December 1853, and proclaimed by President Pierce on the 30th
of June 1854, added to the Territory an area of 45,535 sq. m.,
and changed the southern boundary W. of the Rio Grande so
that from the Rio Grande the new boundary ran due W. on the
parallel of 31° 47′ N. lat. for 100 m., then due S. to the parallel
of 31° 20′ N. lat., then due W. on that parallel to its intersection
with the 111th meridian of longitude west of Greenwich, from
that point of intersection in a straight line to the Colorado
river, 20 m. below its junction with the Gila, and thence up the
middle of the Colorado river to the boundary line between
Mexico and California. In 1861 a portion of north-eastern New
Mexico was taken to form part of Colorado; and in 1863 all
of the area W. of the 109th meridian was organized as the
separate Territory of Arizona.
By the Compromise of 1850 the question whether New Mexico should have slavery was left to the decision of the inhabitants. Only a few African slaves were ever brought into the Territory, and these were usually the property of civil and military officers. There were two classes of the population, however, whose status was practically that of slaves; namely, Indian captives and peons. Before slavery was prohibited in the Territory by Act of Congress in 1862, Indian captives were regularly bought and sold, a traffic sanctioned by custom and not prohibited by law. Peons were persons held in servitude on account of debt, and the peonage system was sanctioned both by the custom of the Mexican provinces and by the laws of the Territory. An act of 1851 forbade servants from leaving masters to whom they were indebted, and in 1853 sheriffs were authorized in some instances to dispose of the debtor’s labour to the highest bidder. Peonage remained a legalized institution until 1867, when it was prohibited by an act of Congress.
At the outbreak of the Civil War the inhabitants were generally apathetic; but when the Confederates invaded New Mexico they proved loyal to the Union.[1] In February 1862 General H. H. Sibley, commanding a force of about 3800 Texans, marched into New Mexico, fought a successful engagement at Valverde, on the Rio Grande, against Union forces under Colonel, later General, Edward R. S. Canby, and occupied Albuquerque and Santa Fé. The Union troops were reinforced from Colorado, however, and after a series of skirmishes the Confederates were compelled to retreat to Texas, leaving behind about half their original number in killed, wounded and missing. New Mexico furnished to the Union army between 5000 and 6000 men.
The period following the American occupation of New Mexico was marked by constant depredations of the Indians, chiefly the Navahos, Apaches and a few Utes, their main object being plunder. While the troops were occupied with the Confederate invaders the Indians had a free hand, but in 1863 an energetic campaign was begun by General James H. Carleton against the Navahos, who were subdued and placed on a reservation on the Pecos river, and later removed to the north-western part of the Territory. There they grew peaceful and prosperous, acquiring large flocks of sheep and gaining a reputation as makers of blankets. The Apache Indians, the most savage of all, were placed on reservations somewhat later, but for many years bands of their warriors would escape and make raids into New Mexico, Arizona and Mexico. The most notable of the later outbreaks were those in 1879–1880 and in 1885–1886 respectively of the Apache chiefs Victorio and Geronimo (c. 1834–1909).
When the United States acquired possession of New Mexico, the best portions of the Territory were held in private ownership under Spanish and Mexican grants, which were confirmed by the treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. To determine the validity of these claims, which had been complicated by transfers and subdivisions, and to fix their boundaries, which were often very vaguely described, proved a very formidable undertaking; and the slow process of confirmation greatly retarded the development of the Territory. There was but little material progress before the advent of the railway. The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fé railway reached Albuquerque in 1880, and the Southern Pacific railway effected a junction with it at Deming in 1881, thus connecting the Territory with the eastern and western coasts of the United States. With the railway came capital and the development of mines, great cattle ranges and modern towns. Immigrants from the states, however, rarely settled beyond the zone of the railway, and in the remote rural regions the process of Americanization was slow.
After the Civil War numerous attempts were made to secure the admission of New Mexico into the Union as a state. In 1872 a state constitution was drafted, and it was proposed for a time to call the new state Lincoln, but the movement came to nothing. In 1889 another constitution was drafted, but it was rejected when submitted to a popular vote. On the 6th of November 1906 the question of the joint admission of New Mexico and Arizona as a single state bearing the name of the latter Territory was submitted to a vote of their citizens. The vote of New Mexico was favourable (26,195 to 14,735), but the measure was defeated in Arizona. In June 1910 the President approved an enabling act providing for the admission of Arizona and New Mexico as separate states.
The governors of New Mexico since its independence from Spain have been as follows:
| Under the Mexican Republic[2] | |
| Francisco Javier Chavez | 1822 |
| Antonio Vizcarra | 1822–1823 |
| Francisco Javier Chavez (acting) | 1823 |
| Bartolomé Vaca | 1823–1825 |
| Antonio Narbona | 1825–1827 |
| Manuel Armijo | 1827–1828 |
| Antonio Vizcarra (acting) | 1828 |
| José Antonio Chavez | 1828–1831 |
| Santiago Abreu | 1831–1833 |
| Francisco Sarracino | 1833–1835 |
| Juan Rafael Ortiz (acting) | 1834 |
| Mariano Chavez (acting) | 1835 |
| Albino Perez | 1835–1837 |
| José Gonzalez, revolutionary governor or pretendant | 1837–1838 |
| Manuel Armijo | 1838–1846 |
| Antonio Sandoval (acting) | 1841 |
| Mariano Martinez de Lejanza (acting) | 1844–1845 |
| José Chavez (acting) | 1845 |
| Juan Bautista Vigil y Alarid (acting) | 1846 |
| Under the United States
Governors by Military Appointment. | |
| Charles Bent | 1846–1847[3] |
| Donaciano Vigil | 1847–1848 |
| John Marshall Washington | 1848–1849[4] |
| John Munroe | 1849–1851[4] |
| Governors by Presidential Appointment. | |
| James S. Calhoun | 1851–1852 |
| E. V. Sumner (Military Commander, acting) | 1852 |
| John Greiner (Secretary, acting) | 1852 |
| William Carr Lane | 1852–1853 |
| David Merriwether | 1853–1857 |
| Abraham Rencher | 1857–1861 |
| Henry Connelly | 1861–1865 |
| W. E. M. Arny (Secretary, acting) | 1865–1866 |
| Robert B. Mitchell | 1866–1869 |
| William A. Pile | 1869–1871 |
| Marsh Gidding | 1871–1875 |
| William G. Ritch (Secretary, acting) | 1875 |
| Samuel B. Axtell | 1875–1878 |
| Lewis Wallace | 1878–1881 |
| Lionel A. Sheldon | 1881–1885 |
| Edmund G. Ross | 1885–1889 |
| L. Bradford Prince | 1889–1893 |
| William T. Thornton | 1893–1897 |
| Miguel A. Otero | 1897–1906 |
| Herbert J. Hagerman | 1906–1907 |
| J. W. Raynolds (Secretary, acting as governor) | 1907 |
| George Curry | 1907–1909 |
| William J. Mills | 1909– |
Bibliography.—For general descriptive material see bibliographies in U.S. Geological Survey, Bulletins 177 and 301, and the official reports of the U.S. government departments; also Charles F. Lummis, The Land of Poco Tiempo (New York, 1897); Samuel W. Cozzens, The Ancient Cibola . . . or, Three Years in Arizona and New Mexico (Boston, 1891); W. H. H. Davis, El Gringo, or, New Mexico and her People (New York, 1857); M. Frost and A. F. Walker The Land of Sunshine (Santa Fé, 1904); V. L. Sullivan, “Irrigation in New Mexico” (Washington, 1909), Experiment Stations Bulletin 215; and F. A. Jones, New Mexico Mines and Minerals (Santa Fé,
1904). History: H. H. Bancroft, Arizona and New Mexico (San- ↑ According to the historian H. H. Bancroft, the loyalty to the Union cause resulted “largely from the fact that the Confederate invasion came from Texas, the old hatred of the Texans being the strongest popular feeling of the natives, far outweighing their devotion to either the North or the South.”
- ↑ Under the republic until 1837 the governor was officially designated as jefe político; after that date as gobernador.
- ↑ Assassinated during the Mexican revolt on the 19th of January 1847.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Governor as Commander of the Department.
