The Path to Statehood
The end of the Mexican-American War in 1848 brought huge rewards to the United States. The treaty that ended the war turned over a large portion of northern Mexico to the US. That land included New Mexico. It had boundaries unlike those it has today. It also had a majority Hispanic population. New Mexico's boundaries and its ethnic make-up had an impact on its path to statehood.
When New Mexico became part of the US, some people wanted statehood right away. California was quickly granted statehood. It became a state as part of the Compromise of 1850. The Compromise was a set of laws meant to maintain the balance between free and slave states. California entered the Union as a free state. To balance that, some concessions were granted to slave owners. New Mexico had to wait.
The US government made New Mexico a territory, not a state. The Compromise of 1850 didn't even settle the question of slavery in New Mexico. It gave New Mexicans the right to make that decision in the future. But the Compromise did set some of the territory's borders.
The Compromise split off a northern part of New Mexico as Utah Territory. It also settled a border dispute with Texas. Texas became a state in 1845 and claimed lands that reached to the Rio Grande. That claim included a large piece of New Mexico. Texas gave up that claim. New Mexico got control of all the land between the Rio Grande and the present New Mexico-Texas border. In return, Texas received $10 million to pay off debts.
A dispute about the southern border of New Mexico was harder to solve. Mexico and the United States could not agree on the border west of El Paso. Both wanted the fertile farm land of the Mesilla Valley. By 1853 the two countries were almost at war over the area. President Antonio López de Santa Anna of Mexico had even sent troops there. That same year, the US sent James Gadsden to meet with Santa Anna. They agreed on a settlement and signed a treaty on December 30, 1853. The US Senate approved an amended version in April of the following year. The US agreed to pay Mexico $10 million for a strip of land along the border. Mexico got money it needed. The US got the Mesilla Valley. The US also got a good southern route for a railroad across the country. The land was called the Gadsden Purchase. It forms the southwest corner of New Mexico and the southern strip of Arizona.
New Mexico's northern boundary changed several years later. When the Colorado Territory was formed in 1861, New Mexico lost land in the north. In 1863, the western part of New Mexico was cut off to form the Arizona Territory. New Mexico's borders were finally set.
By the early 1880s railroads crossed New Mexico. The railroads brought more people from the East. They also helped bring the products of New Mexico's mines, farms, and cattle ranches to other parts of the country.
Still, some Americans wondered if New Mexico could become a state. New Mexicans had hoped for statehood dozens of times after the Civil War. Yet New Mexico was always turned down-while many other territories were granted statehood. Why? New Mexico was largely Hispanic, Catholic, and Spanish-speaking-which most of the rest of the US was not. Most of its people had been citizens of another country. The territory also had a reputation for lawlessness. Some Americans wondered if New Mexicans would be loyal to the US. Were they capable of self-government? Could a state with such a different culture fit in? These questions seem strange today. But during that time, they were considered important concerns.
Many of these questions were answered when the Spanish-American War began in 1898. The call went out for volunteers. New Mexicans-Anglo and Hispanic alike- responded in huge numbers. Later, Theodore Roosevelt said that half of the brave men who served in the Rough Riders with him during the war were from New Mexico.
In the early twentieth century, the campaign for statehood gained strength. Congress considered statehood for New Mexico and its more Anglo neighbor Arizona. Congress passed the Enabling Act for New Mexico (and Arizona) in June of 1910. That act enabled New Mexico to write its constitution. The task was finished that fall. Voters approved it in early 1911. Then on January 6, 1912, President Taft signed a proclamation that made New Mexico the forty-seventh state.
Although the road to statehood was long and often tormented one, the people of New Mexico persevered. In 2012, this fifth-largest state in the union celebrated its hundredth birthday. It has been given the nickname "The Enchanted State" both for its physical beauty and the richness of its culture.
How did the Compromise of 1850 impact the borders of the New Mexico territory? 2-3 sentences