Editing Compromise of 1850 (section)

===Settlement of borders===
[[File:New Mexico Territory, 1852.png|thumb|upright=1.1|Map of [[New Mexico Territory]] in 1852]]
[[File:Utah Territory with Deseret Border, vector image - 2011.svg|thumb|upright=1.1|The Utah Territory is shown in blue and outlined in black. The boundaries of the provisional [[State of Deseret]] are shown with a dotted line.]]

Texas was allowed to keep the following portions of the disputed land: south of the [[32nd parallel north|32nd parallel]] and south of the [[36°30' parallel north]] and east of the [[103rd meridian west]]. The rest of the disputed land was transferred to the United States. The final border was designed to keep the frontier settlement of [[El Paso]] in Texas, since despite that settlement's geographic, historic, and economic ties to New Mexico, Texas had recently established a county government in El Paso and thus successfully claimed it as an integral part of Texas. A similar attempt to keep [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]] in Texas failed, and Santa Fe became part of the New Mexico territory.<ref name="elpaso117125">''El Paso, A Borderlands History'', by W.H. Timmons, pp. 117–125</ref> The United States Constitution (Article IV, Section 3) does not permit Congress unilaterally to reduce the territory of any state, so the first part of the Compromise of 1850 had to take the form of an offer to the [[Texas State Legislature]], rather than a unilateral enactment. This ratified the bargain and, in due course, the transfer of a broad swath of land from the state of Texas to the federal government was accomplished. In return for Texas's giving up this land, the United States assumed the debts of Texas.

From the Mexican Cession, the New Mexico Territory received most of the present-day state of Arizona, most of the western part of the present-day state of New Mexico, and the southern tip of present-day Nevada (south of the [[37th parallel north|37th parallel]]). The territory also received most of present-day eastern New Mexico, a portion of present-day Colorado (east of the crest of the [[Rocky Mountains]], west of the 103rd meridian, and south of the [[38th parallel north|38th parallel]]); all of this land had been claimed by Texas.

From the Mexican Cession, the Utah Territory received present-day Utah, most of present-day Nevada (everything north of the 37th parallel), a major part of present-day Colorado (everything west of the crest of the Rocky Mountains), and a small part of present-day Wyoming. That included the newly founded colony at [[Salt Lake City|Salt Lake]], of [[Brigham Young]]. The Utah Territory also received some land that had been claimed by Texas; this land is now part of present-day Colorado that is east of the crest of the Rocky Mountains.