The Gadsden Purchase was a treaty signed between the United States and Mexico on December 30, 1853. It involved the acquisition of a strip of land in present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico for $10 million. The purpose of the purchase was to establish a southern route for a transcontinental railroad and to resolve boundary disputes between the two countries. The land acquired in the Gadsden Purchase later became part of the Arizona and New Mexico territories, which ultimately became U.S. states.
