March 10, 1848: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is ratified by the Senate

The origins of the Mexican-American War lay in a border dispute between Mexico and the state of Texas. Mexico saw the annexation of Texas as provocation for war. The United States claimed the border of the new state was at the Rio Grande River. However Mexico protested that the border actually was 300 miles to the north at the Nueces River. In the summer of 1845, President James K. Polk decided to test Mexico's resolve. He dispatched 3,500 troops under the command of General Zachary Taylor to the Nueces River. In the presence of Taylor's troops, Polk sent John Slidell to negotiate an agreement for the disputed territory. Mexico refused to make any agreement. In the spring of 1846, President Polk ordered Taylor to the Rio Grande. In April, Mexican cavalry killed 11 American soldiers under Captain Seth Thorton during a patrol. Congress officially declared war on July 7, but by then the war was already in full swing.

The United States prosecuted the war with speed and efficiency. Throughout the summer of 1846, the Army of the West under General Stephen Kearny capture parts of New Mexico. After the conquest of New Mexico, the Army of the West traveled to California to help Captain John C. Fremont in its capture. California capitulated after the American victory in the Battle of La Mesa. As Kearny and Fremont were busy capturing California, an army under General Winfield Scott sailed into the Gulf of Mexico and besiege Veracruz, which fell in March of 1847. Scott's troops then marched on Puebla and finally on Mexico City. Mexico City was captured after the American victory in the Battle of Chapultepec. The war continues throughout 1847, but the bulk of the fighting largely ended. 

On February 2, 1848, diplomat Nicholas Trist and Mexican representatives Jose Bernardo Couto, Miguel de Atristain, and Luis Gonzaga Cuevas sign the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the Mexican-American War. The treaty settled the border with Texas and ceded the Mexican Cession (made up of the present day states of California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming) to the United States. The treaty was ratified by the Senate on March 10, with a vote of 33 to 4.

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