The New International Encyclopædia/Gadsden Purchase, The
GADSDEN PURCHASE, . A tract of
land lying partly within the present New Mexico
and partly within the present Arizona, purchased
from Mexico by the United States in 1854. It
embraces 45,535 square miles, is bounded on the
north by the Gila River, on the east by the Rio
Grande, and on the west by the Colorado, and
has an extreme breadth from north to south of
120 miles. For this the United States gave the
sum of $10,000,000, while Mexico, besides
making the cession, agreed (1) to the abrogation of
the eleventh article of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
(q.v.), and (2) to the abandonment of
all damage claims arising from Indian
incursions between 1848 and 1853. The land was
regarded as of little use for agricultural purposes,
and was purchased largely with a view to settling
boundary disputes in that quarter between the
two governments and to securing a desirable
route for the projected Southern Pacific Railroad.
The treaty of sale was negotiated with Santa
Anna by James Gadsden (q.v.), then Minister
to Mexico, in December, 1853, and, after undergoing
modifications in the United States Senate,
was finally ratified and proclaimed on June 30,
1854, Congress passing the necessary legislation
on August 5th. The sale met with much opposition
in Mexico, and caused the banishment of
Santa Anna in 1855. For the text of the
treaty, consult Haswell, Treaties and Conventions
(Washington, 1889). See the map in the
article .