30 Jun 1854 Jahr - Gadsden Purchase

Beschreibung:

The Gadsden Purchase is a 29,670-square-mile region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that the United States acquired from Mexico by the Treaty of Mesilla, which took effect on June 8, 1854. The purchase included lands south of the Gila River and west of the Rio Grande where the U.S. wanted to build a transcontinental railroad along a deep southern route, which the Southern Pacific Railroad later completed in 1881–1883. The purchase also aimed to resolve other border issues.

The financially-strapped government of Santa Ana agreed to the sale, which netted Mexico $10 million (equivalent to $230 million in 2018). After the devastating loss of Mexican territory to the U.S. in the Mexican–American War (1846–48) and the continued filibustering by U.S. citizens, Santa Ana may have calculated it was better to yield territory by treaty and receive payment rather than have the territory simply seized by the U.S.