SUMMARY OF THE GADSDEN PURCHASE
The Gadsden purchase was an agreement in 1853 to buy a strip of land in what is now the southern United States so that a railroad line could be built to the Gulf of California. James Gadsden was the U.S. Minister to Mexico and made the deal happen. This was only five years after the end of the Mexican War and the delivery of the Mexican Cession. He payed Mexico $10 million for 45,535 square miles of territory that was almost as big as Pennsylvania.
The Gadsden purchase was an agreement in 1853 to buy a strip of land in what is now the southern United States so that a railroad line could be built to the Gulf of California. James Gadsden was the U.S. Minister to Mexico and made the deal happen. This was only five years after the end of the Mexican War and the delivery of the Mexican Cession. He payed Mexico $10 million for 45,535 square miles of territory that was almost as big as Pennsylvania.
KEY POINTS/INFORMATION
The Gadsden Purchase is a 29,670-square-mile (76,800 km2) region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that was purchased by the United States in a treaty signed by James Gadsden, the American ambassador to Mexico at the time, on December 30, 1853. It was then ratified, with changes, by the U.S. Senate on April 25, 1854 and signed by President Franklin Pierce, with final approval action taken by Mexico on June 8, 1854. The purchase was the last major territorial acquisition in the contiguous United States, adding an area the size of Scotland to the United States' area.
The Gadsden Purchase is a 29,670-square-mile (76,800 km2) region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that was purchased by the United States in a treaty signed by James Gadsden, the American ambassador to Mexico at the time, on December 30, 1853. It was then ratified, with changes, by the U.S. Senate on April 25, 1854 and signed by President Franklin Pierce, with final approval action taken by Mexico on June 8, 1854. The purchase was the last major territorial acquisition in the contiguous United States, adding an area the size of Scotland to the United States' area.