Mexican Cession

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Region (red) ceded to the United States of America by Mexico in 1848.

The Mexican Cession is a historical name for the region of the present day southwestern United States that was ceded to the U.S. by Mexico in 1848 under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which ended the Mexican-American War. The treaty was signed on 3 February 1848, ratified by the U.S. Senate on 10 March 1848, and by the Mexican government on 19 May 1848.

[edit] Background

The cession of this territory from Mexico was a condition for the end of the war, as United States troops occupied Mexico City, and Mexico risked being completely annexed by the U.S. The United States also paid $15,000,000 ($298,310,309 in 2005) for the land, and agreed to assume $3.25 million in debts to US citizens.^[1] The land ceded by Mexico is 12% of the total area of the current United States territory. 1.36 million km² (525000 square miles, or 55% of its pre-war territory) was lost by Mexico.^[2]

For the 39 years between 1810 when Mexico declared its independence from Spain (or from 1821, when Mexican independence was secured), and 1848, the region had formed approximately 42% of the country of Mexico; prior to that, it had been a part of the Spanish colony of New Spain for some three centuries. Beginning in the early seventeenth century, a chain of Spanish missions and settlements extended into the New Mexico region, mostly following the course of the Rio Grande from the El Paso area to Santa Fe, which was a colonial capital under the Spanish, and which is now the capital city of the U.S. state of New Mexico. Spanish settlement and missionary work followed the course of the Colorado River northward from its mouth along the current border between California and Arizona. Beginning in the late eighteenth century, Spain had also built a system of fortresses and missions throughout Alta California (now southern half of the US state of California), from San Diego to San Rafael north of San Francisco.

[edit] Territory

The region includes all of the present-day states of

• California
• Nevada, and
• Utah,

as well as portions of:

• Arizona excluding the region later annexed in the Gadsden Purchase
• Colorado west of the boundary of the former Republic of Texas
• New Mexico west of the Rio Grande and excluding the Gadsden Purchase, and
• Wyoming west of the former Republic of Texas boundary and south of the 42nd parallel.

The treaty also specified the Texas-Mexican border as being at the Rio Grande (Río Bravo del Norte). Previously the portion of Texas between the Nueces River and the Rio Grande had remained disputed throughout the existence of the Republic of Texas. The United States had already claimed the area as part of the Texas Annexation in 1845.

[edit] Organization

The land of the Mexican Cession was an unorganized territory of the United States until Congress created three successor entities, on September 9, 1850:

• The northeastern portion became the Utah Territory, with the addition of some land from the Texas Annexation. It included modern-day Utah, most of Nevada, part of Colorado, and a small part of Wyoming.
• The southeastern portion became the New Mexico Territory, with the addition of some land from the Texas Annexation. This included modern-day New Mexico, Arizona, and a small part of Nevada. It would be later expanded southward by the Gadsden Purchase of 1853.
• The western portion became the state of California.

[edit] References