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Gadsden
Purchase, land purchased by the United States from Mexico in
1853. The land was named for the American railroad entrepreneur
and diplomat James Gadsden. Adjoining the Mexican border, it
comprises a narrow band of today's southern New Mexico and
roughly the southern quarter of Arizona. The area is about
76,735 sq km (about 29,640 sq mi), bounded on the east by the Río
Grande, on the north by the Gila River, and on the west by the
Colorado River. |
The
purchase was necessitated by the misunderstandings arising from
the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican
War. Not only had the treaty defined the border between Mexico
and the U.S. on the basis of an inaccurate map, but one article
of it had also made the U.S. responsible for restraining
marauding Native Americans on the frontier; this article had not
been enforced, and Mexico claimed millions of dollars in
damages.
The
situation was further complicated by the fact that U.S.
proponents of a southern transcontinental railroad considered
the best route to the Pacific to be in the disputed area,
through the Mesilla Valley (now in New Mexico). When Franklin
Pierce became president in 1853, he repudiated the compromise
achieved under President Millard Fillmore (in which Mexico
retained the Mesilla Valley). Pierce sent Gadsden as minister to
Mexico with instructions to purchase the needed territory and
also Lower California if possible, for up to $50 million.
Gadsden and the Mexican president, Antonio López de Santa Anna,
whose administration was in financial need, negotiated a treaty
on December 30, 1853. Under its terms Mexico was to cede a
border strip in exchange for $15 million; the article pertaining
to Indians was abrogated; and all claims for damages were
cancelled.
The
U.S. Senate ratified the treaty on April 25, 1854, only after a
bitter debate, much of which centered on adding more slave
territory to the U.S. The version ratified by the Senate lowered
the payment to $10 million and reduced the territory acquired.
The Southern Pacific Railroad was eventually built through the
region. In Mexico the sale met with great opposition and
contributed to the political downfall of Santa Anna.
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