Gadsden Purchase - 1853
Map found at www.oldmesilla.org/html/gadsden_purchase.html
The Gadsden Purchase was intended to allow for the construction of a southern route for a transcontinental railroad, and was also designed to fully compensate Mexico for the lands taken by the United States after the Mexican-American War. In 1853, U.S. Minister to Mexico James Gadsden and Mexican President Antonio López de Santa Anna agreed on the price of $10 million.
The continental United States was now complete. Later we would add Alaska and Hawaii to our possessions.