The Impact of the Gadsden Purchase
The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo (1848) ended the Mexican-American War. It also settled a number of issues between the United States and Mexico. It ended Mexico's claims on Texas. It made New Mexico and California part of the United States. But it did not permanently set the border between the United States and Mexico along the southern edge of New Mexico and Arizona. That took several more years. It also took the skillfull negotiating skills of James Gadsden.
When the treaty was signed in 1848, the border west of El Paso was several miles north of where it is today. It did not include an area of rich farmland along the Rio Grande north of El Paso. It also did not include the land west of that area, which was being considered for a new railroad.
The United States soon realized the problem with the boundary line. It left much of the fertile Mesilla Valley south of the border. The valley is the floodplain of the Rio Grande, and it is one of the most productive agricultural areas of New Mexico today.
The United States also wanted to build a railroad across the country along a southern route. That route would connect the states of the South with California and the West Coast. The best piece of territory to complete that route was also south of the new border.
The United States wanted to reopen the border question in order to get the Mesilla Valley and land for the railroad. Secretary of War Jefferson Davis asked President Franklin Pierce to send Davis's friend James Gadsden to negotiate with Mexico. Gadsden had just been named ambassador to Mexico. Gadsden also had run a railroad in South Carolina and was very interested in a southern railroad route to the West.
Gadsden's talks were successful. The United States and Mexico agreed on the border change on December 30, 1853. The border was moved south. The United States had gained an additional 30,000 square miles, including the prized heart of the Mesilla Valley and the land needed for the railroad. In return, the United States paid Mexico $10 million. The land was called the Gadsden Purchase, after the man who negotiated it. Today it forms the southwestern corner of New Mexico and the southern part of Arizona.
Getting the heart of the Mesilla Valley was an important part of the Gadsden Purchase. Today it is one of New Mexico's major farming regions. Crops such as cotton, chiles, and pecans are grown there. In fact, New Mexico is the nation's largest grower of pecans. And most pecans in the state are grown in the Mesilla Valley.
Even more important to some, the Gadsden Purchase made possible a southern railroad route across the United States. The agreement was signed in 1853 and approved by the Senate in early 1854. But the rail project was delayed for a few years. Conflict between the North and the South over slavery prevented it. In that tense time leading up to the Civil War, it was impossible to get funds through Congress for a railroad that would benefit the South.
After the Civil War, however, there was a renewed push to build railroads that went across the country. The first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. It linked San Francisco with the rail network of the eastern United States. The second was a southern route linking San Diego and New Orleans.
The rail line passed through Arizona and New Mexico over land obtained in the Gadsden Purchase. In 1881, the Southern Pacific linked up with the Santa Fe Railroad at the town of Deming, New Mexico. Two years later the rail lines reached all the way from California to New Orleans over the "Sunset Route."
This railroad route was important to the economic growth of the region. It remains the southernmost transcontinental train route. The tracks now belong to the Union Pacific railroad. They link the ports and farm lands of southern California to Texas and the Gulf Coast. Passengers on Amtrak's Sunset Limited cross through New Mexico today on the same route. The Gadsden Purchase bought a fairly small piece of land that continues to have a big economic impact today.
After reading answer the question, Why was the Gadsden Purchase so important to the development of New Mexico and the United States? In 2-3 sentences