USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -The Gadsden Purchase, or Treaty, was an agreement between the United States and Mexico, finalized in 1854, in which the United States agreed to pay Mexico $10 million for a 29, 670 square mile portion of Mexico that later became part of Arizona and New Mexico.

Detailed explanation-2: -On December 30, 1853, a treaty was signed where Mexico sold the United States 29, 000 square miles of territory in the area that would eventually become southern Arizona and New Mexico.

Detailed explanation-3: -In 1853 President Pierce sent Gadsden to Mexico to negotiate a redefinition of the border. The Mexican regime was urgently in need of money and for $10 million sold the required strip of territory south of the Gila River, in what is now southern New Mexico and Arizona.

Detailed explanation-4: -The purpose of this purchase by the U.S. government was largely to extend a southern railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. At the time the area of the purchase was thought to have the best route for a transcontinental railroad. The purchase added the Mesilla Valley to the United States.

Detailed explanation-5: -The first draft was signed on December 30, 1853, by James Gadsden, U.S. ambassador to Mexico, and by Antonio López de Santa Anna, president of Mexico.