Gadsden Purchase
The Gadsden Purchase, known in Mexico as Sale of La Mesilla, is a 29,670-square-mile region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that the United States acquired from Mexico by the Treaty of Mesilla, which took effect on June 8, 1854. The purchase included lands so…
What did the US gain from the Gadsden Purchase?
What did the United States gain from the Gadsden Purchase apex? An effect of the Gadsden Purchase was that the United States gained land from Mexico to build a planned rail. The agreement was called the Gadsen Purchase of 1854, in which the US acquired 29, 670 square miles that formed part of the New Mexico and Arizona territories.
How did the United States acquire the Gadsden Purchase land?
Why did the United States want to purchase this strip of land from Mexico? The Gadsden Purchase was a strip of territory the United States purchased from Mexico following negotiations in 1853. The land was purchased because it was considered to be a good route for a railroad across the Southwest to California.
How did the Gadsden Purchase affect the US?
The Gadsden Purchase represented the last parcel of land acquired by the United States to complete the 48 mainland states. The transaction with Mexico was controversial, and it intensified the simmering conflict over enslavement and helped to inflame the regional differences that eventually led to the Civil War.
What land was gained in the Gadsden Purchase?
The government of USA paid $10 million and in return, it acquired the area which spanned over the modern-day states of Arizona and New Mexico. In total, this purchase added 30,000 square miles of land to the total size of the United States of America. Background of the Purchase
What was the Gadsden Purchase?
Gadsden Purchase, also called Treaty of La Mesilla, (December 30, 1853), transaction that followed the conquest of much of northern Mexico by the United States in 1848. Known in Mexican history as the sale of the Mesilla Valley, it assigned to the United States nearly 30,000 additional square miles (78,000 square km) of northern Mexican territory ...
Who was the U.S. minister to Mexico when the Transcontinental Railroad was purchased?
minister to Mexico, James Gadsden.
When was Guadalupe Hidalgo ceded to the United States?
The United States, 1822–54. This article was most recently revised and updated by Jeff Wallenfeldt, Manager, Geography and History.
What was the Gadsden Purchase?
The Gadsden Purchase ( Spanish: la Venta de La Mesilla "The Sale of La Mesilla") is a 29,670-square-mile (76,800 km 2) region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that the United States acquired from Mexico by the Treaty of Mesilla, which took effect on June 8, 1854. The purchase included lands south ...
What did Gadsden do to help the Southern states?
When the secession proposal failed, Gadsden worked with his cousin Isaac Edward Holmes, a lawyer in San Francisco since 1851, and California state senator Thomas Jefferson Green, in an attempt to divide California into northern and southern portions and proposed that the southern part allow slavery. Gadsden planned to establish a slave-holding colony there based on rice, cotton, and sugar, and wanted to use slave labor to build a railroad and highway that originated in either San Antonio or the Red River valley. The railway or highway would transport people to the California gold fields. Toward this end, on December 31, 1851, Gadsden asked Green to secure from the California state legislature a large land grant located between the 34th and 36th parallels, along the proposed dividing line for the two California states.
What was the South's economy in 1850?
Businessmen like Gadsden, who advocated economic diversification, were in the minority. The Southern economy was based on cotton exports, and then-current transportation networks met the plantation system's needs. There was little home market for an intra-South trade. In the short term, the best use for capital was to invest it in more slaves and land rather than in taxing it to support canals, railroads, roads, or in dredging rivers. Historian Jere W. Roberson wrote:
What was the Rio Grande dispute?
The shifting of the course of the Rio Grande would cause a later dispute over the boundary between Purchase lands and those of the state of Texas, known as the Country Club Dispute. Pursuant to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the Gadsden Treaty and subsequent treaties, the International Boundary and Water Commission was established in 1889 to maintain the border. Pursuant to still later treaties, the IBWC expanded its duties to allocation of river waters between the two nations, and provided for flood control and water sanitation. Once viewed as a model of international cooperation, in recent decades the IBWC has been heavily criticized as an institutional anachronism, by-passed by modern social, environmental and political issues.
What was the purpose of the Gila River purchase?
The purchase also aimed to resolve other border issues.
What states did Santa Anna buy?
As originally envisioned, the purchase would have encompassed a much larger region, extending far enough south to include most of the current Mexican states of Baja California, Baja California Sur, Coahuila, Chihuahua, Sonora, Nuevo León, and Tamaulipas. The Mexican people opposed such boundaries, as did anti- slavery US Senators, who saw the purchase as acquisition of more slave territory. Even the sale of a relatively small strip of land angered the Mexican people, who saw Santa Anna's actions as a betrayal of their country. They watched in dismay as he squandered the funds generated by the Purchase. Contemporary Mexican historians continue to view the deal negatively and believe that it has defined the American–Mexican relationship in a deleterious way.
How much money did Santa Anna get?
Santa Anna needed to get as much money for as little territory as possible. When the United Kingdom rejected Mexican requests to assist in the negotiations, Santa Anna opted for the $15 million package (equivalent to $345 million in 2019 ). Santa Anna signed the treaty on December 30, 1853, along with James Gadsden.
What was the Gadsden Purchase?
1853–1854. The Gadsden Purchase, or Treaty, was an agreement between the United States and Mexico, finalized in 1854, in which the United States agreed to pay Mexico $10 million for a 29,670 square mile portion of Mexico that later became part of Arizona and New Mexico. Gadsden’s Purchase provided the land necessary for a southern ...
What was the purpose of Gadsden's purchase?
Gadsden’s Purchase provided the land necessary for a southern transcontinental railroad and attempted to resolve conflicts that lingered after the Mexican-American War. While the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo formally ended the Mexican-American War in February 1848, tensions between the Governments of Mexico and the United States continued ...
Why did the Mexican government demand compensation for Native American attacks in the Mesilla Valley?
The Mexican Government demanded monetary compensation for Native American attacks in the region because, under the Treaty, the United States had agreed to protect Mexico from such attacks; however, the United States refused to comply, ...
Who instructed Gadsden to renegotiate a border that provided a route for a?
Secretary of State William Marcy instructed Gadsden to renegotiate a border that provided a route for a southern railroad, arrange for a release of U.S. financial obligations for Native American attacks, and settle the monetary claims between the countries related to the Garay project.
Who signed the Treaty of 1854?
President Pierce signed the treaty and Gadsden presented the new treaty to Santa Anna, who signed it on June 8, 1854. After Gadsden’s Purchase a new border dispute caused tension over the United States’ payment, and the treaty failed to resolve the issues surrounding financial claims and border attacks. However, it did create the southern ...
What happened in 1853?
In 1853, Mexican officials evicted Americans from their property in the disputed Mesilla Valley. When the U.S. Government did not act, Governor William Lane of New Mexico declared the Mesilla Valley part of the U.S. territory of New Mexico. Mexican President Antonio de Santa Anna responded by sending troops into the valley. Attempting to defuse the situation, U.S. President Franklin Pierce sent James Gadsden, the new U.S. Minister to Mexico, to negotiate with Santa Anna. Secretary of State William Marcy instructed Gadsden to renegotiate a border that provided a route for a southern railroad, arrange for a release of U.S. financial obligations for Native American attacks, and settle the monetary claims between the countries related to the Garay project.
What was the Gadsden Purchase?
The Gadsden Purchase, or Treaty, was an agreement between the United States and Mexico, finalized in 1854, in which the United States agreed to pay Mexico $10 million for a 29,670 square mile portion of Mexico that later became part of Arizona and New Mexico. Gadsden's Purchase provided the land necessary ...
What was the purpose of Gadsden's purchase?
Gadsden's Purchase provided the land necessary for a southern transcontinental railroad and attempted to resolve conflicts that lingered after the Mexican-American War.
Who was the president of the United States when Gadsden met with Santa Anna?
Gadsden met with Santa Anna on September 25, 1853. President Pierce sent verbal instructions for Gadsden through Christopher Ward, an agent for U.S. investors in the Garay project, giving Gadsden negotiating options ranging from $50 million for lower California and a large portion of northern Mexico to $15 million for a smaller land deal that would still provide for a southern railroad. Ward also lied to Gadsden, stating the President wanted the claims of the Garay party addressed in any treaty concluded with the Mexican Government; however, President Pierce never gave Ward these instructions because he did not believe in government involvement in affairs between private companies and foreign governments. Santa Anna refused to sell a large portion of Mexico, but he needed money to fund an army to put down ongoing rebellions, so on December 30, 1953 he and Gadsden signed a treaty stipulating that the United States would pay $15 million for 45,000 square miles south of the New Mexico territory and assume private American claims, including those related to the Garay deal. The United States Government agreed to work toward preventing American raids along Mexico's border and Mexico voided U.S. responsibility for Native American attacks.
Who granted the right to build colonies for Americans on the isthmus with capital from the New Orleans Company?
Mexico, however, had already granted Mexican Don Jos� de Garay the right to build colonies for Americans on the isthmus with capital from the New Orleans Company. Fearing the colonists would rebel as those in Texas had, Mexican President Juan Ceballos revoked the grant, angering U.S. investors.
Who instructed Gadsden to renegotiate a border that provided a route for a?
Secretary of State William Marcy instructed Gadsden to renegotiate a border that provided a route for a southern railroad, arrange for a release of U.S. financial obligations for Native American attacks, and settle the monetary claims between the countries related to the Garay project. Gadsden met with Santa Anna on September 25, 1853.
Who signed the Treaty of 1854?
President Pierce signed the treaty and Gadsden presented the new treaty to Santa Anna, who signed it on June 8, 1854. After Gadsden's Purchase a new border dispute caused tension over the United States' payment, and the treaty failed to resolve the issues surrounding financial claims and border attacks. However, it did create the southern border of ...
What happened in 1853?
In 1853, Mexican officials evicted Americans from their property in the disputed Mesilla Valley. When the U.S. Government did not act, Governor William Lane of New Mexico declared the Mesilla Valley part of the U.S. territory of New Mexico. Mexican President Antonio de Santa Anna responded by sending troops into the valley. Attempting to diffuse the situation, U.S. President Franklin Pierce sent James Gadsden, the new U.S. Minister to Mexico, to negotiate with Santa Anna. Secretary of State William Marcy instructed Gadsden to renegotiate a border that provided a route for a southern railroad, arrange for a release of U.S. financial obligations for Native American attacks, and settle the monetary claims between the countries related to the Garay project.
How much money did Mexico give the US in return for the Mexican cession?
Mexico gave the US the Mexican cession in return for $15 million. The treaty also agreed to protect the 80,000-100,000 Mexicans living in Texas and the Mexican cession.
Why did the Southerners want Texas to become a state?
Texas became the 28th state of the United States. Southerners wanted Texas to become a state so it could be used as another slave state. Others, feared that making Texas a state would result in war with Mexico.
Who paid off the Florida claim?
Spain yielded Florida to the US, who paid off $5 million in claims. Spain 's claim to Texas was honored.
Overview
Final negotiations and ratification of the treaty of purchase
The Pierce administration, which took office in March 1853, had a strong pro-southern, pro-expansion mindset. It sent Louisiana Senator Pierre Soulé to Spain to negotiate the acquisition of Cuba. Pierce appointed expansionists John Y. Mason of Virginia and Solon Borland of Arkansas as ministers, respectively, to France and Nicaragua. Pierce's Secretary of War, Jefferson Davis, was already …
Desire for a southern transcontinental rail line
As the railroad age evolved, business-oriented Southerners saw that a railroad linking the South with the Pacific Coast would expand trade opportunities. They thought the topography of the southern portion of the original boundary line was too mountainous to allow a direct route. Projected southern railroad routes tended to veer to the north as they proceeded eastward, which would favor co…
Southern route for the Transcontinental Railroad
In January 1845, Asa Whitney of New York presented the United States Congress with the first plan to construct a transcontinental railroad. Although Congress took no action on his proposal, a commercial convention of 1845 in Memphis took up the issue. Prominent attendees included John C. Calhoun, Clement C. Clay, Sr., John Bell, William Gwin, and Edmund P. Gaines, but James Gadsden of …
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) ended the Mexican–American War, but left issues affecting both sides that still needed to be resolved: possession of the Mesilla Valley, protection for Mexico from Indian raids, and the right of transit in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec.
The treaty provided for a joint commission, made up of a surveyor and commi…
Growth of the region after 1854
The residents of the area gained full US citizenship and slowly assimilated into American life over the next half-century. The principal threat to the peace and security of settlers and travelers in the area was raids by Apache Indians. The US Army took control of the purchase lands in 1854 but not until 1856 were troops stationed in the troubled region. In June 1857 it established Fort Bucha…
Population
The boundaries of most counties in Arizona do not follow the northern boundary of the Gadsden Purchase, but six counties in Arizona do have most of their populations within the land of the Gadsden Purchase. Four of these also contain areas north of the Gadsden Purchase, but these areas have low population densities, with the exception of northeastern Pinal County including the towns of Apache Junction and Florence. Maricopa County also extends south into the area of the …
Cost effectiveness
Geologist Harold L. James stated in 1969 about the Gadsden Purchase: "Although the boundary controversy did not teach any lessons or impart any wisdom, it did lead to the purchase of an extremely valuable strip of territory that has more than paid for itself in subsequent mineral and agricultural resources. Despite the comedy of errors, chaos, and misunderstanding, the Southwest must therefore be grateful."