TREATY WITH MEXICO
(February 2, 1848)
[Pertinent Excepts]
[By the Louisiana
Purchase, Texas had become a part of the United States; but in 1819
it had been ceded to Spain in the negotiations for Florida. Two
years later Mexico, including Texas, had become independent, and the
United States made two unsuccessful attempts to purchase Texas from
Mexico.
The settlement of
Texas by immigrants from the United States finally led to the
secession of Texas and its annexation by the United States, with the
result that the Mexican War broke out in May, 1846. It was closed by
this treaty, by which the United States gained not only Texas but
New Mexico and Upper California.]
TREATY OF PEACE,
FRIENDSHIP, LIMITS, AND SETTLEMENT BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF
AMERICA AND THE UNITED MEXICAN STATES CONCLUDED AT GUADALUPE
HIDALGO, FEBRUARY 2, 1848; RATIFICATION ADVISED BY SENATE, WITH
AMENDMENTS, MARCH 10, 1848; RATIFIED BY PRESIDENT, MARCH 16, 1848;
RATIFICATIONS EXCHANGED AT QUERETARO, MAY 30, 1848; PROCLAIMED, JULY
4, 1848.
IN THE NAME OF
ALMIGHTY GOD
The
United States of America and the United Mexican States animated by a
sincere desire to put an end to the calamities of the war which
unhappily exists between the two Republics and to establish
Upon a solid
basis relations of peace and friendship, which shall confer
reciprocal benefits upon the citizens of both, and assure the
concord, harmony, and mutual confidence wherein the two people
should live, as good neighbors have for that purpose appointed their
respective plenipotentiaries, that is to say:
The President of
the United States has appointed Nicholas P Trist, a citizen of the
United States, and the President of the Mexican Republic has
appointed Don Luis Gonzaga Cuevas, Don Bernardo Couto, and Don
Miguel Atristain, citizens of the said Republic; Who, after a
reciprocal communication of their respective full powers, have,
under the protection of Almighty God, the author of peace, arranged,
agreed upon, and signed the following:
Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits,
and Settlement between the United States of America and the Mexican
Republic
ARTICLE V
The boundary line established by this article shall be religiously
respected by each of the two republics, and no change shall ever be
made therein, except by the express and free consent of both
nations, lawfully given by the General Government of each, in
conformity with its own constitution.
ARTICLE VII
The stipulations contained in the present article shall not impair
the territorial rights of either republic within its established
limits.
ARTICLE XVI
Each of the contracting parties reserves to itself the entire right
to fortify whatever point within its territory it may judge proper
so to fortify for its security.
ARTICLE XXI
If unhappily any
disagreement should hereafter arise between the Governments of the
two republics, whether with respect to the interpretation of any
stipulation in this treaty, or with respect to any other particular
concerning the political or commercial relations of the two nations,
the said Governments,
in the name of
those nations, do
promise to each other that they will endeavour, in the most sincere
and earnest manner,
to settle the differences
so arising, and to preserve the state of peace and friendship in
which the two countries are now placing themselves, using, for this
end, mutual representations and pacific negotiations.
And if, by these
means, they should not be enabled to come to an agreement, a resort
shall not, on this account, be had to reprisals, aggression, or
hostility of any kind, by the one republic against the other, until
the Government of that which deems itself aggrieved shall have
maturely considered, in the spirit of peace and good neighbourship,
whether it would not be better that such difference should be
settled by the arbitration of commissioners appointed on each side,
or by that of a friendly nation.
And should such
course be proposed by either party, it shall be acceded to by the
other, unless deemed by it altogether incompatible with the nature
of the difference, or the circumstances of the case.
See
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 1848 Full Text (+)
