Gadsden Purchase
The Oregon Territory dispute was settled by the Oregon Treaty between the U.S. and Great Britain in 1846 under President Polk. The Oregon Territory was commemorated on its 100th anniversary with a 3-cent stamp on July 14, 1936. It comprised the present states of Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and parts of Montana and Wyoming. The stamp features a map of the Territory, including a trace of the Oregon Trail, flanked by a Native American scene and a covered wagon train. A 3-cent commemorative of the 100th anniversary of the Gadsden Purchase issued December 30, 1953. The U.S. bought the Gadsden Purchase (1854) from Mexico. It amounted to 29,670 square miles which later became parts of Arizona and New Mexico. With the Gadsden Purchase, the contiguous territory which would become the "lower forty-eight" contiguous states of the United States was complete.