The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

In November 1835, the northern part of the Mexican state of Coahuila-Tejas declared itself in revolt against Mexico's new centralist government headed by President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. By February 1836, Texans declared their territory to be independent and that its border extended to the Rio Grande rather than the Rio Nueces that Mexicans recognized as the dividing line. Although the Texans proclaimed themselves citizens of the Independent Republic of Texas on April 21, 1836 following their victory over the Mexicans at the Battle of San Jacinto, Mexicans continued to consider Tejas a rebellious province that they would reconquer someday.

In December 1845, the U.S. Congress voted to annex the Texas Republic and soon sent troops led by General Zachary Taylor to the Rio Grande (regarded by Mexicans as their territory) to protect its border with Mexico. The inevitable clashes between Mexican troops and U.S. forces provided the rationale for a Congressional declaration of war on May 13, 1846.

Hostilities continued for the next two years as General Taylor led his troops through to Monterey, and General Stephen Kearny and his men went to New Mexico, Chihuahua, and California. But it was General Winfield Scott and his army that delivered the decisive blows as they marched from Veracruz to Puebla and finally captured Mexico City itself in August 1847. Mexican officials and Nicholas Trist, President Polk's representative, began discussions for a peace treaty that August. On February 2, 1848 the Treaty was signed in Guadalupe Hidalgo, a city north of the capital where the Mexican government had fled as U.S. troops advanced. Its provisions called for Mexico to cede 55% of its territory (present-day Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas, and parts of Colorado, Nevada and Utah) in exchange for fifteen million dollars in compensation for war-related damage to Mexican property.

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which ended the Mexican War in February 1848 gave the United States title to much of the Southwest, including Utah. With the end of the war, the Mormons in Utah formed a political government and created the State of Deseret (1849-51). Congress would not admit Deseret to the Union and instead created the Territory of Utah, a vast area encompassing, until the 1860s, most of present Nevada and part of present Wyoming and Colorado. Utah's territorial period lasted for 45 difficult years, 1851-96, marked by Mormon expansion, the immigration and settlement of non-Mormons, the development of transportation and communications, economic growth, and conflict.

1. In February of 1836 ____ declared its independence from Mexico.

Utah
New Mexico
New Spain
Texas

2. Texas declared itself an Independent Republic after the Battle of ____ .

the Alamo
San Jacinto
Hidalgo
Santa Ana

3. General ____ delivered the final blow to Mexico in capturing Mexico City.

Zachary Taylor
Stephen Kearny
Ulysses S. Grant
Winfield Scott

4. Mexico in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo gave up much of the present day Southwest to the U.S., in exchange for ____ dollars in war reparations.

15 million
12 million
10 million
9 million

5. The Mormons, in Utah created a political government and created the State of ____ in 1849.

Utah
New Harmony
Deseret
New Nauvoo

Your score is out of 5.