Editing Gadsden Purchase (section)

=== Ratification ===
[[File:U.S. Territorial Acquisitions.png|thumb|300px|Territorial enlargement of the United States, the Gadsden Purchase shown in red-orange]]
Pierce and his cabinet began debating the treaty in January 1854. Although disappointed in the amount of territory secured and some of the terms, Pierce signed it, and submitted it to the Senate on February 10.<ref>{{harvp|Nichols|1969|p=325}}.</ref> Gadsden, however, suggested that northern Senators would block the treaty to deny the South a railroad.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1854/04/25/76457120.pdf |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |title=Pacific Railroad: Southern Plan |date=April 25, 1854 |access-date=November 4, 2016}}</ref>

The treaty needed a two-thirds vote in favor of ratification in the US Senate, where it met strong opposition. Anti-slavery senators opposed further acquisition of slave territory. Lobbying by speculators gave the treaty a bad reputation. Some Senators objected to furnishing Santa Anna financial assistance.

The treaty reached the Senate as that body focused on the debate over the [[Kansas–Nebraska Act]]. On April 17, after much debate, the Senate voted 27 to 18 in favor of the treaty, falling three votes short of the necessary two-thirds majority. After this defeat, Secretary Davis and southern Senators pressed Pierce to add more provisions to the treaty including:
* protection for the Sloo grant;
* a requirement that Mexico "protect with its whole power the prosecution, preservation, and security of the work [referring to the isthmian canal]";
* permission for the United States to intervene unilaterally "when it may feel sanctioned and warranted by the public or international law"; and
* a reduction of the territory to be acquired by more than {{convert|10000|sqmi|km2}} to the final size of {{convert|29640|sqmi|km2|adj=on}},<ref>{{cite web |last1=Cranor |first1=David |title=Gadsden Purchase: How the US gave up a Vermont (and got part of it back) |url=http://nothingmorepowerful.blogspot.com/2018/12/gadsden-purchase-how-us-gave-up-vermont.html |website=Nothing More Powerful |date=August 17, 2023 |access-date=31 August 2023}}</ref> and dropping the price to $10 million (equivalent to ${{Formatprice|{{inflation|US-GDP|10000000|1854|r=-7}}}} in {{inflation-year|US-GDP}}{{inflation-fn|US-GDP}}) from $15 million (${{Formatprice|{{inflation|US-GDP|15000000|1854|r=-7}}}}{{inflation-fn|US-GDP}}).

The land area included in the treaty is shown in the map at the head of the article, and in the national map in this section.{{#tag:ref|The Purchase treaty defines the new border as "up the middle of that river to the point where the parallel of 31° 47' north latitude crosses the same {{coord|31|47|0|N|106|31|41.5|W}}; thence due west one hundred miles; thence south to the parallel of 31° 20' north latitude; thence along the said parallel of 31° 20' to the 111th meridian of longitude west of Greenwich {{coord|31|20|N|111|0|W}}; thence in a straight line to a point on the Colorado River twenty English miles below the junction of the Gila and Colorado rivers; thence up the middle of the said Colorado river until it intersects the present line between the United States and Mexico". The new border included a few miles of the [[Colorado River]] at the western end; the remaining land portion consisted of line segments between points, including {{coord|32.49399|N|114.813043|W}} at the Colorado River, west of [[Nogales, Arizona|Nogales]] at {{coord|31.33214|N|111.07423|W}}, near Arizona-New Mexico-Mexico [[tripoint]] at {{coord|31.332099|N|109.05047|W}}, the eastern corners of the New Mexico southern boot heel ([[Hidalgo County, New Mexico|Hidalgo County]]) at<!--isn't there another one?--> {{coord|31.78378|N|108.20854|W}}, and the west bank of the [[Rio Grande]] river at {{coord|31.78377|N|106.52864|W}}.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/mx1853.asp |via=The Avalon Project, [[Yale University]] |title=Gadsden Purchase Treaty |date=December 30, 1853 |publisher=[[United States Department of State]] |first1=Franklin |last1=Pierce |first2=William L. |last2=Marcy |name-list-style=amp |access-date=October 10, 2008}}</ref>|group=lower-alpha}}

This version of the treaty successfully passed the US Senate April 25, 1854, by a vote of 33 to 12. The reduction in territory was an accommodation of northern senators who opposed the acquisition of additional slave territory. In the final vote, northerners split 12 to 12. Gadsden took the revised treaty back to Santa Anna, who accepted the changes.<ref>{{harvp|Kluger|2007|pp= 502–503}}.</ref><ref>{{cite book |first=David N. |last=Potter |title=[[The Impending Crisis 1848–1861]] |year=1977 |location=New York |publisher=Harper Torchbooks |page=[https://archive.org/details/impendingcrisis00pott/page/183 183] |isbn=978-0061319297 }}</ref> The treaty went into effect June 30, 1854.<ref>{{cite thesis |first=Paul Neff |last=Garber |title=The Gadsden Treaty |year=1923 |location=Philadelphia |publisher=University of Pennsylvania}}</ref>

While the land was available for construction of a southern railroad, the issue had become too strongly associated with the sectional debate over slavery to receive federal funding. Roberson wrote:<ref name=Robersonp180>{{harvp|Roberson|1974|p=180}}.</ref>

{{blockquote|The unfortunate debates in 1854 left an indelible mark on the course of national politics and the Pacific railroad for the remainder of the antebellum period. It was becoming increasingly difficult, if not outright impossible, to consider any proposal that could not somehow be construed as relating to slavery and, therefore, sectional issues. Although few people fully realized it at the close of 1854, [[sectionalism]] had taken such a firm, unrelenting hold on the nation that completion of an antebellum Pacific railroad was prohibited. Money, interest, and enthusiasm were devoted to emotion-filled topics, not the Pacific railroad.|Jere W. Roberson|"The South and the Pacific Railroad, 1845–1855"}}

The effect was such that railroad development, which accelerated in the North, stagnated in the South.<ref name=Klugerp504>{{harvp|Kluger|2007|p=504}}.</ref>