Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (US-Mexico), 1848

What happened

This is a treaty between the United States and Mexico, not with a Native nation. It was signed on February 2, 1848. The National Archives says Mexico ceded 55 percent of its territory, including present-day California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas and Wyoming. The United States paid $15 million and agreed to pay American citizens' claims against Mexico. The Senate ratified it 34 to 14 on March 10, 1848, after removing Article X, which had protected Mexican land grants. The Statutes at Large record that ratifications were exchanged at Queretaro on May 30, 1848, and the treaty was proclaimed on July 4, 1848.

Article XI describes the Native peoples within the new U.S. boundary as under the exclusive control of the United States, in the treaty's own harsh wording. The United States agreed to restrain their incursions into Mexico by force and to punish them as if committed within its own territory. It also said that, when peace cannot be kept otherwise, "special care shall then be taken not to place its Indian occupants under the necessity of seeking new homes."

Native nations were not parties, but the transfer shaped their status. A 1849 treaty with the Navajo recites that, by virtue of this treaty, the Navajo tribe "was lawfully placed under the exclusive jurisdiction and protection of the Government of the said United States." Prologue says it was unclear whether Mexico had recognized native land titles in California.

Summarized with AI assistance from 5 sources and checked against their words; not yet reviewed by historians or by the nations. Report an error