It was on this date in 1861 that Congress organized the Territory of Colorado and stole the Rio Grande headwaters, the San Luis Valley and a big chunk of plains from New Mexico.
The bastards!
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Just think, you might have been NuevoMexiKen. Or actually, I suppose, just MexiKen.
SnoLepard seems to have misunderstood what I wrote, but that’s OK. AARP will start sending him mail today and he’s in Thailand celebrating.
Well, as with most things, it is not that simple. The Mexican Cession actually took place in 1848 at the end of the Mexican-American War. Furthermore, the Mexican claim to the territory in the southwest is based upon the original Spanish claim which was based the conquest of the area from native peoples. Everyone’s claim is based upon military conquest and, therefore, is a legitimate or illegitimate as everyone elses.
Whatever happened before, rightly or wrongly, February 28, 1861, is when the Territory of Colorado was formed and some of the land to form it was taken from the existing U.S. Territory of NEW Mexico.
Yes, well all of Colorado came from other territories – Kansas, Nebraska and Utah, too. The New Mexico Territory lost land to Arizona and Nevada also. Perhaps, it was a consequence of being on the wrong side of the Civil War.