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The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the Mexican War, was signed on February 2, 1848, by Nicholas P. Trist for the United States and by a special commission representing the collapsed government of Mexico. Trist disregarded a recall to Washington, and negotiated the treaty in violation of most of his instructions. The U.S. Senate reluctantly approved the treaty. Under the treaty, Mexico ceded to the United States Upper California and New Mexico (including Arizona) and recognized U.S. claims over Texas, with the Rio Grande as its southern boundary. The United States in turn paid Mexico $15,000,000, assumed the claims of American citizens against Mexico, recognized prior land grants in the Southwest, and offered citizenship to any Mexicans residing in the area. |
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TREATY OF PEACE, FRIENDSHIP, LIMITS, AND
SETTLEMENT BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND
THE UNITED MEXICAN STATES CONCLUDED AT GUADALUPE
HIDALGO, FEBRUARY 2, 1848; RATIFICATION ADVISED BY
SENATE, WITH AMENDMENTS, MARCH 10, 1848; RATIFIED
BY PRESIDENT, MARCH 16, 1848; RATIFICATIONS
EXCHANGED AT QUERéTARO, MAY 30, 1848;
PROCLAIMED, JULY 4, 1848. IN THE NAME OF ALMIGHTY GOD The United States of
America and the United Mexican States animated by a
sincere desire to put an end to the calamities of
the war which unhappily exists between the two
Republics and to establish Upon a solid basis
relations of peace and friendship, which shall
confer reciprocal benefits upon the citizens of
both, and assure the concord, harmony, and mutual
confidence wherein the two people should live, as
good neighbors have for that purpose appointed
their respective plenipotentiaries, that is to say:
The President of the United States has appointed
Nicholas P Trist, a citizen of the United States,
and the President of the Mexican Republic has
appointed Don Luis Gonzaga Cuevas, Don Bernardo
Couto, and Don Miguel Atristain, citizens of the
said Republic; Who, after a reciprocal
communication of their respective full powers,
have, under the protection of Almighty God, the
author of peace, arranged, agreed upon, and signed
the following: Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits, and
Settlement between the United States of America and
the Mexican Republic. There shall be firm and universal peace between
the United States of America and the Mexican
Republic, and between their respective countries,
territories, cities, towns, and people, without
exception of places or persons. Immediately upon the signature of this treaty, a
convention shall be entered into between a
commissioner or commissioners appointed ~y the
General-in-chief of the forces of the United
States, and such as may be appointed by the Mexican
Government, to the end that a provisional
suspension of hostilities shall take place, and
that, in the places occupied by the said forces,
constitutional order may be reestablished, as
regards the political, administrative, and judicial
branches, so far as this shall be permitted by the
circumstances of military occupation. Immediately upon the ratification of the present
treaty by the Government of the United States,
orders shall be transmitted to the commanders of
their land and naval forces, requiring the latter
(provided this treaty shall then have been ratified
by the Government of the Mexican Republic, and the
ratification's exchanged) immediately to desist
from blockading any Mexican ports and requiring the
former (under the same condition) to commence, at
the earliest moment practicable, withdrawing all
troops of the United State then in the interior of
the Mexican Republic, to points that shall be
selected by common agreement, at a distance from
the seaports not exceeding thirty leagues; and such
evacuation of the interior of the Republic shall be
completed with the least possible delay; the
Mexican Government hereby binding itself to afford
every facility in their power for rendering the
same convenient to the troops, on their march and
in their new positions, and for promoting a good
understanding between them and the inhabitants. In
like manner orders shall be dispatched to the
persons in charge of the custom houses at all ports
occupied by the forces of the United States,
requiring them (under the same condition)
immediately to deliver possession of the same to
the persons authorized by the Mexican Government to
receive it, together with all bonds and evidences
of debt for duties on importations and on
exportations, not yet fallen due. Moreover, a
faithful and exact account shall be made out,
showing the entire amount of all duties on imports
and on exports, collected at such custom-houses, or
elsewhere in Mexico, by authority of the United
States, from and after the day of ratification of
this treaty by the Government of the Mexican
Republic; and also an account of the cost of
collection; and such entire amount, deducting only
the cost of collection, shall be delivered to the
Mexican Government, at the city of Mexico, within
three months after the exchange of
ratification's. The evacuation of the capital of the Mexican
Republic by the troops of the United States, in
virtue of the above stipulation, shall be completed
in one month after the orders there stipulated for
shall have been received by the commander of said
troops, or sooner if possible. Immediately after the exchange of ratification's
of the present treaty all castles, forts,
territories, places, and possessions, which have
been taken or occupied by the forces of the United
States during the present war, within the limits of
the Mexican Republic, as about to be established by
the following article, shall be definitely restored
to the said Republic, together with all the
artillery, arms, apparatus of war, munitions, and
other public property, which were in the said
castles and forts when captured, and which shall
remain there at the time when this treaty shall be
duly ratified by the Government of the Mexican
Republic. To this end, immediately upon the
signature of this treaty, orders shall be
dispatched to the American officers commanding such
castles and forts, securing against the removal or
destruction of any such artillery, arms, apparatus
of war, munitions, or other public property. The
city of Mexico, within the inner line of
entrenchment's surrounding the said city, is
comprehended in the above stipulation, as regards
the restoration of artillery, apparatus of war,
& c. The final evacuation of the territory of the
Mexican Republic, by the forces of the United
States, shall be completed in three months -from
the said exchange of ratification's, or sooner if
possible; the Mexican Government hereby engaging,
as in the foregoing article to use all means in its
power for facilitating such evacuation, and
rendering it convenient to the troops, and for
promoting a good understanding between them and the
inhabitants. If, however, the ratification of this treaty by
both parties should not take place in time to allow
the embarkation of the troops of the United States
to be completed before the commencement of the
sickly season, at the Mexican ports on the Gulf of
Mexico, in such case a friendly arrangement shall
be entered into between the General-in-Chief of the
said troops and the Mexican Government, whereby
healthy and otherwise suitable places, at a
distance from the ports not exceeding thirty
leagues, shall be designated for the residence of
such troops as may not yet have embarked, until the
return 1i of the healthy season. And the space of
time here referred to as, comprehending the sickly
season shall be understood to extend from the first
day of May to the first day of November. All prisoners of war taken on either side, on
land or on sea, shall be restored as soon as
practicable after the exchange of ratification's of
this treaty. It is also agreed that if any Mexicans
should now be held as captives by any savage tribe
within the limits of the United States, as about to
be established by the following article, the
Government of the said United States will exact the
release of such captives and cause them to be
restored to their country. The boundary line between the two Republics
shall commence in the Gulf of Mexico, three leagues
from land, opposite the mouth of the Rio Grande,
otherwise called Rio Bravo del Norte, or Opposite
the mouth of its deepest branch, if it should have
more than one branch emptying directly into the
sea; from thence up the middle of that river,
following the deepest channel, where it has more
than one, to the point where it strikes the
southern boundary of New Mexico; thence,
westwardly, along the whole southern boundary of
New Mexico (which runs north of the town called
Paso) to its western termination; thence,
northward, along the western line of New Mexico,
until it intersects the first branch of the river
Gila; (or if it should not intersect any branch of
that river, then to the point on the said line
nearest to such branch, and thence in a direct line
to the same); thence down the middle of the said
branch and of the said river, until it empties into
the Rio Colorado; thence across the Rio Colorado,
following the division line between Upper and Lower
California, to the Pacific Ocean. The southern and western limits of New Mexico,
mentioned in the article, are those laid down in
the map entitled "Map of the United Mexican States,
as organized and defined by various acts of the
Congress of said republic, and constructed
according to the best authorities. Revised edition.
Published at New York, in 1847, by J. Disturnell,"
of which map a copy is added to this treaty,
bearing the signatures and seals of the undersigned
Plenipotentiaries,. And, in order to preclude all
difficulty in tracing upon the ground the limit
separating Upper from Lower California, it is
agreed that the said limit shall consist of a
straight line drawn from the middle of the Rio
Gila, where it unites with the Colorado, to a point
on the coast of the Pacific Ocean, distant one
marine league due south of the southernmost point
of the port of San Diego, according to the plan of
said port made in the year 1782 by Don Juan
Pantoja, second sailing-master of the Spanish
fleet, and published at Madrid in the year 1802, in
the atlas to the voyage of the schooners Sutil and
Mexicana; of which plan a copy is hereunto added,
signed and sealed by the respective
Plenipotentiaries. In order to designate the boundary line with due
precision, upon authoritative maps, and to
establish upon the ground landmarks which shall
show the limits of both republics, as described in
the present article, the two Governments shall each
appoint a commissioner and a surveyor, who, before
the expiration of one year from the date of the
exchange of ratification's of this treaty, shall
meet at the port of San Diego, and proceed to run
and mark the said boundary in its whole course to
the mouth of the Rio Bravo del Norte. They shall
keep journals and make out plans of their
operations; and the result agreed upon by them
shall be deemed a part of this treaty, and shall
have the same force as if it were inserted therein.
The two Governments will amicably agree regarding
what may be necessary to these persons, and also as
to their respective escorts, should such be
necessary. The boundary line established by this article
shall be religiously respected by each of the two
republics, and no change shall ever be made
therein, except by the express and free consent of
both nations, lawfully given by the General
Government of each, in conformity with its own
constitution. The vessels and citizens of the United States
shall, in all time, have a free and uninterrupted
passage by the Gulf of California, and by the river
Colorado below its confluence with the Gila, to and
from their possessions situated north of the
boundary line defined in the preceding article; it
being understood that this passage is to be by
navigating the Gulf of California and the river
Colorado, and not by land, without the express
consent of the Mexican Government. If, by the examinations which may be made, it
should be ascertained to be practicable and
advantageous to construct a road, canal, or
railway, which should in whole or in part run upon
the river Gila, or upon its right or its left bank,
within the space of one marine league from either
margin of the river, the Governments of both
republics will form an agreement regarding its
construction, in order that it may serve equally
for the use and advantage of both countries. The river Gila, and the part of the Rio Bravo
del Norte lying below the southern boundary of New
Mexico, being, agreeably to the fifth article,
divided in the middle between the two republics,
the navigation of the Gila and of the Bravo below
said boundary shall be free and common to the
vessels and citizens of both countries; and neither
shall, without the consent of the other, construct
any work that may impede or interrupt, in whole or
in part, the exercise of this right; not even for
the purpose of favoring new methods of navigation.
Nor shall any tax or contribution, under any
denomination or title, be levied upon vessels or
persons navigating the same or upon merchandise or
effects transported thereon, except in the case of
landing upon one of their shores. If, for the
purpose of making the said rivers navigable, or for
maintaining them in such state, it should be
necessary or advantageous to establish any tax or
contribution, this shall not be done without the
consent of both Governments. The stipulations contained in the present
article shall not impair the territorial rights of
either republic within its established limits. Mexicans now established in territories
previously belonging to Mexico, and which remain
for the future within the limits of the United
States, as defined by the present treaty, shall be
free to continue where they now reside, or to
remove at any time to the Mexican Republic,
retaining the property which they possess in the
said territories, or disposing thereof, and
removing the proceeds wherever they please, without
their being subjected, on this account, to any
contribution, tax, or charge whatever. Those who shall prefer to remain in the said
territories may either retain the title and rights
of Mexican citizens, or acquire those of citizens
of the United States. But they shall be under the
obligation to make their election within one year
from the date of the exchange of ratification's of
this treaty; and those who shall remain in the said
territories after the expiration of that year,
without having declared their intention to retain
the character of Mexicans, shall be considered to
have elected to become citizens of the United
States. In the said territories, property of every kind,
now belonging to Mexicans not established there,
shall be inviolably respected. The present owners,
the heirs of these, and all Mexicans who may
hereafter acquire said property by contract, shall
enjoy with respect to it guarantees equally ample
as if the same belonged to citizens of the United
States. The Mexicans who, in the territories aforesaid,
shall not preserve the character of citizens of the
Mexican Republic, conformably with what is
stipulated in the preceding article, shall be
incorporated into the Union of the United States.
and be admitted at the proper time (to be judged of
by the Congress of the United States) to the
enjoyment of all the rights of citizens of the
United States, according to the principles of the
Constitution; and in the mean time, shall be
maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of
their liberty and property, and secured in the free
exercise of their religion without restriction. Considering that a great part of the
territories, which, by the present treaty, are to
be comprehended for the future within the limits of
the United States, is now occupied by savage
tribes, who will hereafter be under the exclusive
control of the Government of the United States, and
whose incursions within the territory of Mexico
would be prejudicial in the extreme, it is solemnly
agreed that all such incursions shall be forcibly
restrained by the Government of the United States
wheresoever this may be necessary; and that when
they cannot be prevented, they shall be punished by
the said Government, and satisfaction for the same
shall be exacted all in the same way, and with
equal diligence and energy, as if the same
incursions were meditated or committed within its
own territory, against its own citizens. It shall not be lawful, under any pretext
whatever, for any inhabitant of the United States
to purchase or acquire any Mexican, or any
foreigner residing in Mexico, who may have been
captured by Indians inhabiting the territory of
either of the two republics; nor to purchase or
acquire horses, mules, cattle, or property of any
kind, stolen within Mexican territory by such
Indians. And in the event of any person or persons,
captured within Mexican territory by Indians, being
carried into the territory of the united States,
the Government of the latter engages and binds
itself, in the most solemn manner, so soon as it
shall know of such captives being within its
territory, and shall be able so to do, through the
faithful exercise of its influence and power, to
rescue them and return them to their country. or
deliver them to the agent or representative of the
Mexican Government. The Mexican authorities will,
as far as practicable, give to the Government of
the United States notice of such captures; and its
agents shall pay the expenses incurred in the
maintenance and transmission of the rescued
captives; who, in the mean time, shall be treated
with the utmost hospitality by the American
authorities at the place where they may be. But if
the Government of the United States, before
receiving such notice from Mexico, should obtain
intelligence, through any other channel, of the
existence of Mexican captives within its territory,
it will proceed forthwith to effect their release
and delivery to the Mexican agent, as above
stipulated. For the purpose of giving to these stipulations
the fullest possible efficacy, thereby affording
the security and redress demanded by their true
spirit and intent, the Government of the United
States will now and hereafter pass, without
unnecessary delay, and always vigilantly enforce,
such laws as the nature of the subject may require.
And, finally, the sacredness of this obligation
shall never be lost sight of by the said
Government, when providing for the removal of the
Indians from any portion of the said territories,
or for its being settled by citizens of the United
States; but, on the contrary, special care shall
then be taken not to place its Indian occupants
under the necessity of seeking new homes, by
committing those invasions which the United States
have solemnly obliged themselves to restrain. In consideration of the extension acquired by
the boundaries of the United States, as defined in
the fifth article of the present treaty, the
Government of the United States engages to pay to
that of the Mexican Republic the sum of fifteen
millions of dollars. Immediately after the treaty shall have been
duly ratified by the Government of the Mexican
Republic, the sum of three millions of dollars
shall be paid to the said Government by that of the
United States, at the city of Mexico, in the gold
or silver coin of Mexico The remaining twelve
millions of dollars shall be paid at the same
place, and in the same coin, in annual installments
of three millions of dollars each, together with
interest on the same at the rate of six per centum
per annum. This interest shall begin to run upon
the whole sum of twelve millions from the day of
the ratification of the present treaty by--the
Mexican Government, and the first of the
installments shall be paid-at the expiration of one
year from the same day. Together with each annual
installment, as it falls due, the whole interest
accruing on such installment from the beginning
shall also be paid. The United States engage, moreover, to assume
and pay to the claimants all the amounts now due
them, and those hereafter to become due, by reason
of the claims already liquidated and decided
against the Mexican Republic, under the conventions
between the two republics severally concluded on
the eleventh day of April, eighteen hundred and
thirty-nine, and on the thirtieth day of January,
eighteen hundred and forty-three; so that the
Mexican Republic shall be absolutely exempt, for
the future, from all expense whatever on account of
the said claims. The United States do furthermore discharge the
Mexican Republic from all claims of citizens of the
United States, not heretofore decided against the
Mexican Government, which may have arisen
previously to the date of the signature of this
treaty; which discharge shall be final and
perpetual, whether the said claims be rejected or
be allowed by the board of commissioners provided
for in the following article, and whatever shall be
the total amount of those allowed. The United States, exonerating Mexico from all
demands on account of the claims of their citizens
mentioned in the preceding article, and considering
them entirely and forever canceled, whatever their
amount may be, undertake to make satisfaction for
the same, to an amount not exceeding three and
one-quarter millions of dollars. To ascertain the
validity and amount of those claims, a . board of
commissioners shall be established by the
Government of the United States, whose awards shall
be final and conclusive; provided that, in deciding
upon the validity of each claim, the boa shall be
guided and governed by the principles and rules of
decision prescribed by the first and fifth articles
of the unratified convention, concluded at the city
of Mexico on the twentieth day of November, one
thousand eight hundred and forty-three; and in no
case shall an award be made in favor of any claim
not embraced by these principles and rules. If, in the opinion of the said board of
commissioners or of the claimants, any books,
records, or documents, in the possession or power
of the Government of the Mexican Republic, shall be
deemed necessary to the just decision of any claim,
the commissioners, or the claimants through them,
shall, within such period as Congress may
designate, make an application in writing for the
same, addressed to the Mexican Minister of Foreign
Affairs, to be transmitted by the Secretary of
State of the United States; and the Mexican
Government engages, at the earliest possible moment
after the receipt of such demand, to cause any of
the books, records, or documents so specified,
which shall be in their possession or power (or
authenticated copies or extracts of the same), to
be transmitted to the said Secretary of State, who
shall immediately deliver them over to the said
board of commissioners; provided that no such
application shall be made by or at the instance of
any claimant, until the facts which it is expected
to prove by such books, records, or documents,
shall have been stated under oath or
affirmation. Each of the contracting parties reserves to
itself the entire right to fortify whatever point
within its territory it may judge proper so to
fortify for its security. The treaty of amity, commerce, and navigation,
concluded at the city of Mexico, on the fifth day
of April, A. D. 1831, between the United States of
America and the United Mexican States, except the
additional article, and except so far as the
stipulations of the said treaty may be incompatible
with any stipulation contained in the present
treaty, is hereby revived for the period of eight
years from the day of the exchange of
ratification's of this treaty, with the same force
and virtue as if incorporated therein; it being
understood that each of the contracting parties
reserves to itself the right, at any time after the
said period of eight years shall have expired, to
terminate the same by giving one year's notice of
such intention to the other party. All supplies whatever for troops of the United
States in Mexico, arriving at ports in the
occupation of such troops previous to the final
evacuation thereof, although subsequently to the
restoration o~ the custom-houses at such ports,
shall be entirely exempt from duties and charges of
any kind; the Government of the United States
hereby engaging and pledging its faith to establish
and vigilantly to enforce, all possible guards for
securing the revenue of Mexico, by preventing the
importation, under cover of this stipulation, of
any articles other than such, both in kind and in
quantity, as shall really be wanted for the use and
consumption of the forces of the United States
during the time they may remain in Mexico. To this
end it shall be the duty of all officers and agents
of the United States to denounce to the Mexican
authorities at the respective ports any attempts at
a fraudulent abuse of this stipulation, which they
may know of, or may have reason to suspect, and to
give to such authorities all the aid in their power
with regard thereto; and every such attempt, when
duly proved and established by sentence of a
competent tribunal, They shall be punished by the
confiscation of the property so attempted to be
fraudulently introduced. With respect to all merchandise, effects, and
property whatsoever, imported into ports of Mexico,
whilst in the occupation of the forces of the
United States, whether by citizens of either
republic, or by citizens or subjects of any neutral
nation, the following rules shall be observed: (1) All such merchandise, effects, and property,
if imported previously to the restoration of the
custom-houses to the Mexican authorities, as
stipulated for in the third article of this treaty,
shall be exempt from confiscation, although the
importation of the same be prohibited by the
Mexican tariff. (2) The same perfect exemption shall be enjoyed
by all such merchandise, effects, and property,
imported subsequently to the restoration of the
custom-houses, and previously to the sixty days
fixed in the following article for the coming into
force of the Mexican tariff at such ports
respectively; the said merchandise, effects, and
property being, however, at the time of their
importation, subject to the payment of duties, as
provided for in the said following article. (3) All merchandise, effects, and property
described in the two rules foregoing shall, during
their continuance at the place of importation, and
upon their leaving such place for the interior, be
exempt from all duty, tax, or imposts of every
kind, under whatsoever title or denomination. Nor
shall they be there subject to any charge
whatsoever upon the sale thereof. (4) All
merchandise, effects, and property, described in
the first and second rules, which shall have been
removed to any place in the interior, whilst such
place was in the occupation of the forces of the
United States, shall, during their continuance
therein, be exempt from all tax upon the sale or
consumption thereof, and from every kind of impost
or contribution, under whatsoever title or
denomination. (5) But if any merchandise, effects, or
property, described in the first and second rules,
shall be removed to any place not occupied at the
time by the forces of the United States, they
shall, upon their introduction into such place, or
upon their sale or consumption there, be subject to
the same duties which, under the Mexican laws, they
would be required to pay in such cases if they had
been imported in time of peace, through the
maritime custom-houses, and had there paid the
duties conformably with the Mexican tariff. (6) The owners of all merchandise, effects, or
property, described in the first and second rules,
and existing in any port of Mexico, shall have the
right to reship the same, exempt from all tax,
impost, or contribution whatever. With respect to the metals, or other property,
exported from any Mexican port whilst in the
occupation of the forces of the United States, and
previously to the restoration of the custom-house
at such port, no person shall be required by the
Mexican authorities, whether general or state, to
pay any tax, duty, or contribution upon any such
exportation, or in any manner to account for the
same to the said authorities. Through consideration for the interests of
commerce generally, it is agreed, that if less than
sixty days should elapse between the date of the
signature of this treaty and the restoration of the
custom houses, conformably with the stipulation in
the third article, in such case all merchandise,
effects and property whatsoever, arriving at the
Mexican ports after the restoration of the said
custom-houses, and previously to the expiration of
sixty days after the day of signature of this
treaty, shall be admitted to entry; and no other
duties shall be levied thereon than the duties
established by the tariff found in force at such
custom-houses at the time of the restoration of the
same. And to all such merchandise, effects, and
property, the rules established by the preceding
article shall apply. If unhappily any disagreement should hereafter
arise between the Governments of the two republics,
whether with respect to the interpretation of any
stipulation in this treaty, or with respect to any
other particular concerning the political or
commercial relations of the two nations, the said
Governments, in the name of those nations, do
promise to each other that they will endeavor, in
the most sincere and earnest manner, to settle the
differences so arising, and to preserve the state
of peace and friendship in which the two countries
are now placing themselves, using, for this end,
mutual representations and pacific negotiations.
And if, by these means, they should not be enabled
to come to an agreement, a resort shall not, on
this account, be had to reprisals, aggression, or
hostility of any kind, by the one republic against
the other, until the Government of that which deems
itself aggrieved shall have maturely considered, in
the spirit of peace and good neighbourship, whether
it would not be better that such difference should
be settled by the arbitration of commissioners
appointed on each side, or by that of a friendly
nation. And should such course be proposed by
either party, it shall be acceded to by the other,
unless deemed by it altogether incompatible with
the nature of the difference, or the circumstances
of the case. If (which is not to be expected, and which God
forbid) war should unhappily break out between the
two republics, they do now, with a view to such
calamity, solemnly pledge themselves to each other
and to the world to observe the following rules;
absolutely where the nature of the subject permits,
and as closely as possible in all cases where such
absolute observance shall be impossible: (1) The
merchants of either republic then residing in the
other shall be allowed to remain twelve months (for
those dwelling in the interior), and six months
(for those dwelling at the seaports) to collect
their debts and settle their affairs; during which
periods they shall enjoy the same protection, and
be on the same footing, in all respects, as the
citizens or subjects of the most friendly nations;
and, at the expiration thereof, or at any time
before, they shall have full liberty to depart,
carrying off all their effects without molestation
or hindrance, conforming therein to the same laws
which the citizens or subjects of the most friendly
nations are required to conform to. Upon the
entrance of the armies of either nation into the
territories of the other, women and children,
ecclesiastics, scholars of every faculty,
cultivators of the earth, merchants, artisans,
manufacturers, and fishermen, unarmed and
inhabiting unfortified towns, villages, or places,
and in general all persons whose occupations are
for the common subsistence and benefit of mankind,
shall be allowed to continue their respective
employments, unmolested in their persons. Nor shall
their houses or goods be burnt or otherwise
destroyed, nor their cattle taken, nor their fields
wasted, by the armed force into whose power, by the
events of war, they may happen to fall; but if the
necessity arise to take anything from them for the
use of such armed force, the same shall be paid for
at an equitable price. All churches, hospitals,
schools, colleges, libraries, and other
establishments for charitable and beneficent
purposes, shall be respected, and all persons
connected with the same protected in the discharge
of their duties, and the pursuit of their
vocations. (2) . -In order that the fate of prisoners of
war may be alleviated all such practices as those
of sending them into distant, inclement or
unwholesome districts, or crowding them into close
and noxious places, shall be studiously avoided.
They shall not be confined in dungeons, prison
ships, or prisons; nor be put in irons, or bound or
otherwise restrained in the use of their limbs. The
officers shall enjoy liberty on their paroles,
within convenient districts, and have comfortable
quarters; and the common soldiers shall be dispose(
in cantonments, open and extensive enough for air
and exercise and lodged in barracks as roomy and
good as are provided by the party in whose power
they are for its own troops. But if any office
shall break his parole by leaving the district so
assigned him, o any other prisoner shall escape
from the limits of his cantonment after they shall
have been designated to him, such individual,
officer, or other prisoner, shall forfeit so much
of the benefit of this article as provides for his
liberty on parole or in cantonment. And if any
officer so breaking his parole or any common
soldier so escaping from the limits assigned him,
shall afterwards be found in arms previously to his
being regularly exchanged, the person so offending
shall be dealt with according to the established
laws of war. The officers shall be daily furnished,
by the party in whose power they are, with as many
rations, and of the same articles, as are allowed
either in kind or by commutation, to officers of
equal rank in its own army; and all others shall be
daily furnished with such ration as is allowed to a
common soldier in its own service; the value of all
which supplies shall, at the close of the war, or
at periods to be agreed upon between the respective
commanders, be paid by the other party, on a mutual
adjustment of accounts for the subsistence of
prisoners; and such accounts shall not be mingled
with or set off against any others, nor the balance
due on them withheld, as a compensation or reprisal
for any cause whatever, real or pretended Each
party shall be allowed to keep a commissary of
prisoners, appointed by itself, with every
cantonment of prisoners, in possession of the
other; which commissary shall see the prisoners as
often a he pleases; shall be allowed to receive,
exempt from all duties a taxes, and to distribute,
whatever comforts may be sent to them by their
friends; and shall be free to transmit his reports
in open letters to the party by whom he is
employed. And it is declared that neither the pretense
that war dissolves all treaties, nor any other
whatever, shall be considered as annulling or
suspending the solemn covenant contained in this
article. On the contrary, the state of war is
precisely that for which it is provided; and,
during which, its stipulations are to be as
sacredly observed as the most acknowledged
obligations under the law of nature or nations. This treaty shall be ratified by the President
of the United States of America, by and with the
advice and consent of the Senate thereof; and by
the President of the Mexican Republic, with the
previous approbation of its general Congress; and
the ratification's shall be exchanged in the City
of Washington, or at the seat of Government of
Mexico, in four months from the date of the
signature hereof, or sooner if practicable. In faith whereof we, the respective
Plenipotentiaries, have signed this treaty of
peace, friendship, limits, and settlement, and have
hereunto affixed our seals respectively. Done in
quintuplicate, at the city of Guadalupe Hidalgo, on
the second day of February, in the year of our Lord
one thousand eight hundred and forty-eight. N. P. TRIST LUIS P. CUEVAS BERNARDO COUTO MIGL. ATRISTAIN
In addition, there is an explanation or
agreement of why the articles where stricken which
is known as the Protocol of
Querétaro The Mexicans who, in the territories aforesaid,
shall not preserve the character of citizens of the
Mexican Republic, conformably with what is
stipulated in the preceding Article, shall be
incorporated into the Union of the United States,
and admitted as soon as possible, according to the
principles of the Federal Constitution, to the
enjoyment of all the rights of citizens of the
United States. In the mean time, they shall be
maintained and protected in the enjoyment of their
liberty, their property, and the civil rights now
vested in them according to the Mexican laws. With
respect to political rights, their condition shall
be on an equality with that of the inhabitants of
the other territories of the United States; and at
least equally good as that of the inhabitants of
Louisiana and the Floridas, when these provinces,
by transfer from the French Republic and the Crown
of Spain, became territories of the United
States. The same most ample guaranty shall be enjoyed by
all ecclesiastics and religious corporations or
communities, as well in the discharge of the
offices of their ministry, as in the enjoyment of
their property of every kind, whether individual or
corporate. This guaranty shall embrace all temples,
houses and edifices Finally, the relations and communication between
the Catholics living in the territories aforesaid,
and their respective ecclesiastical authorities,
shall be open, free and exempt from all hindrance
whatever, even although such authorities should
reside within the limits of the Mexican Republic,
as defined by this treaty; and this freedom shall
continue, so long as a new demarcation of
ecclesiastical districts shall not have been made,
conformably with the laws of the Roman Catholic
Church. All grants of land made by the Mexican
government or by the competent authorities, in
territories previously appertaining to Mexico, and
remaining for the future within the limits of the
United States, shall be respected as valid, to the
same extent that the same grants would be valid, to
the said territories had remained within the limits
of Mexico. But the grantees of lands in Texas, put
in possession thereof, who, by reason of the
circumstances of the country since the beginning of
the troubles between Texas and the Mexican
Government, may have been prevented from fulfilling
all the conditions of their grants, shall be under
the obligation to fulfill the said conditions
within the periods limited in the same
respectively; such periods to be now counted from
the date of the exchange of ratification's of this
Treaty: in default of which the said grants shall
not be obligatory upon the State of Texas, in
virtue of the stipulations contained in this
Article. The foregoing stipulation in regard to grantees
of land in Texas, is extended to all grantees of
land in the territories aforesaid, elsewhere than
in Texas, put in possession under such grants; and,
in default of the fulfillment of the conditions of
any such grant, within the new period, which, as is
above stipulated, begins with the day of the
exchange of ratification's of this treaty, the same
shall be null and void. In the city of Querétaro on the twenty
sixth of the month of May eighteen hundred and
forty-eight at a conference between Their
Excellencies Nathan Clifford and Ambrose H. Sevier
Commissioners of the United States of America, with
full powers from their Government to make to the
Mexican Republic suitable explanations in regard to
the amendments which the Senate and Government of
the said United States have made in the treaty of
peace, friendship, limits and definitive settlement
between the two Republics, signed in Guadalupe
Hidalgo, on the second day of February of the
present year, and His Excellency Don Luis de la
Rosa, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic
of Mexico, it was agreed, after adequate
conversation respecting the changes alluded to, to
record in the present protocol the following
explanations which Their aforesaid Excellencies the
Commissioners gave in the name of their Government
and in fulfillment of the Commission conferred upon
them near the Mexican Republic. The American Government by suppressing the IXth
article of the Treaty of Guadalupe and substituting
the III article of the Treaty of Louisiana did not
intend to diminish in any way what was agreed upon
by the aforesaid article IXth in favor of the
inhabitants of the territories ceded by Mexico. Its
understanding that all of that agreement is
contained in the IIId article of the Treaty of
Louisiana. In consequence, all the privileges and
guarantees, civil, political and religious, which
would have been possessed by the inhabitants of the
ceded territories, if the IXth article of the
Treaty had been retained, will be enjoyed by them
without any difference under the article which has
been substituted. The American Government, by suppressing the Xth
article of the Treaty of Guadalupe did not in any
way intend to annul the grants of lands made by
Mexico in the ceded territories. These grants,
notwithstanding the suppression of the article of
the Treaty, preserve the legal value which they may
possess; and the grantees may cause their
legitimate titles to be acknowledged before the
American tribunals. Conformably to the law of the United States,
legitimate titles to every description of property
personal and real, existing in the ceded
territories, are those which were legitimate titles
under the Mexican law in California and New Mexico
up to the 13th of May 1846, and in Texas up to the
2d March 1836. The Government of the United States by
suppressing the concluding paragraph of article
XIIth of the Treaty, did not intend to deprive the
Mexican Republic of the free and unrestrained
faculty of ceding, conveying or transferring at any
time (as it may judge best) the sum of the twelve
[sic] millions of dollars which the same
Government of the United States is to deliver in
the places designated by the amended article. And these explanations having been accepted by
the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Mexican
Republic, he declared in name of his Government
that with the understanding conveyed by them, the
same Government would proceed to ratify the Treaty
of Guadalupe as modified by the Senate and
Government of the United States. In testimony of
which their Excellencies the aforesaid
Commissioners and the Minister have signed and
sealed in quintuplicate the present protocol. [Seal] A. H. Sevier [Seal] Nathan Clifford [Seal] Luis de la Rosa |
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