was part of the Texas compromise and it went west to the "main channel" of the Rio Grande. From there, however, the actual border was not clear due to some erroneous assumptions contained in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. One result of the Gadsden Treaty was to set a point in the river at 31 degrees 47" N and then extending the boundary west from that point. But that meant following the channel from 32 degrees to 31 degrees 47" and the river changed course. The solution, expressed in the constitution, was to modify the description to use the main channel "as it existed" on September 9, 1850, the date of adoption of the Organic Act. It eventually took a survey ordered by the U.S. Supreme Court to settle the controversy. See New Mexico v. Texas, 276 U.S. 558 (1928). The remainder of the southern boundary set by the Gadsden Treaty has not been changed.
New Mexico lost some territory with the creation of the territory of Colorado in 1861, but the entire boundary was set at 37 degrees North from east to west, the boundary incorporated into the constitutional legal description. The so-called "Darling Survey" of 1868 created a line south of that parallel from roughly a point east of where State Road 551 (Union County) crosses the border to a point about five miles west of U.S. 84 in Rio Arriba County. To resolve the conflict the United States Supreme Court held that New Mexico had acquiesced in the survey. See New Mexico v. Colorado, 267 U.S. 30 (1925). The final decree appears at 268 U.S. 108 (1925).
The western boundary taken from the statute creating the Arizona Territory in 1863 described the boundary as the "thirty-second meridian of longitude west from Washington." Before the 1894 agreement which recognized Greenwich, it was generally accepted that the 0 meridian should run through the capital of each country. Why the Constitutional Convention did not just use 109 degrees 2" 12' West of Greenwich in 1910 is not known.
In its 1925 opinion, the United States Supreme Court does not indicate the amount of the territory lost to Colorado, but does say that it was a "large strip" and included, after Colorado had exercised control, "one town and two villages, and five post offices." New Mexico v. Colorado, 267 U.S. at 37. The loss to Texas is probably more substantial, estimated at 600,000 acres, including the towns of Farwell and Texline.