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Lot #34
President Franklin Pierce Signed Expansion Document, Ratifying the 1854 Gadsden Purchase with Mexico

President Pierce directs his Secretary of State to exchange ratifications for the historic Gadsden Purchase, which forever defined the Mexico–United States border

Estimate: $1000+

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Description

President Pierce directs his Secretary of State to exchange ratifications for the historic Gadsden Purchase, which forever defined the Mexico–United States border

Significant partly-printed DS as president, one page, 8 x 10.5, June 29, 1854. President Pierce directs the Secretary of State to affix the Seal of the United States to “a Power to Hon. Wm. L. Marcy etc. etc. to exchange ratifications of a Treaty between the United States and the Mexican Republic, signed on the 30th December last, as amended by the Senate of the U.S.” Signed prominently at the conclusion by Franklin Pierce. In fine condition.

This document pertains to the Gadsden Purchase, or Treaty, which concluded with the United States agreeing to pay Mexico $10 million for a 29,670 square mile portion of Mexico that later became part of Arizona and New Mexico. Gadsden’s Purchase provided the land necessary for a southern transcontinental railroad and attempted to resolve conflicts that lingered after the Mexican-American War.

The first draft was signed on December 30, 1853, by James Gadsden, U.S. minister to Mexico, and by Antonio López de Santa Anna, president of Mexico. The U.S. Senate voted in favor of ratifying it with amendments on April 25, 1854, and then sent it to President Franklin Pierce. Mexico's government and its General Congress or Congress of the Union took final approval action on June 8, 1854, and the treaty took effect on June 30th, a day after this document was signed. The purchase was the last substantial territorial acquisition in the contiguous United States and defined the Mexico–United States border. The Arizona cities of Tucson, Yuma, and Tombstone are on territory acquired by the U.S. in the Gadsden Purchase.

Auction Info

  • Auction Title: Fine Autographs and Artifacts Featuring Presidents
  • Dates: January 10, 2025 - February 12, 2025





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