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The Gadsden Treaty
With the collapse of the Boundary Commission efforts, the status of the disputed area became even more unclear. As a partial result, a feud escalated between New Mexico’s Territorial Governor, Wil- liam Carr Lane, and the Mexican Governor of Chihuahua, Angel Trias, that threatened to erupt intoafull-scalewaroverthetownofMesilla.51 An unidentified soldier, stationed at Fort Fillmore, noted in his diary that in the latter part of March 1853, two companies of Mexican Lancers arrived at Mesilla to garrison the town against the Americans. The incensed Lane called for military support but to no avail, so he raised a militia and sent it to Dona Ana. Trias followed suit by strengthening his garrison at El Paso del Norte.
To defuse the situation, both countries agreed to accede to the provisions contained in Article 21 of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and initiate renegotiations to resolve the boundary differen- ces. During this period of disputed possession, the presidio at Tucson continued to be manned by Mexicans, and there was no problems between these troops and the Americans using the southern road through that town. On the Rio Grande, however, there were some problems. People outside the law took advantage of the jurisdictional dispute to flee to one side of the river or the other. On November 25, 1853, the United States Marshall at Las Cruces, Charles S. Rumley, noted that he was unable to serve a warrant for the arrest of Pedro Jesus Borule who was hiding across the river in Mesilla after beating
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another man to death with a club.
In attempting to resolve the issue, not all United
daries and remuneration. The final offer, which was for the least land and money, would have paid Mexico $15 million and set the boundary at 31° 48’ north, extending from the Rio Grande to the Gulf of
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States politicians were in agreement. Again the op-
posing views were largely along sectional lines.
James Gadsden was sent to Mexico to negotiate the today.
purchase of sufficient land for a southern transcon-
tinental railroad. He, like John Caldwell Calhoun,
had been against any large land acquisition from
Mexico and was opposed to the “mad designs of
conquest” of President Franklin Pierce and
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others.
Several months of negotiations led nowhere until
on November 14, 1853, Gadsden received a whole battery of proposals from President Pierce to be presented to the Mexican Government. The five packages varied considerably in territorial boun-
the first $7 million to sustain his regime. ” Unfor- tunately, Santa Anna squandered it without benefit
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to the Mexican people.
Brevet Major Emory was assigned the task of con-
ducting the survey for the new boundary on August 4, 1854. He was to function as Commissioner and
Chapter 3
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California (Figure
This would have given Arizona and southeastern
California a port on the “Sea of Cortez” (Gulf of California), which could have accelerated the development of the area and changed its character. But Mexico was reluctant to part with so much land (that would also isolate Baja California) and possib- ly realized the value of an ocean access to the south- western states. Whatever their reasons, Mexico balked. Boundary lines were further modified, and the payment was reduced to $10 million for the “Treaty of Boundary and Cession of Territory” that Gadsden and the Mexican plenipotentiaries signed on December 30, 1853 58
Again, parties in the United States were divided over the issue. Despite his personal desire for more territory, on February 10, 1854, President Pierce sent the document to the Senate for ratification or rejection. This was unfortunate timing because the controversy over the Kansas-Nebraska Bill was in- tensifying sectional disputes. Even Thomas Hart Benton, the great promoter of the West, opposed the new treaty because he feared that it would preclude a railroad terminus in his state of Missouri. He argued that routes were already available along more northern parallels and that Kit Carson had said of the region being considered, “A wolf could not
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make a living in it.”
Several amendments were offered and rejected
until Senator James Murray Mason of Virginia of- fered a new boundary line that was accepted after minor alterations by Mexican diplomats, and the
21)
60 established the boundary substantially as it exists
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Gadsden was so dissatisfied with the amended version of the treaty that he went to Mexico with the partial hope that it would be rejected. How- ever, he recognized that if this happened, a treaty might never be ratified by the Senate, and for his part, Santa Anna needed the immediate payment of
Treaty was passed on the April 15, 1854.
This