Gadsden Purchase (redirected from Gasden Purchase)

Gadsden Purchase (gădz`dən), strip of land purchased (1853) by the United States from Mexico. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) had described the U.S.-Mexico boundary vaguely, and President Pierce wanted to insure U.S. possession of the Mesilla Valley near the Rio Grande—the most practicable route for a southern railroad to the Pacific. James Gadsden negotiated the purchase, and the U.S. Senate ratified (1854) it by a narrow margin. The area of c.30,000 sq mi (77,700 sq km), purchased for $10 million, now forms extreme S New Mexico and Arizona S of the Gila.

Bibliography

See P. N. Garber, The Gadsden Treaty (1923, repr. 1959); O. B. Faulk, Too Far North, Too Far South (1967).

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Gadsden Purchase

(Dec. 30, 1853) U.S. purchase of land in Mexico. Following the conquest of much of northern Mexico in the Mexican War (1848), advocates of a southern transcontinental railroad endorsed the purchase of 30,000 sq mi (78,000 sq km) of northern Mexican territory, now southern Arizona and southern New Mexico. The purchase was negotiated by James Gadsden, U.S. minister to Mexico, for $10 million. The acquisition fixed the borders of the later 48 contiguous states.