Treaty with Mexico
"The treaty was as follows: "Treaty with Mexico. Concluded December 30,
1853; ratifications exchanged June 30, 1851; proclaimed June 30, 1854'.
"In the name of Almighty God:
"The Republic of Mexico and the United States of America, desiring to remove
every cause of disagreement which might interfere in any manner with the
better friendship and intercourse between the two countries, and especially
in respect to the true limits which should be established, when,
notwithstanding what was covenanted in the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in
the year 1848, opposite interpretations have been urged, which might give
occasion to questions of serious moment: to avoid these and to strengthen
and more firmly maintain the peace which happily prevails between the two
republics, the President of the United States has, for this purpose,
appointed James Gadsden, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of
the same, near the Mexican Government, and the President of Mexico has
appointed as Plenipotentiary 'ad hoc' his excellency Don Manuel Diaz de
Bonilla, cavalier grand cross of the national and distinguished order of
Guadalupe, and Secretary of State and of the office of Foreign Relations,
and Don Salazar Ylarregui and General Mariano Monterde, as scientific
commissioners, invested with full powers for this negotiation; who, having
communicated their respective full powers, and finding them in due and
proper form, have agreed upon the articles following:
ARTICLE I. "The Mexican Republic agrees to designate the following as her
true limits with the United States for the future: Retaining the same
dividing line between the two Californias as already defined and
established, according to the 5th article of the treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo, the limits between the two republics shall be as follows: Beginning
in the Gulf of Mexico, three leagues from land, opposite the mouth of the
Rio Grande, as provided in the fifth article of the treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo; thence, as defined in the said article, up the middle of that river
to the point where the parallel of 31° 47' north latitude crosses the same;
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; thence in a straight line to a
point on the Colorado twenty English miles below the junction of the Gila
and Colorado rivers; thence up the middle of the said river Colorado until
it intersects the present line between the United States and Mexico.
"For the performance of this portion of the treaty, each of the two
Governments shall nominate one commissioner, to the end that, by common
consent, the two thus nominated having met in the city of Paso del Norte,
three months after the exchange of the ratification of this treaty, may
proceed to survey and mark out upon the land the dividing line stipulated by
this article, where it shall not have already been surveyed and established
by the mixed commission, according to the treaty of Guadalupe, keeping a
journal and making proper plans of their operations. For this purpose, if
they should judge it necessary, the contracting parties shall be at liberty
each to unite to its respective commissioner scientific or other assistants,
such as astronomers and surveyors, whose concurrence shall not be considered
necessary for the settlement and ratification of a true line of division
between the two republics; that line shall be alone established upon which
the commissioners may fix, their consent in this particular being considered
decisive and an integral part of this treaty, without necessity of ulterior
ratification or approval, and without room for interpretation of any kind by
either of the parties contracting.
"The dividing line thus established shall, in all time, be faithfully
respected by the two Governments, without any variation therein, unless of
the express and free consent of the two, given in conformity to the
principles of the law of nations, and in accordance with the constitution of
each country, respectively.
"In consequence, the stipulation in the 5th article of the treaty of
Guadalupe upon the boundary line therein described is no longer of any
force, wherein it may conflict with that here established, the said line
being considered annulled and abolished wherever it may not coincide with
the present, and in the same manner remaining in full force where in
accordance with the same.
ARTICLE II. "The Government of Mexico hereby releases the United States from
all liability on account of the obligations contained in the eleventh
article of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; and the said article and the
thirty-third article of the treaty of amity, commerce and navigation between
the United States of America and the United Mexican States, concluded at
Mexico on the fifth day of April, 1831, are hereby abrogated.
ARTICLE III. "In consideration of the foregoing stipulations, the Government
of the United States agrees to pay to the Government of Mexico, in the city
of New York, the sum of ten millions of dollars, of which seven millions
shall be paid immediately upon the exchange of the ratifications of this
treaty, and the remaining three millions as soon as the boundary line shall
be surveyed, marked and established.
ARTICLE IV. "The provisions of the 6th and 7th articles of the treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo having been rendered nugatory for the most part by the
cession of territory granted in the first article of this treaty, the said
articles are hereby abrogated and annulled, and the provisions as herein
expressed substituted therefor. The vessels and citizens of the United
States shall, in all time, have free and uninterrupted passage through the
Gulf of California, to and from their possessions situated north of the
boundary line of the two countries. It being understood that this passage is
to be by navigating the Gulf of California and the river Colorado, and not
by land without the express consent of the Mexican Government; and precisely
the same provisions, stipulations and restrictions, in all respects, are
hereby agreed upon and adopted, and shall be scrupulously observed and
enforced by the two contracting Governments, in reference to the Rio
Colorado, so far and for such distance as the middle of that river is made
their common boundary line by the first article of this treaty. ''The
several provisions, stipulations, and restrictions contained in the 7th
article of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo shall remain in force only so far
as regards the Rio Bravo del Norte, below the initial of the said boundary
provided in the first article of this treaty; that is to say, below the
intersection of the 31° 47' 30 parallel of latitude, with the boundary line
established by the late treaty dividing said river from its mouth upwards,
according to the 5th article of the treaty of Guadalupe.
ARTICLE V. "All the provisions of the eighth and ninth, sixteenth and
seventeenth articles of the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo shall apply to the
territory ceded by the Mexican Republic in the first article of the present
treaty, and to all the rights of persons' and property, both civil and
ecclesiastical, within the same, as fully and effectually as if the said
articles were herein again recited and set forth.
ARTICLE VI. ''No grants of land within the territory ceded by the first
article of this treaty bearing date subsequent to the day - twenty-fifth of
September - when the Minister and subscriber to this treaty on the part of
the United States proposed to the Government of Mexico to terminate the
question of boundary, will be considered valid or to be recognized by the
United States, or will any grants made previously be respected or be
considered as obligatory which have not been located and duly recorded in
the archives of Mexico.
ARTICLE VII. ''Should there, at any future period (which God forbid) occur
any disagreement between the two nations which might lead to a rupture of
their relations' and reciprocal peace, they bind themselves in like manner
to procure by every possible method the adjustment of every difference; and
should they still in this manner not succeed, never will they proceed to a
declaration of war without having previously paid attention to what has been
set forth in article 21 of the treaty of Guadalupe for similar cases; which
article, as well as the 22 d, is here re-affirmed.
ARTICLE VIII. "The Mexican Government having on the 5th of February, 1853,
authorized the construction of a plank and rail road across the Isthmus of
Tehuantepec, and to secure the stable benefits of said transit way to the
persons and merchandise of the citizens of Mexico and the United States, it
is stipulated that neither Government will interpose any obstacle to the
transit of persons and merchandise of both nations; and at no time shall
higher charges be made on the transit of persons and property of citizens of
the United States than may be made on the persons and property of other
foreign nations, nor shall any interest in said transit way nor in the
proceeds thereof, be transferred to any foreign government.
''The United States, by its agents, shall have the right to transport across
the isthmus, in closed bags, the mails of the United States not intended for
distribution along the line of communication; also the effects of the United
States Government and its citizens, which may be intended for transit, and
not for distribution on the isthmus, free of customhouse or other charges by
the Mexican Government. Neither passports nor letters of security will be
required of persons crossing the isthmus and not remaining in the country.
"When the construction of the railroad shall be completed, the Mexican
Government agrees to open a port of entry in addition to the port of Vera
Cruz, at or near the terminus of said road on the Gulf of Mexico.
''The two Governments will enter into arrangements for the prompt transit of
troops and munitions of the United States which that Government may have
occasion to send from one part of its territory to another, lying on
opposite sides of the continent.
"The Mexican Government having agreed to protect with its whole power the
prosecution, preservation and security of the work, the United States may
extend its protection as it shall judge wise to it when it may feel
sanctioned and warranted by the public or international law.
ARTICLE IX.
"This treaty shall be ratified and the respective ratifications shall be
exchanged at the city of Washington within the exact period of six months
from the date of its signature, or sooner if possible.
"In testimony whereof we, the Plenipotentiaries of the contracting parties,
have hereunto affixed our hands and seals at Mexico, the thirtieth (30th)
day of December, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
fifty-three, in the thirty-third year of the Independence of the Mexican
Republic, and the seventy-eighth of that of the United States.
(Seal) James Gadsden.
(Seal) Manuel Diez de Bonilla.
(Seal) Jose Salazar Ylarregui.
(Seal) J. Mariano Monterde.
Notes About Book:
Source: History Of Arizona Volume 1, By Thomas Edwin Farish, 1915, Printed
and Published by Direction of the Second Legislature of the State of
Arizona, A. D.
Notes about Online Publication: This manuscript has been ocr'd and heavily
edited. Many of the Native American words have been reproduced as clearly as
online publication will allow us, but not all are exactly the way they were
in the original work. The structure of this manuscript has been changed to
allow better online presentation.
