In 1853,on this day the American ambassador to Mexico James Gadsden purchased a thirty thousand square-mile area of land south of the Gila River and west of the Rio Grande. It was then ratified, with changes, by the US Senate on April 25, 1854, and signed by President Franklin Pierce, with final approval action taken by Mexico on June 8, 1854. The “Gadsen Purchase” was the last major territorial acquisition in the contiguous United States.
La Raza says we stole it. They want the whole southwest back, with all the improvements of course.
ReplyDeleteThey weren't alive in 1853 so it couldn't have been stolen from them.
DeleteKinda like the negro slave reparations nonsense.
Come and take it.
DeleteSFC D
My first USAF duty station was Gila Bend AFAF (58th Combat Support Sqdn) from 1979 -1981. I can attest to the fact of what a stark, hot, dry and desolate place it is. As I recall on the welcome package info that I received upon arrival, there are 2.7 million aces to the bombing range complex. What a place to begin my Air Force enlistment!
ReplyDeleteBayouwulf
That southern boundary extended West to the Sea of Cortez in the origional Mexican offer. The story is that Gadsden thought a seaport there was worthless and the boundary was moved north. Rocky Point/Puerto Penasco could have been part of Arizona.
ReplyDeleteI've been scuba diving in the Sea of Cortez. I wish that we'd taken at least the norther part of it for Arizona or California.
ReplyDelete