December 30, 1853: The Gadsden Purchase was made, adding land to the United States in the southern parts of Arizona and New Mexico. Most of these lands were claimed by Indians. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following is going to read as a very racial and biased article. Unfortunately, it is the same thing that is taught to American children in public schools. I decided to post this article for two reasons: it was the only resource I could find that would include how the Gadsden Purchase effected Native Americans and also to portray how America teaches about its original inhabitants. Yuma County, Arizona The Gadsen Purchase And Its Effect On Yuma Limelight was shed on Yuma and on the southwest pare of the United States with the obtaining of land which history now calls the Gadsden Purchase. Actually the discovery of gold in California was the motive behind this wonderful investment by Uncle Sam. This was one of those quirks of fate, which became what we know as the signposts of history, and change the ways of nations and the lives of its people. And it did change in many ways the history of Yuma. After the Mexican War in 1848, the United States made a treaty with Mexico called the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which was supposed to resolve all difficulties between the United States and the Republic of Mexico. The treaty failed to do this and we still had a problem concerning the international boundary line. The 1848 treaty established the natural boundary of the Rio Grande as the international line from El Paso to the Pacific. The Gadsden Purchase eventually settled a boundary dispute with Mexico, and gave the United States a transcontinental railroad route through the south. When the argument came before the Senate, Northerners lopped off eight thousand square miles of the purchase, because its geographical location would have caused it to become slave territory, thus eliminating a port for Arizona on the Gulf of California. Every year the people in the Purchase pay Uncle Sam much more in income taxes than the cost of the original purchase. The $10,000,000 involved in the Gadsden Purchase paid not only for the land and settled a boundary, but more important gave us land on which to build a transcontinental railroad. The man who accomplished this was James Gadsden and he was from South Carolina; and we gained 45,535 square miles of territory, which has already returned over six billion dollars in its mining properties alone! Upon investigation, however, Gadsden found an obstacle to his plan, which was a many paged document called the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo — the instrument which ended the Mexican War of 1848. This Treaty set the boundary between the two countries as beginning in the Gulf of Mexico, three leagues opposite the mouth of the Rio Grande, up the middle of the river to a point where it strikes the boundary of New Mexico (which runs north of the town of El Paso) to its western termination, thence northward along western line of New Mexico until it intersects the first branch of the Gila River. On checking the instrument a flaw was found. The boundaries designated in the Treaty were based on a map which had been proven to have contained numerous errors. If the United States was correct in its assumption of error, we rightfully owned enough plains land on which to build a railroad. Mexico, however, disputed our claim. It wasnt that she didnt want us to have the railroad right-of-way, but, if she allowed the claim, she would lose the rich Santa Rita copper deposits and the Messilla Villages — one of the few really productive valleys in the area. Tempers flared again on the border and the Mexicans took armed possession of the disputed territory, justifying their action with terms of Article II of the Treaty of Hidalgo, which obligated the United States to restrain the Indians on our side of the border from raiding into Mexico. They also claimed we owed their government $15,000,000 for damages caused by marauding Indians. President Franklin Pierce now turned to Secretary of War Jefferson Davis, for advice. Davis, who enjoyed more of the Presidents confidence than any other member of the official family, suggested negotiating a new treaty with Mexicos President Santa Ana. This, he said, will solve all facets of the problem We can avoid another war, gain an all-American route for a railroad right-of-way, settle Mexicos damage claims and, at the same time, protect national pride of both countries. Davis even knew just the man to negotiate the treaty, his good friend, James Gadsden. Davis had all the answers for the Presidents questions. His intelligence service had informed him that Santa Ana needed money to pay his army and was readily looking for a way, with honor, of withdrawing his troops from the disputed area. And who was this man called James Gadsden? Born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1788, Gadsden graduated from Yale in 1806. He served with distinction in the War of 1812 as Aide-de-Camp to General Andrew Jackson. Retiring from the Army in 1823, he had negotiated treaties with the Seminole Indians in Florida. Returning to Charleston in 1839, he became President of the South Carolina Railroad Company, a position he held for ten years. During this period he sought to promote a scheme for a southern transcontinental railroad. He became convinced that it would be necessary to purchase a strip of territory from Mexico in order to realize his project. How fortune does shine on some people! Pierce was convinced and Gadsdens nomination was sent to the Senate where it was approved. Gadsden carried on negotiations for six months, first with Santa Ana himself, and then with a Commission appointed by the President. He worked under several handicaps, paramount among them being the element of time. Revolution was in the air and Gadsden had to complete the treaty before the Santa Ana government was overthrown, which would necessitate redoing all of the work already accomplished with a new government. Also opposition to his work was increasing in Congress on the part of its northern members. They feared the addition of any new territory which might be turned into slave holding states. Despite all handicaps, however, Gadsden reached agreement with the Mexican Commission on December 30, 1853, and started for home to present the treaty to President Pierce. Pierce sent the treaty to the Senate in February, 1854. Then began almost five months of heated Senatorial debate. Newspapers charged that Jefferson Davis had land near the new boundaries, which would quadruple in value as railroad right-of-ways. But despite the charges and counter charges, the Treaty was accepted by the Senate and signed by President Pierce on June 29, 1854. The following day it was proclaimed the law of the land. Some changes had been made, however. The Senate had reduced the land we could have acquired by some 8,000 square miles; thus eliminating a port on the Gulf of California, which the President wanted, and which would have been a priceless asset to Arizona today. On the plus side however, a valuable 45,535 square miles of territory was added to the United States, costing us only Si0,000,000. The Treaty also settled Mexicos damage claims against us, and gave us an easily traveled transcontinental route wholly within our borders. What was this land we had just acquired? It was inhabited almost exclusively by savage tribes of Indians, from whose ravages the Texans and Mexicans had long suffered; and now, if our surplus of adventurous politicians could only be sent there, the more valuable of our possessions would no longer be subject to their injurious machinations. With this view Mr. Jefferson Davis did one of the few good things he ever did in his life. He organized various expeditions, and caused the newly-acquired territory to be explored. Lieutenant A. B. Gray, in 1854, made a survey from Marshall, Texas, to El Paso. And then it went across the country to Tubac, Arizona, from which point he made branch surveys . . . one to Port Lobos, on the Gulf of California, and the other to Fort Yuma and San Diego. Mr. Bartlett, of the Boundary Commission, also made some very important surveys, and added materially to our knowledge of the topographical peculiarities of the country, its climate and production. His report is replete with interesting details of life, scenery, and adventure in Arizona. Lieutenant Parke, in 1854-55, made a survey of a route from San Diego to Fort Yuma, the Pima villages, Tucson, El Paso, and into Northern Texas. How fortunate we are that the proponents of the basic treaty and the courage of early pioneers were proven right. The Gadsden Purchase was a huge bonanza for us. We bought at a fraction over 34 cents an acre, land that is today worth millions. And with it we not only added fantastic wealth in cotton, copper, cattle and climate, but Yuma became a part of the United States. Source: The History of Yuma and the Territorial Prison Robert Woznicki
Posted on: Tue, 30 Dec 2014 16:41:24 +0000
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