This Week in History

February 2, 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed. This treaty ended the Mexican War. It also extended the boundaries of the United States westerly to the Pacific Ocean. The Mexican War, approved by the U.S. Congress on May 13, 1846, was a dispute over the U.S. annexation of Texas. Fighting subsided with the capture of Mexico City in 1847.

Terms of the treaty granted the U.S. more than 525,000 square miles of former Mexican territory. It included present day California, Nevada, Utah, and most of New Mexico and Arizona and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. The U.S. paid Mexico $15 million for the territory, and agreed to assume the claims of American Citizens against the Mexican Government, approximately $3 million.

Source(s): Library of Congress

Compiled by Bob Valen