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The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo History
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, also known as "The Mexican Cession," which brought an official end to the Mexican-American War (1846–48), was signed on February 2, 1848, at Guadalupe Hidalgo;
a city to which the Mexican government had fled because of the advance of U.S. forces. According to its
terms, Mexico ceded 55 percent (525,000 square miles) of its territory, including parts of present-day Arizona, California,
New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Nevada, and Utah, to the United States.
The below map reflects the territory ceded by Mexico in the Treaty
of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 and the Gadsden Purchase of 1853. It further reflects the vast territory claimed by the Republic of Texas.
| Mexican Cession Treaty Map |
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| The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Map |
Mexican officials and Nicholas Trist, President Polk's representative, began discussions for a peace treaty in
August 1847. Its provisions called for Mexico to cede a staggering 55 percent of its territory (present-day Arizona,
California, New Mexico, and parts of Colorado, Nevada and Utah) in exchange for fifteen million dollars in compensation for
war-related damage to Mexican property. In addition, it established the Rio Grande as the border between the two countries.
With the defeat of its army and the fall of the capital, Mexico City, in September 1847, the Mexican government
surrendered to the United States and entered into negotiations to end the war. The peace talks were negotiated by Nicholas
Trist, chief clerk of the State Department, who had accompanied General Winfield Scott as a diplomat and President Polk's representative. Trist and General Scott, after two previous unsuccessful attempts to negotiate
a treaty with President Santa Anna, determined that the only way to deal with Mexico was as a conquered enemy. Nicholas Trist
negotiated with a special commission representing the collapsed government led by Don Bernardo Couto, Don Miguel Atristain,
and Don Luis Gonzaga Cuevas.
President Polk had recalled Trist under the belief that negotiations would be carried out with a Mexican
delegation in Washington. In the six weeks it took to deliver Polk's message, Trist had received word that the Mexican government
had named its special commission to negotiate. Trist determined that Washington did not understand the situation in Mexico
and negotiated the peace treaty in defiance of the President.
In a December 4, 1847, letter to his wife, he wrote, "Knowing it to be the very last chance and impressed
with the dreadful consequences to our country which cannot fail to attend the loss of that chance, I decided today at noon
to attempt to make a treaty; the decision is altogether my own."
Sources:
Library of Congress, National Archives, U.S. State Department, National Park Service
Related Reading:
Recommended Reading: Battle
of the Alamo; Remember the Alamo!
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Studies: History of US Mexico Treaties, List of United States Mexican Treaties, Republic of Texas Picture Photograph
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