Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: A Legacy of Conflict

1. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: A Legacy of Conflict

2. Objectives • Grasp the historical, cultural, political and economic context for the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo • Begin to make critical connections between 19th phenomenon and its influence/impact during 20th century Mexican-American peoples

3. Background Issues • 1 – American Expansionist Sentiment • “From Sea to shining Sea” • 2 – Domestic political struggles within Mexico/U.S. • Mexico’s political instability • U.S.’s domestic issues over institutionalized slavery (North/South divide) • 3 – Texas Boundary dispute • Adam-Onis Treaty (1819)

4. Adam-Onis Treaty (1819) • US and Spain negotiated and compromised the boundary between the limits of US and limits of Mexico’s borders • Mexico ratified the treaty in 1831 on account of Independence Movement • Nueces River became the boundary between a growing Anglo-America and newly independent Mexico

5. The War and Secret Diplomacy • Modern warfare-diplomatic negotiations often occur simultaneously with and as a part of the armed conflict. • Peace discussions coincide with armed conflict!

6. America’s perspective • Boundary disputes were determined by a French claim to Texas following eighteenth-century boundary disputes with Spain • US desired the Rio Grande boundary due to rich resources the 130 miles provided. Source: http://www.markville.ss.yrdsb.edu.on.ca/history/american/guadalupehidaglo.html

7. US Hegemony • Diplomatic Negotiations between John Slidell and Mexico did not bring the kind of results President Polk and other expansionist sought after. • Militaristic interventions quickly followed with General Zachary Taylor “to advance to the Rio Grande to ‘possess’ the territory for the United States” (Griswold, 1990, 14).

8. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo • Final stages lasted from signing on Feb. 2, 1848 through May 30, 1848. • Nicholas Trist, US negotiator and the treaty signature, bought over 500,000 square miles for a mere $15 million. • Several significant changes were made during this time by the U.S. Congress • Consequently, these legal changes in the treaty dramatically altered the destinies of Mexican-American relations to the present day.

9. Controversy: Articles VIII, IX, X, XI • VIII – Property rights of Mexican citizens (1 year to decide) • IX – Citizenship pathway for Mexican citizens (US Congress decides) • X – Guaranteed Mexican land titles in the now-US Southwest (Esp. Texas) was taken out of final ratification • See Protocol of Queretaro • XI – US responsible for “controlling Indian movements into Mexico” • Eventually taken out by Gadsden Purchase

10. Protocol of Queretaro... “Under the protocol...the government did not intend to invalidate Mexican land titles. This would later prove a meaningless statement when the U.S. Supreme Court rule in 1898 that the Protocol of Queretaro was not relevant for land cases” (Griswold, 1990).

11. The Gadsden Treaty • James Gadsden dispatched to Mexico in an effort to settle remaining land disputes • US wanted to extend land claims in order to build transcontinental railroad through the Isthmus of Tehuantepec • Released the US Government’s legal (And moral!) responsibility to: • Article XI (controlling Indian Movement into Mexico) • An additional 29,142,000 acres of Mexican territory to US • 10 million dollar compensation Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gadsden_Purchase

12. 1848 Legacies “The U.S-Mexican War ended in 1848, but an unofficial war against Mexicans and Mexico continued well into the next century...This destroyed the Mexican American middle class and insured that this ethnic group, like the Mexican nation, would enter the twentieth century as an underdeveloped people. Thus, a major consequence of Mexico losing the war with the United States in 1848 was the creation of a pattern of economic subordination that contributed to the impoverishment of the Mexican people in the U.S” (Griswold, 1998, p. 5).

13. Constructing a Nation & Nationhood an imagined community, discursively constructed. • Nation – • “Nations are constituted, in part, through representational practices, principally through the written word” “a devotion to a nation, a belief in the primacy of nations, and the actions designed to protect and promote the interests of a nation.” • Nationalism – • Nationality – “the legal status of citizenship which is granted to individuals by the state.” Source: Jackie Hogan, Gender, Race and National Identity: Nations of Flesh and Blood, (New York: Routledge, 2009), 3.

14. Recap of the White Colonial Project • Institutions • Capitalism (economic system) • Private property V. Communal Land holdings (ejidos) • Law (discursive practice and system) • Representational Government (popular system) • Ideologies • White Eurocentric Supremacy (racist, patriarchical system) • Manifest Destiny • Puritan Christian Orthodoxy V. Roman Catholicism • Role of San Patricio Battalion (p. 48-49) • Difference • US as Euro-American (homogenous) • Construction of Whiteness and White Privilege • Mexico as Hybrid (racially mixed, diverse)

15. Systems and Individuals System As we grow up, we participate in these social systems. We are socialized to believe in dominant constructions of normalcy. Thus, we often time replicate social inequalities and perpetuate institutional discrimination. Social systems are constructed by powerful political-economic-cultural forces influenced by the past—previous ideas, institutions, laws, treaties, etc. Individuals

16. For Midterm I... • Understand the major stakeholders and events leading up to the US invasion of Mexico. • Understand the provisions set forth by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and its political-economic impact (both for US and Mexico) • Understand the legacies and impact of the Treaty’s Articles as it pertains to either: Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California • (last half of ‘Manifest Destiny: The Mexica-American War the the Treaty of....’ by Griswold and Acuña’s Chpt. 4-7)