 This line was derived from the reference used at the time, the Washington meridian.In 1860, just prior to the outbreak of the American Civil War, a group of people in the southern portion of New Mexico Territory passed a resolution condemning the United States for creating such a vast territory with only a single, small government in place at Santa Fe.They claimed that by doing so, the U.S. had ignored the needs of the southern portion, left it without a functional system of law and order, and allowed the situation to deteriorate into a state of chaos and near anarchy.