102 ATLAS OF HISPANIC-AMERICAN HISTORY
Date Case/Law Description(^1829) Foster v. Neilson While Article VI, Clause 2 of the U.S. Constitution holds that all treaties should be considered
the law of the land, it accords the same status to federal laws. In 1829, the U.S. Supreme Court
took up a case involving a claim for property in present-day Louisiana under a land grant
made by the king of Spain. According to the 1819 Treaty of Cession, which ceded the territory
to the United States, all lands granted before a specified date “shall be ratified and confirmed
by persons in possession of the lands, to the same extent that the same grants would be valid
if the territories had remained under the dominion of his Catholic majesty.” The Court ruled,
however, that the treaty was no more than a promise of future legislative action by the U.S.
government, and as such could not be considered a “self-executing treaty.”
1833 United States v. Percheman Four years later, the Court reversed itself, ruling that the 1819 treaty was “self-executing”
based on a discovery that the Spanish version of the treaty should have been translated as
land grants “shall remain ratified,” instead of “shall be ratified.” Nonetheless, the contradic-
tory rulings left the enforceability of international treaties open to legislative challenge.
1851 The California Land This congressional law was a major setback for Californios, who hoped that Guadalupe
Settlement Act Hidalgo’s promises of property protection would be enforced. The law set a two-year time
limit for “each and every person claiming lands in California by virtue of any right or title
derived from the Spanish or Mexican government” to submit claims to a special land commis-
sion. Any failure to do so would result in forfeiture of land to the U.S. government. During
California’s climate of gold rush fever, the commission’s impulse was to open as much territory
to prospectors as possible. In the end, out of 813 claims made to the commission, only 604
were confirmed.
1853 The Gadsden Treaty In 1853, the United States pressured Mexico into selling part of present-day southern Arizona
and New Mexico stretching along the Gila River from present-day Yuma to the Mesilla Valley
in New Mexico. Anglo land speculators were interested in the land as a possible route for the
Transcontinental Railroad. Many Mexicans, a number of whom had recently relocated to the
region after being forced from their lands immediately after the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
was signed, felt again betrayed by Mexico; others took the Mexican government’s offer of
financial assistance for relocating to Mexico. While the Gadsden Treaty promised the same
land protections as the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo had, Mexicans who stayed faced increas-
ing oppression.
1854 Act of July 22, 1854 This congressional act created an office of the surveyor general to settle disputes over
Mexican and Spanish land grants in New Mexico Territory. However, it would take that office
50 years to settle just a handful of claims. Before that could happen, many Nuevomexicanos
were cheated out of their land.
1862 The Homestead Act In 1862, Congress passed this act, granting 160 acres of land to any U.S. citizen over 21 years
old who was a family head. The act was meant to encourage settlement of unoccupied lands
on the western frontier, but it resulted in a flood of Anglo settlers seizing not only Native
American lands but Mexican-American lands as well.
PROPERTY LAW AND MEXICAN AMERICANS:
Selected Court Cases and Legal Precedents, 1829–1889
According to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexicans in the conquered Southwest were “[to] be incorporated into the union of the
United States and admitted as soon as possible... to the enjoyment of all rights of citizens of the United States. In the meantime, they
shall be maintained and protected in the enjoyment of their liberty, their property, and civil rights now vested in them according to the
Mexican laws.” Unfortunately, the United States did not live up to these assurances. After gold was discovered in California in 1848,
lawsuits were filed contesting ownership of Mexican lands. Although many Californios had owned land since the Spanish colonial era,
numerous boundaries established by original Spanish land grants were vague. As thousands of Anglos poured into the Southwest,
Mexicans found themselves no longer welcome. This seizure of their lands was enforced both by violence and by a series of court deci-
sions and laws that served to legalize the denial of Mexican property rights.