The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The Constitution Community: Expansion and Reform (1801-1861).

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which brought an official end to the Mexican American War (1846-1848) was signed on February 2, 1848. Nicholas Trist, chief clerk of the U.S. Statement Department at the time, negotiated the peace treaty in defiance of 1845-1849 President James K. Polk. Trist believed that Mexico must surrender fully, including surrendering territory. Polk forwarded the Treaty to the Senate, which reluctantly ratified it. This lesson on the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo examines the power granted to the President and the Senate to make and approve treaties with foreign nations. The lesson correlates with the National History Standards and with the National Standards for Civics and Government. It furnishes three primary sources: (1) the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo; (2) Lincoln's Spot Resolutions; and (3) a photograph of a border marker being rebuilt in the 1890s. The lesson provides historical background on the circumstances of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Trist's actions, and the surveying of new U.S. territories ceded from Mexico. The unit contains eight diverse teaching activities, including locating and distributing prepared map sets to help students identify the boundary changes after the treaty. Students are asked to write a position paper supporting or opposing the following thesis: "Considering the events that led to the Mexican American War, the terms negotiated in the Treaty were a just conclusion to the crisis." (Contains a written document analysis worksheet and a photograph analysis worksheet.) (BT)