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Surveying the Mexican Border

Boundary between the United States and Mexico, map by William H. Emory, 1855

Boundary between the United States and Mexico, map by William H. Emory, 1855

 

Boundary between the United States and Mexico, map by William H. Emory, 1855

Between 1849 and 1857, the Army Corps of Topographical Engineers marked and mapped the U.S.-Mexico boundary and published a report on natural features of the borderland. The vast new western territories immediately became a focus of congressional dispute regarding slavery in new states. This map shows the border between New Mexico and Chihuahua, Mexico.

 

Geography and Map Division, Library of Congress
 
History of Congress and the Capitol