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Doc of the Day: Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
02/02/10
On February 2, 1848, the United States and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the Mexican-American War. Under the terms of the treaty, the United States took possession of more than half of Mexico’s former territory—an area of approximately 525,000 square miles encompassing present-day California, Nevada, Utah, and Arizona, as well as parts of New Mexico and Colorado—in exchange for $15 million in compensation for war damages. The agreement thus expanded the boundaries of the United States south to the Rio Grande and west to the Pacific Ocean.
The Mexican-American War started in December 1845, when the U.S. Congress voted to annex Texas. Although Texas had broken away from Mexico a decade earlier and considered itself an independent republic, Mexico still claimed Texas as part of its territory. President James K. Polk sent U.S. troops under the command of General Zachary Taylor to defend the newly annexed Texas in early 1846. The fighting raged for two years, until General Winfield Scott succeeded in capturing Mexico City in August 1847. After Congress ratified the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which was named for the town where it was negotiated, U.S. troops withdrew from Mexico.