Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Villa de Guadalupe Hidalgo, now in Mexico City, Mexico
What happened
Nicholas Trist for the United States, and Luis G. Cuevas, Bernardo Couto and Miguel Atristain for Mexico. After the United States won the Mexican-American War, diplomats met at Guadalupe Hidalgo, just north of Mexico City. Mexico gave up about half its territory, including present-day California, Nevada and Utah and most of Arizona. The United States paid $15 million, and Mexicans living in the lost lands could keep their property and become US citizens.
Why it matters
Why it matters: It ended the Mexican-American War and set much of today's border between the two countries. The new lands sharpened arguments in the United States over slavery, which helped lead to the Civil War.
What came next
More than 90% of the Mexicans in the ceded lands chose US citizenship. In 1853 the Gadsden Purchase added more land in the south-west.
Did you know?
President Polk had called Trist home, but Trist ignored the order and negotiated the treaty anyway.
Timeline
- 1848Nicholas Trist ignores his recall and keeps negotiating.
- 2 February 1848The treaty is signed at Guadalupe Hidalgo.
- 30 May 1848The treaty comes into force.
- 1853The Gadsden Purchase.