The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 27, July 1923 - April, 1924 Page: 22
344 p. : maps ; 23 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Southwestern Historical Quarterly
retained for the satisfaction of American claims against Mexico,
and twelve millions to be paid for the "other things agreed upon."
The Mexican commissioners insisted upon a larger amount, and
after considerable discussion, "it was finally decided that the U.
States should Pay $15,000,000 for all other concessions and
$5,000,000 to be devoted for the satisfaction of private claims."",
Of the former sum, one-fifth was to be paid on the exchange of
ratifications and the remaining four-fifths in monthly installments
of three millions each-an arrangement which must have made the
wily dictator chuckle ! Nothing now remained but the signing of
the completed document. This took place on December 30, and
Gadsden set out immediately for Washington.
The account of the Gadsden negotiations cannot be considered
as complete, however, until Santa Anna's version of the matter
has been briefly examined. When news of his sale of the national
domain aroused a storm of protest in Mexico, the dictator and his
friends, profiting by the rumors of a threatened outbreak of hos-
tilities with the United States in the summer and fall of 1853,
endeavored to excuse his action by the allegation that the Yankees
would have taken the territory by force had he not consented to
its sale. This story was not sufficiently convincing to stem the
tide of opposition which soon led to his overthrow, however, and
on two subsequent occasions he referred to the affair, along with
other matters, in an attempt to restore himself to the good graces
of the Mexican people. These two accounts, one contained in a
pronunciamento issued from his place of exile in 1858, and the
other in his memoirs written some ten years later, agree in essen-
tials. In the first, he said, in substance, that the government of
the United States, with the view of stirring up trouble, had de-
spatched a large force to threaten the department of Chihuahua;
that the Mexicans "had nothing with which to oppose the invaders
arrogantly appearing along the frontier but the sad spectacle
. . . of exceeding weakness"; that, during the progress of
the negotiations, Gadsden gave the Mexican officials to understand
that the territory in question was absolutely essential to the de-
velopment of the United States and Mexico had better sell for a
reasonable price what "imperious necessity" would sooner or later
compel the Washington government to seize. In the second state-
1"The six protocols were inclosed with Gadsden to Marcy, March 20, 1854.
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Texas State Historical Association. The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 27, July 1923 - April, 1924, periodical, 1924; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth101086/m1/28/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.