Jackson Lennock
Well-known member
The Gadsden purchase OTL was an itty bitty affair, with the US purchasing just enough land for a southern transcontinental railroad. The Americans wanted to purchase more, but Mr. Gadsden was so racist, so obnoxious, and so offensive to the Mexicans that they sold as little as possible to the Americans even though the Americans were willing to pay more for the additional land. The Americans hoped to purchase the entirety of North Mexico (such as a straight line from Tampico to the Pacific) but that was unrealistic and the Mexicans would never have approved of that. But lands shown above seem plenty plausible - especially
I think Baja California would be attached to Southern California as a new state. There was an attempt OTL to separate Southern California into a State of Colorado. Here, the push for that would be stronger.
Areas south of the border which attracted much US investment OTL, like the copper mine of Cannanea, would be American. Guaymas might be a major west coast terminal. An American Cannanea means no example of the strike there to trigger revolution, although labor strife was common in many parts of Mexico.
El Paso, Chihuahua could not serve as Juarez's government in exile. I imagine it would just be Chihuahua City or some other area in the north instead, but Juarez would still be closer to the French forces than OTL.