The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: Indians and Mexicans

The website “The United States-Mexican War, 1846-1848” describes the motions set forward that caused the U.S. – Mexican War and its two-year-long struggle for both countries. Also, we see the social opposition from Americans who believed the U.S. government had unrighteous motives in their desire to attack a much weaker nation like that of Mexico. Moreover, it states the negotiation terms among the U.S. and Mexico that American negotiator Nicholas P. Trist set for mutual peace among both countries.

“The U.S. – Mexican War: Forgotten Foes” explains the conflicts the United States faced with Indian tribes like the Comanches, Kiowas, Navajos and Apaches around the time period before and after the U.S. – Mexican War. It is relevant to giving us the awareness to the confrontations between Indian tribes, particularly the Camanche tribe, who continuously had conflicts with Mexicans and later with Americans. Also, the realization from the U.S. government that settling peaceful territorial negotiations with Indian tribes would prove more difficult than expected.

Online article conforming Mexican rights granted to them through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Such rights including promises of full U.S. citizenship, protection of their civil rights, land ownership, religion and the right to speak Spanish without being discriminated. Nevertheless, we see the struggle of Mexicans’ assimilation process to U.S. society and the non-acceptance of the American people towards their new neighbors.

1. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that ended the U.S.-Mexican War in 1848 can be found at the University of Texas at Arlington's Library in the Special Collections Department. This copy was an original from 1848 titled the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits, and Settlement, between The United States of America and The Mexican Republic which was dated at Guadalupe Hidalgo on February 2nd, 1848. The treaty gives us insight on the negotiations settled between Mexican negotiators and principle American negotiator Nicholas Trist. Here we see the articles that were set in place for the two minorities that were mainly affected through the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe. Also, we see the positive outcomes that the U.S. gained from their victory and the territorial advantages they acquired.
2. Articles 5 and 7 gives us a very detailed description about the geographical boundaries that would be set forth for the new U.S. – Mexican border, primarily with the border being moved down from the Nueces River to the Rio Grande River.
3. Articles 8 and 9 set forward the motion that Mexicans who now reside within the new territories of the United States have a one-year term to decide if they want to continue residing within U.S. territory or move down to Mexico. If they are to remain in U.S. territory, it is the responsibility of the United States government to grant them full citizenship and be respectful of their rights like liberty, property, and religion.
4. Article 11 states that any Indian territories within the United States belong to the government and thus, it is their responsibility to settle any territorial differences in a peaceful manner with the Indians.

Credo Que Rezan Los Yankees Para Oprobio De Los Mexicanos or Prayer that the Yankees recite to shame the Mexicans is a Spanish newsletter printed in San Luis Potosi during the U.S. – Mexican War in 1847. Here the newsletter describes the greed of the U.S. government and their intention for fighting the war with Mexico. Stating their plans to work Mexicans like slaves and disregard their civil rights for the sole purpose of the benefits it could bring to the United States and their desire for power. This further proves that perhaps the U.S. government never intended on fulfilling the terms negotiated in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo to grant Mexicans full citizenship and be respectful of their civil rights like stated in Articles 8 and 9 of the treaty.

The Picket Guard Newspaper by W. & M. Osman published in Saltillo, Mexico on May 21, 1847, covers a storyline on Indians. Here we see the conflict the U.S. government faced in attempting to settle peaceful negotiations with Indians but failing to come to territorial agreements. This is due to the result that Indians were committing violent acts of aggression prior to the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The newspaper states that in 1847, a year prior to the signing of the treaty, Indians were described as committing daily acts of violence, specifically the Comanches upon San Antonio ranches. Perhaps we can conclude that the raiding activities and violent acts of the Indians resulted in the U.S. government describing Indians as “savage tribes” in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the government’s further conflicts they had in attempting to settle peaceful negotiations in regard to territory with Indian tribes.

Mexico and Mexicans in the Making of the United States by John Tutino, published in Austin at the University of Texas Press in 2014, states the after-effects of the borderline states at the new U.S. – Mexican border and how these Mexicans faced obstacles in society, politics, and economics of the new American institutions set in place by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, primarily for Mexicans living on the Nueces strip in Texas. Tutino will indicate the relevance of the struggles of keeping Mexican communities united in Texas, the challenges of new boundaries for Mexicans and the transnational cultures of Mexico and the United States.

Manifest Destinies the Making of the Mexican American Race by Laura E. Gomez, published by the New York University Press in 2017, gives us insight on Gomez’s beliefs about the misconception that all Mexicans in the United States are illegal immigrants. Gomez reminds society that there are Mexican Americans who have long been legal American citizens since the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848. In addition, Gomez clarifies that the misconception of immigratory status of Mexicans within the U.S. can easily be misleading and inaccurate due to the fact that many Mexicans now living in American became part of American society through means of war and a border that involuntarily made them American citizens and therefore, should not be classified as illegal immigrants.

Del Castillo gives us details of the lengthy process that it took to finalize the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in 1848 and what those negotiation terms meant to Mexicans and Indians.

Native American history after the U.S. – Mexican War and how the motion of Manifest Destiny encouraged Americans to move westward and thus, cause territorial conflicts with Indian tribes.

Native American problems that arose after the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, such problems like the invasion of land and the slaughter of Native American wild animals that they relied on for a means of survival.

The failed promises of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in regard to two minorities, the Mexican and Indians and how that negatively affected them.