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The New Mexico Territory was an organized incorporated territory of the United States from September 9, 1850, until January 6, 1912. The territory was created from the U.S. provisional government of New Mexico, a result of Santa Fe de Nuevo México becoming part of the American frontier after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. It existed with varying boundaries until the territory was admitted to the Union as the state of New Mexico. This illustration, created by Henry Mitchell for State Arms of the Union, published by Louis Prang in 1876, depicts the territory's coat of arms, adopted by legislation in 1887: "The coat of arms of the territory of New Mexico shall be the Mexican Eagle grasping a serpent in its beak, the cactus in its talons, shielded by the American eagle with outspread wings, and grasping arrows in its talons." The year 1850, representing the territory's organization, appears in Roman numerals under the eagles, and below the shield is the Latin motto Crescit eundo ('It grows as it goes').

Illustration credit: Henry Mitchell; restored by Andrew Shiva

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