Editing New Mexico Territory

{{Short description|Territory of the United States of America (1850–1912)}}
{{Use American English|date=December 2022}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=December 2022}}
{{Infobox Former Subdivision
|native_name       = 
|conventional_long_name = Territory of New Mexico
|common_name       = New Mexico Territory
|nation            = the [[United States]]
|subdivision       = [[Organized incorporated territories of the United States|Organized incorporated territory]]
|event_pre         = [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]]
|date_pre          = May 30, 1848
|event_start       = [[Organic Act]] (part of [[Compromise of 1850]])
|date_start        = September 9,
|year_start        = 1850
|event1            = [[Gadsden Purchase]]
|date_event1       = June 24, 1853
|event2            = [[Colorado Organic Act|Colorado Territory]] established
|date_event2       = February 28, 1861
|event3            = [[Arizona Organic Act|Arizona Territory]] established
|date_event3       = February 24, 1863
|event_end         = [[New Mexico|Statehood]]
|date_end          = January 6,
|year_end          = 1912
|p1                = U.S. provisional government of New Mexico
|flag_p1           = US flag 30 stars.svg
|p2                = Republic of Texas
|flag_p2           = Flag of Texas.svg
|s1                = New Mexico
|flag_s1           = Flag of New Mexico (1912-1925).svg
|s2                = Arizona Territory
|flag_s2           = Flag of the United States (1859–1861).svg
|s3                = Colorado Territory
|flag_s3           = Flag of the United States (1859–1861).svg
|s4                = Nevada Territory
|flag_s4           = Flag of the United States (1859–1861).svg
|image_flag        = US flag 45 stars.svg
| flag              = Flag of the United States#Historical progression of designs
| flag_type         = Flag (1896–1908)
|image_coat        = Seal of the Territory of New Mexico (1887–1912).svg
|symbol            = Seal of New Mexico
|symbol_type       = Seal (1887–1912)
|image_map         = AZ-NM1867.jpg
|image_map_caption = Map of the later [[Arizona Territory|Arizona]] and New Mexico Territories, split from the original New Mexico Territory of 1851, showing existing [[county (United States)|counties]]
|capital         = [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]]
|government_type = Organized incorporated territory
|title_leader    = [[List of Governors of New Mexico#Governors of the Territory of New Mexico|Governor]]
|leader1         = [[James S. Calhoun]] <!--------Do not change to [[Charles Bent]]; Calhoun is the first governor of the organized territory---->
|year_leader1    = 1851–1852
|leader2         = [[William J. Mills]]
|year_leader2    = 1910–1912
|legislature     = New Mexico Territorial Legislature
}}
The '''Territory of New Mexico''' was an [[organized incorporated territory of the United States]] from September 9, 1850,<ref>{{USStat|9|448}}</ref> until January 6, 1912.<ref>{{cite web |title=New Mexico and Utah organized as incorporated U.S. territories, Sept. 9, 1850 |author=ANDREW Glass |date=September 9, 2015 |url=https://www.politico.com/story/2015/09/this-day-in-politics-sept-9-1850-213308 |work=Politico}}</ref> It was created from the [[U.S. provisional government of New Mexico]], as a result of ''[[Santa Fe de Nuevo México|Nuevo México]]'' becoming part of the [[American frontier]] after the [[Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo]]. It existed with varying boundaries until the territory was admitted to the Union as the [[U.S. state]] of [[New Mexico]] in 1912. This jurisdiction was an organized, incorporated territory of the US for nearly 62 years, the longest period of any territory in the contiguous United States.

==Before the territory was organized==
{{Main|U.S. provisional government of New Mexico}}
{{Historical populations
|type= USA
|1850|61547
|1860|93516
|1870|91874
|1880|119565
|1890|160282
|1900|195310
|1910|327301
|footnote=Source: 1850–1910 (1860 includes both [[Arizona]] and [[New Mexico]];<ref name="Forstall pp. 14–15">{{cite report|editor-last=Forstall|editor-first=Richard L.|title=Population of the States and Counties of the United States: 1790–1990|pages=14–15|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1990/population-of-states-and-counties-us-1790-1990/population-of-states-and-counties-of-the-united-states-1790-1990.pdf|access-date=May 18, 2020}}</ref><ref name="Forstall pp. 110–111">{{cite report|editor-last=Forstall|editor-first=Richard L.|title=Population of the States and Counties of the United States: 1790–1990|pages=110–111|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|url=https://www2.census.gov/library/publications/decennial/1990/population-of-states-and-counties-us-1790-1990/population-of-states-and-counties-of-the-united-states-1790-1990.pdf|access-date=May 18, 2020}}</ref>
}}

[[File:Boundaries of State of New Mexico proposed in 1850.png|thumb|right|Proposed boundaries for the earlier federal State of New Mexico, 1850]]
In 1846, during the [[Mexican–American War]], the United States established [[U.S. provisional government of New Mexico|a provisional government of New Mexico]]. Territorial boundaries were somewhat ambiguous. After the Mexican Republic formally ceded the region to the United States in 1848, this temporary wartime/military government operated until September 9, 1850.

Earlier in 1850, organizers proposing New Mexico for statehood had drafted a state constitution that prohibited [[Slavery in the United States|slavery]]. The request was approved at the same time that the [[Utah Territory]] was created to the north. The proposed state boundaries were to extend as far east as the 100th meridian West and as far north as the [[Arkansas River]], thus encompassing the present-day [[Texas Panhandle|Texas]] and [[Oklahoma Panhandle|Oklahoma]] panhandles and parts of present-day [[Kansas]], [[Colorado]], [[Utah]], and [[Arizona]], as well as most of present-day [[New Mexico]]. The state of Texas (admitted to the US in 1845) strongly criticized this plan, as it claimed much of the same territory, although it did not control these lands. In addition, slaveholders worried about not being able to expand slavery to the west of their current slave states.

==Compromise of 1850 and disputes over slavery==
[[File:New Mexico Territory, 1852.png|thumb|right|New Mexico Territory, 1852]]
[[File:Gadsden Purchase Cities ZP.svg|thumb|right|The Gadsden Purchase, 1853]]
[[File:Wpdms arizona territory 1860 idx.png|thumb|right]]
[[File:Wpdms arizona new mexico territories 1863 idx.png|thumb|right]]
[[File:Wpdms new mexico territory 1866.png|thumb|right]]

The [[Compromise of 1850]] put an end to the push for immediate New Mexico statehood. Approved by the [[United States Congress]] in September 1850, the legislation provided for the establishment of New Mexico Territory and [[Utah Territory]]. It also defined the disputed western boundary of [[Texas]].

During the territorial period, the status of [[slavery]] provoked considerable debate. Congress was sharply divided on the slavery issue, with Southern representatives determined to protect their options for expansion of slavery in the West. Senator [[Stephen A. Douglas]] of [[Illinois]] and others maintained that the territory could not restrict slavery, as under the earlier [[Missouri Compromise]]. Others, including [[Abraham Lincoln]], insisted that older Mexican Republic legal traditions of the territory, which abolished black slavery in 1834, took precedence and should be continued. (Indian slavery had been abolished in Spanish colonies in 1769.) Regardless of the official status, slavery was rare in [[Antebellum era|antebellum]] New Mexico. Black slaves never numbered more than about a dozen.<ref>[http://www.blackpast.org/?q=aaw/new-mexico-territory-slave-code-1859-1867 New Mexico Territory Slave Code (1859–1867) | The Black Past: Remembered and Reclaimed<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>

As one of the final attempts at compromise to avoid the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], in December 1860, a U.S. House of Representatives committee proposed to admit New Mexico as a slave state immediately. Although the measure was approved by the committee on December 29, 1860, Southern representatives did not take up this offer. Many had already left Congress due to the imminent declarations of secession by their states.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Impending Crisis|author=David M. Potter|pages=[https://archive.org/details/impendingcrisis00pott/page/533 533]–534|url=https://archive.org/details/impendingcrisis00pott |url-access=registration| isbn=978-0-06-131929-7 | year=1976 | publisher=Harper & Row}}</ref>

On February 24, 1863, during the Civil War, Congress passed the "[[Arizona Organic Act]]", which split off the western portion of the 12-year-old New Mexico Territory, establishing the new [[Arizona Territory]], where it abolished slavery. As in New Mexico, slavery was already extremely limited, due to earlier Mexican traditions, laws, and patterns of settlement. The northwestern corner of New Mexico Territory was included in Arizona Territory until it was added to the southernmost part of the newly admitted [[Nevada|State of Nevada]] in 1864. Eventually, Arizona Territory was admitted in 1912 as the [[Arizona|State of Arizona]].

==Territorial evolution==
{{Main|Territorial evolution of New Mexico}}
The boundaries of the New Mexico Territory at the time of establishment (September 9, 1850) contained most of the present-day [[State of New Mexico]], more than half of the present-day [[State of Arizona]], and portions of the present-day states of [[Colorado]] and [[Nevada]]. Although this area was smaller than what had been included in the failed statehood proposal of early 1850, the boundary disputes with [[Texas]] had been dispelled by the [[Compromise of 1850]].

The [[Gadsden Purchase]] was acquired by the United States from [[Mexico]] in 1853/1854 (known as the "Venta de La Mesilla" or the "Sale of La Mesilla"), arranged by the then-American ambassador to Mexico, [[James Gadsden]]. This added today's southern strip of [[Arizona]] and a smaller area in today's southwestern [[New Mexico]] to the New Mexico Territory, bringing its land area to the maximum size achieved in its history as an organized territory. The land of {{convert|29640|sqmi}} provided a more easily constructed route for a future southern [[transcontinental railroad]] line (second of the routes) for the future [[Southern Pacific Railroad]], constructed later in 1881/1883.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://2001-2009.state.gov/r/pa/ho/time/dwe/87721.htm |title=Department of State – Gadsden Purchase |date=July 6, 2007 |access-date=April 4, 2008 }}</ref>

The Purchase treaty defined the new border as "up the middle of that river (the [[Rio Grande]]) to the point where the parallel of 31° 47' north latitude crosses the same {{Coord|31|47|0|N|106|31|41.5|W}}; 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 west|111th meridian of longitude west]] of Greenwich {{Coord|31|20|N|111|0|W}}; thence in a straight line to a point on the Colorado River 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." The new border included a few miles of the [[Colorado River]] at the western end; the remaining land portion consisted of line segments between points, including {{Coord|32.49399|N|114.813043|W}} at the Colorado River, west of [[Nogales, Sonora|Nogales]] at {{Coord|31.33214|N|111.07423|W}}, near AZ-NM-Mexico tripoint at {{Coord|31.332099|N|109.05047|W}}, the eastern corners of NM southern bootheel ([[Hidalgo County, New Mexico|Hidalgo County]]) at {{Coord|31.78378|N|108.20854|W}}, and the west bank of [[Rio Grande]] at {{Coord|31.78377|N|106.52864|W}}.

The [[Colorado Territory]] was established by the "[[Colorado Organic Act]]" on February 28, 1861, with the same boundaries that would ultimately constitute the [[State of Colorado]]. This Act removed the Colorado lands from the New Mexico Territory.

The creation of the Union [[Arizona Territory]] (two years after the ill-fated [[Confederate Arizona|Confederate Arizona Territory]]) by the "[[Arizona Organic Act]]" on February 24, 1863, removed all the land west of the [[109th meridian west|109th meridian]] from the New Mexico Territory, i.e. the entire present-day [[State of Arizona]] plus the land that would become the southern part of the [[State of Nevada]] in 1864.<ref>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1863/03/10/90518536.pdf New York Times – The New Territory of Arizona]</ref> This Act left the New Mexico Territory with boundaries identical to the eventual [[State of New Mexico]] for a half-century until admitted to the Union in 1912 as the 47th state (followed just under six weeks later by the [[Arizona Territory]]/[[State of Arizona]], which became the 48th state, finally filling out the coast-to-coast continental expanse of the United States).

In 1850, all 73 churches with regular services in the New Mexico Territory were [[Catholic Church in the United States|Catholic]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Selcer|first=Richard F.|editor-last=Balkin|editor-first=Richard|title=Civil War America: 1850 to 1875|year=2006|place=New York|publisher=[[Infobase Publishing|Facts on File]]|page=143|isbn=978-0816038671}}</ref>  In the [[1910 United States census]], [[List of counties in New Mexico|26 counties in the New Mexico Territory]] reported the following population counts (after 7 reported the following counts in the [[1850 United States census]]):<ref name="Forstall pp. 110–111" />
{| class=wikitable
! 1910<br>Rank
! County
! 1850<br>Population
! 1910<br>Population
|-
|1
|[[Bernalillo County, New Mexico|Bernalillo]]
|7,751
|23,606
|-
|2
|[[San Miguel County, New Mexico|San Miguel]]
|7,074
|22,930
|-
|3
|[[Chaves County, New Mexico|Chaves]]
|–
|16,850
|-
|4
|[[Rio Arriba County, New Mexico|Rio Arriba]]
|10,668
|16,624
|-
|5
|[[Colfax County, New Mexico|Colfax]]
|–
|16,460
|-
|6
|[[Quay County, New Mexico|Quay]]
|–
|14,912
|-
|7
|[[Grant County, New Mexico|Grant]]
|–
|14,813
|-
|8
|[[Santa Fe County, New Mexico|Santa Fe]]
|7,713
|14,770
|-
|9
|[[Socorro County, New Mexico|Socorro]]
|–
|14,761
|-
|10
|[[Valencia County, New Mexico|Valencia]]
|14,189
|13,320
|-
|11
|[[McKinley County, New Mexico|McKinley]]
|–
|12,963
|-
|12
|[[Doña Ana County, New Mexico|Doña Ana]]
|–
|12,893
|-
|13
|[[Mora County, New Mexico|Mora]]
|–
|12,611
|-
|14
|[[Eddy County, New Mexico|Eddy]]
|–
|12,400
|-
|15
|[[Roosevelt County, New Mexico|Roosevelt]]
|–
|12,064
|-
|16
|[[Taos County, New Mexico|Taos]]
|9,507
|12,008
|-
|17
|[[Curry County, New Mexico|Curry]]
|–
|11,443
|-
|18
|[[Union County, New Mexico|Union]]
|–
|11,404
|-
|19
|[[Guadalupe County, New Mexico|Guadalupe]]
|–
|10,927
|-
|20
|[[Torrance County, New Mexico|Torrance]]
|–
|10,119
|-
|21
|[[Sandoval County, New Mexico|Sandoval]]
|–
|8,579
|-
|22
|[[San Juan County, New Mexico|San Juan]]
|–
|8,504
|-
|23
|[[Lincoln County, New Mexico|Lincoln]]
|–
|7,822
|-
|24
|[[Otero County, New Mexico|Otero]]
|–
|7,069
|-
|25
|[[Luna County, New Mexico|Luna]]
|–
|3,913
|-
|26
|[[Sierra County, New Mexico|Sierra]]
|–
|3,536
|-
|
|[[Santa Ana County, New Mexico Territory|Santa Ana]]
|4,645
|–
|-
|
|New Mexico Territory
|61,547
|327,301
|-
|}

==American Civil War==
{{Main|New Mexico Territory in the American Civil War|Pacific Coast Theater of the American Civil War}}

As the route to [[California]], New Mexico Territory was disputed territory during the [[American Civil War]]. Settlers in the southern part of the Territory willingly joined the [[Confederate States of America|Confederate States]] in 1861 as the newly organized [[Confederate Arizona|Confederate Territory of Arizona]], with a representative delegate to the [[Confederate Congress]] in the capital of [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]]. This territory consisted of the southern half of the earlier Federal New Mexico Territory of 1851 and was in contrast to the later Federal [[Arizona Territory]] established by the [[United States|Union]] in 1863, which was the western half split off from the original U.S. New Mexico Territory. The short-lived Confederate Arizona Territory was the first American territorial entity to be called "Arizona".

The [[Battle of Glorieta Pass]] in May 1862, following the retreat of Texan Confederate forces back south to [[El Paso, Texas|El Paso]], placed the area of the [[Rio Grande]] valley and eastern New Mexico Territory with the capital of [[Santa Fe, New Mexico|Santa Fe]] under the control of the [[Union (American Civil War)|Federals]] with their [[Union Army]].<ref>[http://www.nps.gov/history/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/91glorieta/91facts1.htm National Park Service – The Battle of Glorieta]</ref> However, the government and leadership of Confederate Arizona persisted until the end of the Civil War in June 1865 with the surrender of the [[Trans-Mississippi Department]], living in exile in [[El Paso, Texas]] with its delegate still in Richmond.

==Territorial symbols==
[[File:New Mexico territory coat of arms (illustrated, 1876).jpg|thumb|right|Illustrated coat of arms of the New Mexico Territory, published in ''[[Historical armorial of U.S. states from 1876|State Arms of the Union]]'' in 1876]]
A [[coat of arms]] of New Mexico was adopted by the territorial legislature in 1887, formalizing an earlier design, introduced in the early 1860s, already used in the territory's [[great seal]].<ref name="Zieber">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9B5OPiSdTxkC&pg=PA161 |title=Heraldry in America |last=Zieber |first=Eugene |year=1969 |orig-year=1895 |pages=161–162 |publisher=Haskell House}}</ref><ref name="NMSOS">{{cite web |url=https://www.sos.state.nm.us/about-new-mexico/state-seal/ |title=State Seal |website=New Mexico Secretary of State |access-date=December 2, 2022}}</ref> The legislation, titled "An Act adopting and establishing the coat of arms and great seal of the territory", was approved by Governor [[Edmund G. Ross]] on February 1:<ref name="Zieber"/>

<blockquote>The coat of arms of the territory of New Mexico shall be the Mexican Eagle grasping a serpent in its beak, the cactus in its talons, shielded by the American eagle with outspread wings, and grasping arrows in its talons. The date MDCCCL [1850], under the eagles, and above that, on a scroll, the motto: {{lang|la|Crescit Eundo}}. That the great seal of the territory have the coat of arms thereon, being the same seal now used by the secretary of the territory, and that the same be adopted and established as the official seal and coat of arms of the territory of New Mexico.</blockquote>

The "American" [[bald eagle]]'s outstretched wings over the smaller "Mexican" [[harpy eagle]] represents the territory's change of sovereignty.<ref name="NMSOS"/> The territorial motto, {{langnf|la|Crescit eundo|It grows as it goes}}, was later added to the seal. The same design was later adapted for use in the [[Seal of New Mexico|seal of the new state of New Mexico]] in 1913.<ref name="NMSOS">{{cite web |url=https://www.sos.state.nm.us/about-new-mexico/state-seal/ |title=State Seal |website=New Mexico Secretary of State |access-date=December 2, 2022}}</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Colorado|Arizona|United States|History}}
*[[New Mexico Territory in the American Civil War]]
*[[Governors of the Territory of New Mexico]]
*[[History of New Mexico]]
*[[Mexican–American War]], 1846–1848
*[[Silvester Mirabal]]
*[[Territorial evolution of the United States]]

{{Clear}}

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
{{Commons category|New Mexico Territory}}
*David L. Caffey, ''Chasing the Santa Fe Ring: Power and Privilege in Territorial New Mexico.'' Albuquerque, NM: University of New Mexico Press, 2014.

{{Territories of the United States}}
{{New Mexico}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:New Mexico Territory| ]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of New Mexico| ]]
[[Category:Former organized territories of the United States]]
[[Category:History of the American West]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Arizona]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Colorado]]
[[Category:Pre-statehood history of Nevada]]
[[Category:1850 establishments in New Mexico Territory]]
[[Category:1912 disestablishments in the United States]]
[[Category:1912 disestablishments in New Mexico]]