The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1916-08-01
The Gadsden Purchase
, Editor of The Age-Herald:


In your New York letter by Holland
issue of Saturday, July 30, relative to
| treaties whereby territorial possessions
have been acquired by the United
States. we find the following:
I'VE paid Mexico s15.Ooo,OOO for the
CALIFORNIA;, so-called, and New Mex
leo: The people of Mexico always
looked upon these payments as ar
| indemnity, paid to Mexico on account
| of the war. Subsequently, in order tc
rectify boundary MISUNDERSTANDING
we paid Mexico $10,00O.000 for the So
called Gadsden purchase. now included
nothing to do with the final negotia =
tons, although he began them; but his
name became additionally associated
With the purchase"
Just where your man Holland gets
his facts and figures is unknown to me,
but his information seems somewhat
out of line with the Encyclopedias
Americana. and other books of reference
which are in my possession.
In the first place, the people of Mex
leo do not seem to have looked on the
| transaction S Holland seems to think.
The treaty Of Guadalupe Hidalgo was
never satisfactory to the people OF
Mexico. President Polk sent Nicholas
P. Trist, then chief clerk in the state
department, to Mexico to negotiate this
treaty In the summer of 1S47. 1t was
in August, and in the little village of
the name located some three miles
north, and. in fact. suburb of the
City of Mexico. the American commits
sioner (Trist) first met the Mexican
commissioners. The terms demanded
by Trist were SO severe that they were
rejected by the Mexicans. The war
continued. The City of Mexico was
captured. Negotiations were resumed
and Mexico, conquered. was forced to
accept the terms imposed, the treaty
having been signed in February. 1S4S
The United States Senate. however, I'M
der the changed conditions, was not
satisfied and imposed even harsher
terms than named in the treaty, March
10, 1913; and Mexico was forced to sub
| init. By the terms of the treaty, how
ever, the United States assumed claims
which United States citizens had made
on Mexico to the extent of $3.50, 900
damages claimed under the conventions
of 1898 and 1S43.
The eleventh article of this treaty
imposed on the United States the obli-
cation to restrain Indian paarauders On
the Mexican frontier; and in 1853, when
James Gadsden was appointed minister
to Mexico, claims from Mexicans un-
der this eleventh article of the treaty
had been piled up against the United
States to the extent of somewhere be-
tween SIS. 100000 and $1,000, 900, though
the treaty itself had been in force only
about five years. 1t was easy to sec
that these claims, if the old treaty re-
manned in force. might ultimately give
| trouble. James Gadsden of Charleston
S. c., was a graduate of Yale, class OF
1906, had served with distinction in :he
war of 1912, and later in the campaigns
, against the Seminoles in Florida, and
had served as secretary to the commits
sion headed by Gen. Andrew Jackson in
| the negotiation of the treaties with the
Chickasaws September 20. 1916; and
with the Cherokees at Turkey Town or
october 4, 1916. Boundary disputes
had then G853) also developed on the
border. as to the boundary between
| the possession of the Mesilla valley
which the United States claimed, but
of which Mexico had taken armed pos.
session. Under such conditions, which
rendered the work not only difficult
but important. James Gadsden was en-
trusted with the duty of negotiating
| a new treaty. Santa Anna represented
tiations. The encyclopaedia says: 'I
| is called the Gadsden purchase after
James Gadsden, United States ministel
to Mexico in 1853, by whom in Deem
Der of that year the treaty of sale
was negotiated with Santa Anna Fol
the sum of $10,0OO,000 Gadsden secured
45,535 square miles of territory, now
included in the southern part of Ari-
IONA and New Mexico; disposed of the
Sic, 900, 900 to $50, 100000 in claims piled
up against the United States and also
secured the abrogation of that part Of
the old treaty under which those
claims had been made. This treaty was
vigorously opposed in Mexico, "and or
account Of his part in the sale Santa
Anna in 1856 was banished from his
country as a traitor"
The final ratification of the treaty
was on June 10, 1854. Yours,
EDWARD HAMMER.