In San Francisco in the early fifties, there was a house on the
northeast corner of Stockton and Washington, of considerable
architectural pretensions for the period, which was called the
"Government Boarding House."
The cause of this appellation was that the California senators and their
families, a member of Congress and his wife, the United States marshal,
and several lesser dignitaries of the Federal Government, resided there.
In those early days private mansions were few; so the boarding-house
formed the only home of the Argonauts.
After the ladies retired at night, the gentlemen usually assembled in
the spacious parlor, opened a bottle of Sazerac, and discussed politics.
It was known to the senators that the American minister in Mexico had
been instructed to negotiate a new treaty with Mexico for the
acquisition of additional territory; not that there was a pressing
necessity for more land, but for reasons which will be briefly stated:
1st. By the treaty of 1848, usually called Guadaloupe Hidalgo,[A] the
government of the United States had undertaken to protect the Mexicans
from the incursions of Indians within the United States boundary, and as
this proved to be an impractical undertaking, the damages on account of
failure began to assume alarming proportions, and the government of the
United States was naturally anxious to be released from the obligation.
2. The Democratic party was in the plenitude of power, and the Southern
States were dominant in the Administration. It had been the dream of
this element for many years to construct a railroad from the Mississippi
River to the Pacific Ocean, and the additional territory was required
for "a pass". It was not known at that early day that railroads could be
constructed across the Rocky Mountains at a higher latitude, and it was
feared that snow and ice might interfere with traffic in the extremes of
winter.
The State of Texas had already given encouragement to the construction
of such a railroad, by a liberal grant of land reaching as far west as
the Rio Grande, and it devolved upon the United States to provide the
means of getting on to the Pacific Ocean. The intervening country
belonged at that time to Mexico, and for the purpose of acquiring this
land the treaty was authorized.
The condition of affairs in Mexico was favorable to a negotiation. Santa
Ana had usurped the powers of the government, and was absolute dictator
under the name of President. There was no Mexican Congress, and none had
been convened since they were herded together at the conclusion of the
Mexican War under protection of American troops.
The condition of affairs in the United States was also extremely
favorable. The treasury was overflowing with California gold, under the
tariff of 1846 business was prosperous, the public debt small, and the
future unclouded. The American Minister to Mexico (General Gadsden of
South Carolina) was authorized to make several propositions:--
1st. Fifty Millions for a boundary line from the mouth of the Rio Grande
west to the Pacific Ocean.
2nd. Twenty millions for a boundary line due east from the mouth of the
Yaqui River in the Gulf of Mexico to the Rio Grande. This was to include
the peninsula of Lower California.