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Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Production Date: February 2, 1848. Photo by The U.S. National Archives. .

Top 10 Outstanding Facts about Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo  brought to an official end the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). It was signed on February 2, 1848, at Guadalupe Hidalgo, a city north of the capital where the Mexican government had fled with the advance of U.S. forces.

By its terms, Mexico ceded 55 percent of its territory, including the present-day states California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming. Mexico also relinquished all claims to Texas, and recognized the Rio Grande as the southern boundary with the United States.

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 treaty was signed thereafter. Here are the top 10 outstanding facts about Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848).

1. Negotiations leading to the treaty were done by Nicholas Trist

Map of Mexico 1848 after Treaty Guadalupe-Hidalgo. Photo by Hpav7. .

Nicholas Trist, chief clerk of the State Department was accompanied General Winfield Scott as a diplomat and President Polk’s representative. Nicholas Trist negotiated with a special commission representing the collapsed government led by Don Bernardo Couto, Don Miguel Atristain, and Don Luis Gonzaga Cuevas of Mexico.

While Trist was planning to go ahead with the negotiations, he was recalled by the president under the belief that negotiations would be carried out with a Mexican delegation in Washington. He went ahead and negotiated the treaty in defiance of the president’s orders.

2. Trist was fired promptly after the negotiations

Before the negotiations began, Trist was recalled by the president. He ignored the recall order and negotiated terms that allowed the United States to buy California (north of the Baja Peninsula), as well as what amounted to half of Mexico’s territory for $15 million. On February 2, 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed in Mexico without President Polk’s knowledge.

The President was outraged not only at Trist’s insubordination, but that the treaty didn’t even cede more of Mexico’s property to the United States. On Trist’s return to Washington, he was promptly fired by Polk and denied any salary payments earned during treaty negotiations.

3. Under the treaty, Mexico ceded part of its land to United States

Under the terms of the treaty negotiated by Trist, Mexico ceded to the United States Upper California and New Mexico. This was known as the Mexican Cession and included present-day Arizona and New Mexico and parts of Utah, Nevada, and Colorado ( Article V of the treaty).

Mexico also relinquished all claims to Texas and recognized the Rio Grande as the southern boundary with the United States.

4. The United States paid Mexico $15,000,000

“American Army Entering the City of Mexico”. Photo by Architect of the Capitol.

The United States paid Mexico $15,000,000 “in consideration of the extension acquired by the boundaries of the United States” (Article XII of the treaty). The government also agreed to pay American citizens debts owed to them by the Mexican government ( Article XV).

Other provisions included protection of property and civil rights of Mexican nationals living within the new boundaries of the United States ( Articles VIII and IX) and the promise of the United States to police its boundaries ( Article XI).

5. The war between the United States and Mexico was declared by President James Polk

On May 13, 1846, the U.S. Congress voted in favor of President James Polk’s request to declare war on Mexico in a dispute over Texas. Diplomat John Slidell was sent to Mexico to iron out issues and determine the boundary between the two countries. 

However, this attempt met deaf ears. The U.S. Army under General Zachary Taylor (1784-1850) advanced to the mouth of the Rio Grande. The Mexican government considered this an act of aggression and sent its troops.

However, the Mexican army and Mexico City fell in September 1847. The Mexican government thereby surrendered and peace negotiations began.

6. Despite this success, President Polk lost public support

Photo by McLaughlin, Andrew Cunningham. .

Although Polk’s war was successful, he lost public support after nearly two bloody and costly years of fighting. Additionally, the controversial war reignited the slavery extension debate that ultimately resulted in the American Civil War in the 1860s. Polk did not seek re-election after his first term, and died at age 53 in June 1849,

7. The treaty granted citizenship to some Mexicans

The Mexicans who shall not preserve the character of citizens of the Mexican republic shall be incorporated into the Union of the United States and be admitted to the enjoyment of all the rights of citizens of the United States according to the principles of the Constitution.

In the meantime, they shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty and property, and secured in the free exercise of their religion without restriction. 

8. The United States gained 525,000 square miles of Mexican territory

With the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, America emerged victorious, gaining 525,000 square miles of Mexican territory from the Rio Grande to the Pacific Ocean.

The southern American boundaries: Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, California, Utah, and Wyoming are the present-day names of the land acquired as a result of the Treaty.

9. The Senate ratified the treaty

Signature page of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on display at the Naval History Museum in Mexico City. Photo by AlejandroLinaresGarcia. .

The U.S. Senate ratified the treaty by a vote of 38–14. The opponents of this treaty were led by the Whigs, who had opposed the war and rejected Manifest Destiny in general, and rejected this expansion in particular.

10. The treaty signed by the United States was modified a bit

The version of the treaty ratified by the United States Senate eliminated Article X,[24] which stated that the U.S. government would honor and guarantee all land grants awarded in lands ceded to the United States.

Article VIII guaranteed that Mexicans who remained more than one year in the ceded lands would automatically become full-fledged United States citizens (or they could declare their intention of remaining Mexican citizens); however, the Senate modified Article IX.

Among the changes was that Mexican citizens would “be admitted at the proper time (to be judged of by the Congress of the United States)” instead of “admitted as soon as possible”, as negotiated between Trist and the Mexican delegation