The New International Encyclopædia/Guadalupe Hidalgo, Treaty of
GUADALUPE HIDALGO,  or
, . A treaty made between the
United States and Mexico, at Guadalupe Hidalgo,
a small place in the outskirts of the City of
Mexico, February 2, 1848, at the close of the
Mexican War. The American negotiator was
Nicholas P. Trist, of Virginia, chief clerk of
the Department of State, who had been sent by
President Polk, in the summer of 1847, to the
headquarters of General Scott for the purpose of
entering into negotiations with the Mexican
Government. At that time Trist was instructed
to demand, among other things, the cession of
New Mexico and the Californias and the
recognition of the Rio Grande as the international
boundary. During an armistice, in the month of
August, commissioners of the Mexican Government
met Trist and offered radically different
counter-propositions, insisting also upon the
Nueces as the correct boundary. Nothing came
of these negotiations, and, upon the termination
of the armistice, hostilities were resumed, and
Trist was recalled. Nevertheless, he remained on
the ground, and upon a suitable change in the
military situation, negotiations were resumed in
January, 1848, and on February 2d an agreement
was reached in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
Trist promptly returned to Washington, and
President Polk submitted the treaty to the Senate
on February 23d. After vigorous opposition on
the part of some of the Senators, resulting in
modifications which were accepted by Mexico, the
treaty was ratified by the Senate on March 16th;
ratifications were exchanged on May 30th, and
the treaty was proclaimed on July 4, 1848. By
the terms of the treaty in its final form, the Rio
Grande was established as the boundary for the
eastern portion of the cession, and in the west
the lines of the Gila and Colorado were so
followed as to give to the United States all the
territory then known as New Mexico and Upper
California. The United States agreed to pay
to Mexico $15,000,000, and to assume the
payment of all claims adjudged against Mexico under
the conventions of 1839 and 1843. Furthermore,
the United States assumed the payment of all
claims, not exceeding in the aggregate $3,250,000,
held by citizens of the United States against
Mexico, and which originated prior to the date
of the treaty. On July 29, 1848, Congress passed
an act providing for the payment of the claims
already liquidated, and on March 3, 1849, a
commission was created to pass upon claims against
Mexico held by citizens of the United States. By
this commission 182 claims were allowed and 70
were rejected. For a map illustrating the cession,
consult Channing, United States of America,
page 135.