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U.S. Minister to Mexico James Gadsden, and three envoys of the President of Mexico General Antonio López de Santa Anna Pérez de Lebrón, signed the Gadsden Purchase, or Gadsden Treaty, in Mexico City on December 30, 1853. Santa Anna needed money to help defray expenses caused by the Mexican War and ongoing rebellions, so he sold land to the United States. The treaty, amended and finally approved by the U.S. Senate on April 25, 1854, settled the dispute over the exact location of the Mexican border west of El Paso, Texas, giving the U.S. claim to some 29,600 square miles of land, ultimately for the price of $10 million. The land is what is now southern New Mexico and Arizona.  U.S. President Franklin Pierce, influenced by Gadsden’s friend, Jefferson Davis, sent Gadsden to negotiate with Santa Anna for this tract of land. Many supporters of a southern Pacific railroad route, including Davis, believed that a transcontinental route which stretched through this territory would greatly benefit southern states should hostilities break out with the north. The first transcontinental railroad was, however, constructed along a more northerly route by the “big four” of western railroad construction—Collis P. Huntington, Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, and Charles Crocker. A southern transcontinental route through territory acquired by the Gadsden Purchase was not a reality until 1881 when the tracks of the “big four’s” Southern Pacific met those of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe in the Territory of New Mexico.
Turn-of-the-century progressive reformer John Peter Altgeld was born in Germany on December 30, 1847. Despite his humble origins and a father who saw no benefit in education, Altgeld read law and was admitted to the bar in Anderson County, Missouri. There, he committed himself to politics and served as city attorney of Savannah, Missouri (1872-73) and county prosecutor (1874-75). Altgeld moved to Chicago in 1875 and continued his legal and political career, next getting elected to the Cook County Superior Court (1886-91). He won the Democratic Party’s nomination for governor in 1892. As governor, Altgeld made improvements in state institutions and passed reforms in the penal and legal systems, as well as in early child and women’s labor legislation. However, he is most famous for his June 1893 pardon of the three surviving bombers involved in the May 1886 Haymarket Riot, a labor protest in support of the eight-hour day. The protest had escalated into a violent confrontation in which seven policemen were killed. Altgeld, whose law partner was Clarence Darrow, argued that the trial had been unfair because the judge was prejudiced and the jury stacked. A year later, in May 1894, Altgeld refused to order the militia to intervene in the Pullman railroad strike when the American Railway Union protested a reduction in salary without an accompanying reduction in the cost of company-owned housing and other expenses. Ultimately, President Grover Cleveland sent federal troops to Chicago to suppress the strike, exercising his authority to protect mail and interstate commerce. Altgeld’s Progressive Era-legislation and commitment to the laboring classes made him a hero to activists, workers, and farmers, and an enemy of big business. Using income derived from his legal work, Altgeld had successfully amassed a small fortune by investing in real estate and construction in Chicago in the second half of the nineteenth century. However, he suffered financial disaster in the late nineteenth century and lost almost his entire estate in 1900.
views updated May 14 2018 The Gadsden Purchase of 1853 was the last territory acquired by the United States within the boundaries of the lower 48 states. In 1853, President Franklin Pierce (1853–1857) instructed James Gadsden, his minister to Mexico, to buy as much of the northern Mexico territory as possible, with the idea of using it as a southern route for a transcontinental railroad. Gadsden, a former railroad administrator from South Carolina who had long supported a southern railroad linking the Gulf Coast with California, was given instructions to offer Mexican leader Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna (1794–1876) up to $50 million for some 250,000 square miles—including the Gila River basin in modern Arizona, parts of Baja California, and the bits of northern Mexico that had not been annexed in the Mexican War (1846–1848). The purchase was part of Pierce's plan to unite a divided country by expanding American interests aggressively into foreign territories, a plan known as "Young America." The Gadsden Purchase was opposed by Northern antislavery senators, who suspected Pierce's long-range plan was to obtain land for the expansion of slavery—an explosive political issue in the early 1850s. It was also opposed by some southern senators who wanted even more land. Unable to stop the deal, these senators managed to limit Pierce's purchase to 55,000 square miles for $15 million. The Gadsden Purchase added to U.S. territory, but it also emphasized the gulf that separated North and South. Some northern senators who opposed the Purchase were under pressure to do so from northern railroad interests. By December 1853, a rail route that ran through the Gadsden Purchase had already been completed, and the northern interests were campaigning hard for territory north of the Missouri Compromise line to be organized. This led to the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854, which broke the Compromise and allowed expansion of slavery into areas from which it had legally been excluded 34 years earlier. The northern railroad was finally established in the Pacific Railway Act (1862), which set aside public land for the building of the first transcontinental railroad, completed in 1869. See also: Transcontinental Railroad FURTHER READINGCochran, Thomas Childs. Frontiers of Change: Early Industrialism in America. New York: Oxford University Press, 1981. Garber, Paul Neff. The Gadsden Treaty. Philadelphia: Press of the University of Pennsylvania, 1923. Nevins, Allan. Ordeal of the Union. New York: Collier Books, 1992. Potter, David Morris. The Impending Crisis 1848– 1861. New York: Harper & Row, 1976. Taylor, George Rogers. The Transportation Revolution, 1815–1860. New York: Rinehart, 1951. Civil War Era, 1988">
views updated Jun 27 2018 GADSDEN PURCHASE. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)ended the Mexican-American War but it did not settle the so-called Mexican question. The United States was soon charged with not enforcing Article XI, which promised Mexico protection from inroads of American Indians. A boundary-line dispute also arose involving territory held necessary by some Americans for a southern railroad route to the Pacific Ocean. The activities of American speculators in Mexico increased diplomatic tension. In 1849 P. A. Hargous of New York City purchased the Garay grant, made in 1842 by the Mexican government to open a transit concession across the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. Mexico nullified this concession in 1851, but in 1853 A. G. Sloo was given an almost identical grant. Both Hargous and Sloo demanded American protection for their concessions. In July 1853 President Franklin Pierce instructed James Gadsden, minister to Mexico, to make a treaty not only settling the issues involved but also securing enough territory for the proposed southern railroad route. Financial needs of the administration of Antonio López de Santa Anna aided negotiation of a treaty whereby territory in northern Mexico was sold to the United States. The Gadsden Treaty, as it became known, abrogated Article XI of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, but the United States was to aid in suppressing Indian depredations. For these concessions the United States would pay Mexico $15 million and assume all claims of its citizens against Mexico, including the Hargous claim. The United States promised to cooperate in suppressing filibustering expeditions. The treaty met strong opposition in the Senate, where antislavery senators condemned further acquisition of slave territory. Lobbying by speculators worsened the treaty's reputation. Some senators objected to furnishing Santa Anna financial assistance. The Senate, by a narrow margin, ratified the treaty on 25 April 1854, but only after reducing the territory to be acquired to that considered essential for the railroad route. The Senate also deleted all mention of private claims and filibustering expeditions. The payment to Mexico was lowered to $10 million, and the Senate inserted an article promising American protection to the Sloo grantees. A combination of the advocates of the southern railroad route and the friends of the Sloo grant made ratification possible. By the Gadsden Treaty the United States secured 45,535 square miles of territory. This tract became known as the Gadsden Purchase and today encompasses the southern part of Arizona and New Mexico. BIBLIOGRAPHYFehrenbacher, Don E. The Era of Expansion: 1800–1848. New York: Wiley, 1969. Garber, Paul Neff. The Gadsden Treaty. Gloucester, Mass.: Peter Smith, 1959. Potter, David Morris. The Impending Crisis, 1848–1861. New York: Harper & Row, 1976. Paul NeffGarber/a. g. See alsoBryan-Chamorro Treaty ; Compromise of 1850 ; Confirmation by the Senate ; Indian Claims Commission ; Mexican-American War ; Soto, Hernando de, Explorations of .
views updated Jun 08 2018 In 1853, the United States purchased lands from Mexico that had been in dispute since the border settlement that followed the Mexican-American War (1946–48). In this transaction, known as the Gadsden Purchase, the United States added the last piece of territory that would create the present-day contiguous, or touching, forty-eight states. Disputed Mesilla ValleyThe Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which set the terms for peace after the Mexican-American War, provided that representatives from Mexico and the United States would set the boundary between the two nations. The two sides agreed on a line extending from the mouth of the Rio Grande in Texas westward to San Diego, California , except for one disputed area: the Mesilla Valley in the border regions between Chihuahua, Mexico, and the New Mexico and Arizona territories. Both sides laid claim to this vast area and armed confrontation between military personnel in Chihuahua and New Mexico became a real possibility. In 1853, President Franklin Pierce (1804–1869; served 1853–57) instructed James Gadsden (1788–1858), his minister to Mexico, to buy as much of the disputed territory as possible. He was especially motivated to buy the land because it was considered the ideal setting for a southern route for a transcontinental (spanning the continent from coast to coast) railroad. (See Railroad Industry .) A forceful transactionGadsden initially tried to purchase from Mexico an area that would have extended deep into what later became Mexico's northern states. Mexico was willing to give up some land, but made many demands on the United States. Gadsden refused to concede to any of Mexico's demands. Eventually, to pressure Mexico, he arranged for a show of U.S. military force. Finally, Mexico's president, long-time U.S. foe Antonio López de Santa Anna (1794–1876), signed the Gadsden Treaty in 1854, allowing the United States to buy a smaller area surrounding the Mesilla Valley for $10 million. The treaty turned out to be a catastrophe for Santa Anna. Mexico had already lost vast amounts of land to the United States, and many Mexicans feared the Gadsden Purchase was a sign of more land loss to come. Opponents rose up in rebellion, driving Santa Anna from power in 1855. The Gadsden Purchase accomplished little for the United States, which was bitterly divided in these years preceding the American Civil War (1861–65). Antislavery forces in the United States opposed the Gadsden Purchase because they feared the new territories would become slave states. Supporters of the southern route of a transcontinental railroad were disappointed because the new lands were too mountainous for their project.
views updated Jun 27 2018 In 1853, Mexico agreed to sell to the United States nearly 30 million acres (45,535 square miles) in present-day southern Arizona and New Mexico. The United States sought land in northern Mexico for a proposed southern transcontinental railroad route that would include a port on the Gulf of California. It also wanted to resolve a boundary controversy that had arisen from errors in John Disturnell's map, which according to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, was the basis for delineating the southern limits of New Mexico. Factional interests in both the United States and Mexico eventually limited the amount of land that changed hands. In the United States, sectional rivalries linked to the railroad and slavery led the Senate in 1854 to ratify an amended treaty that bought only the Mesilla Valley. James Gadsden, U.S. minister to Mexico, had been empowered to discuss, in addition, mutual claims, trade issues, and U.S. rights in Tehuantepec; yet only one of these issues figured in the final treaty. The United States wanted to be relieved of its obligation in Article XI of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo to protect Mexico from Indian incursions originating north of the border. Mexican President Antonio López de Santa Anna succumbed to the fiscal exigencies of his beleaguered government as well as to the fear that an expansionist United States, which had done little to discourage filibustering expeditions to northern Mexico since the war, would take what it wanted by force. Mexico ceded the Mesilla territory and abrogated Article XI of the 1848 treaty in return for ten million dollars. See alsoGuadalupe Hidalgo, Treaty of (1848)xml . BIBLIOGRAPHYPaul N. Garber, The Gadsden Treaty (1959). Josefina Z. Vázquez and Lorenzo Meyer, The United States and Mexico (1985). Additional BibliographyRebert, Paula. La Gran Línea: Mapping the United States-Mexico Boundary, 1849–1857. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2001. Vázquez, Josefina Zoraida. México al tiempo de su guerra con Estados Unidos, 1846–1848. México: Secretaría de Exteriores: El Colegio de México: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1997. Winders, Richard Bruce. Crisis in the Southwest: The United States, Mexico, and the Struggle over Texas. Wilmington: SR Books, 2002. Susan M. Deeds
views updated May 21 2018 Gadsden Purchase Land purchased by the USA from Mexico in 1853. It was a narrow strip, 77,000sq km (30,000sq mi) in area, now forming s Arizona and New Mexico. The deal was negotiated by James Gadsden. Mexican-american War , Mexican-American War The Mexican-American War (1846–48) achieved U.S. expansionist goals by adding more than one million square miles to the United S… Mexican War , Mexican War, 1846–48, armed conflict between the United States and Mexico. Causes While the immediate cause of the war was the U.S. annexation of Tex… Southwest , SOUTHWEST may be roughly defined as the southwestern quarter of the United States, although any distinct delimitation of the area is necessarily arbi… James Knox Polk , Polk, James K. James K. Polk David M. Pletcher BEYOND a doubt the one-term president who left behind him the greatest record of accomplishment was Ja… Gulf Of Mexico , Introduction The Gulf of Mexico is a geographic area and a body of water that forms the so-called third coast of the contiguous United States. The Gu… Antonio Lopez De Santa Anna , The Mexican general and statesman Antonio López de Santa Ana (1794-1876) was often called the "man who was Mexico." An unprincipled adventurer, he do… Gadiformes (Grenadiers, Hakes, Cods, and Relatives) Gadgil, Ga?gadhar (Gopal) Gadsden State Community College Gadsden State Community College-Ayers Campus: Narrative Description Gadsden State Community College-Ayers Campus: Tabular Data Gadsden State Community College: Distance Learning Programs Gadsden State Community College: Narrative Description Gadsden State Community College: Tabular Data Gadski, Johanna (1872–1932) Gadski, Johanna (Emilia Agnes) Gadzhiev, (Akhmed) Jevdet Gaelic Catholic State, Making of |
How was the Gadsden Purchase acquired
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