into exile once again. The citizens of
Mexico City gave some resistance in the
form of riots and sniping, but Scott sup-
pressed it within a matter of days. For the
first time, the American flag waved over a
foreign capital.The Treaty of
Guadalupe HidalgoPeace came with the Treaty of Guadalupe
Hidalgo, signed in a Mexico City suburb
by that name on February 2, 1848. The
treaty gave the United States everything it
had fought for. Mexico surrendered its
claim to Texas and accepted the Rio
Grande boundary. In what was called the
Mexican Cession, Mexico ceded the
remainder of its Far North, including
California, New Mexico, and all or part ofwhat are now Arizona, Nevada, Utah,
Wyoming, Colorado, Kansas, and
Oklahoma. In return the United States
paid Mexico $15 million and took on $3
million in unpaid claims of American cit-
izens against Mexico. Mexican citizens
who chose to remain in the acquired ter-
ritories would be granted “all the rights of
citizens of the United States,” including
full property and civil rights and religious
liberty—paper promises that would soon
suffer many violations. The two nations
ratified the treaty in March, and on June
12 American forces left Mexico City.
About 13,000 Americans had died in
the war—1,733 on the battlefield, most of
the rest from disease. Thousands more
Mexicans died in battle than did
Americans, though the precise number is
not known. The Whig Intelligencer com-
mented that the $15 million payment to96 ATLAS OF HISPANIC-AMERICAN HISTORY
U.S. Annexation of Mexican Land, 1846–1853