Gadsden Purchase

The Gadsden Purchase is a 30,000 mi² (77,700 km²) region of what is today southern Arizona and New Mexico that was purchased by the United States from Mexico in 1853. The purpose of the purchase was to allow for the construction of a southern route for a transcontinental railroad. Another rationale for the purchase is to give Mexico more money in compensation for the small amount paid for the lands taken by the United States after the Mexican-American War. James Gadsden[?] (U.S. Minister to Mexico) and Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna (President of Mexico) agreed on the price of $10,000,000 USD on December 30, 1853.