Title: Mexican Cession (1848) | Encyclopedia.com
Headings: Mexican Cession (1848)
Mexican Cession (1848)
MEXICAN CESSION (1848)
FURTHER READING

Content: Still in the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo Mexico lost nearly one million square miles of land — almost one-half of its territory. This territory, termed the "Mexican Cession," included land that makes up the states of California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Arizona, Texas, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. The Mexican government received $15 million and the promise that the United States would settle all claims of its citizens against Mexico. These claims amounted to more than $3 million. The Mexican citizens in this acquired territory were presumed to be legal U.S. citizens unless they vacated the area or registered as Mexican citizens within a one-year time frame. The treaty also granted the citizens in this area religious freedom, property, and civil rights. Article IX stated that Mexican citizens in this territory "shall be incorporated into the United States of America, 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 meantime, they shall be maintained and protected in the enjoyment of their liberty and property, and the civil rights now vested in them according to the Mexican laws." In light of the delicate balance in Congress between the slave states and the wage-labor states, the acquisition of this land from Mexico re-kindled the debate in Congress over slavery. Southerners hoped to enlarge the territory that would enter the union as slave states.