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Humberto Garcia Jr Eduardo Aguilar History 141 17 November 2011 Position Paper about the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is a peace treaty between Mexico and the United States of America. The document brought an official end to the Mexican-American War that lasted from 1846 to 1848. It was signed on February 2, 1848, at Guadalupe Hidalgo, a city north of the capital. Not only did it signify the end of the Mexican-American War, but it also signified and showed the pressure that Mexico was under. The peace talks were negotiated by Nicholas Trist, chief clerk of the State Department, who had accompanied General Winfield Scott as a diplomat to negotiate a treaty with Santa Anna. It was determined by their failed meetings that the only way to deal with Mexico was as a conquered enemy, and so the war began. 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 California, Arizona, New Mexico and parts of Utah, Nevada, and Colorado. Mexico relinquished all claims to Texas and recognized the Rio Grande as the southern boundary with the United States, unlike before where they recognized the Nueces River as their border. The thesis Considering the events that led to the US-Mexican War, the terms negotiated in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo were a just conclusion to this crisis, I believe that they were a just conclusion to this crisis.

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The reason as to why I believe they were a just conclusion is because; twice Nicholas Trist and General Scott attempted to negotiate with Santa Anna, and twice did Santa Anna brush them off. Also the United Sates paid Mexico fifteen million dollars which is equivalent to about four hundred million dollars in present time for an estimated five hundred twenty-five thousand square miles. The United States under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo recognized that any land owned by Mexicans was not for their taking; rather it belonged to the Mexican owners. This section in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was rarely honored by the United States. As part of the treaty the United States also agreed to pay the present day eight million dollars that Mexico owed to the American Citizens. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was negotiated between the United States and Mexico. In the end, the treaty came out to benefit both countries with the United States acquiring extra land and becoming their own states; while Mexico managed to acquire the millions of dollars that they lost in the war paid by the United States. Both countries were still weary towards each other over the years, with Mexico having their millions and the United States having their states.