As people in Mexico and the United States commemorate the 150th
anniversary of the end of the Mexican American War, the Treaty of
Guadalupe-Hidalgo has come under new scrutiny from scholars in both
countries. They have been examining the implications of the treaty
which ended the war, and its political relevance and meaning to modern
Mexico-U.S. relations.
A series of conferences from California, to New Mexico, to Texas,
and to Michigan are being held this year to examine these questions. Of
particular concern to many scholars is the treaty’s relevance to land
claims and the civil, political, and human rights of Mexican Americans.
“Having legally trained Latino academicians analyze the treaty
makes the conferences very significant,” says George Martinez, law
professor at Southern Methodist University (SMU) Law School.
Scholars also have been examining the parallelism of the treaty and
the North American Free Trade Agreement — especially the issue of
immigration within the context of treaties.
Historians have long analyzed the treaty, but lacking legal training, they did not probe issues with a legal analysis.
Prior to the 1960s, there were very few Latino legal scholars in
the United States. Martinez notes that those attending this year’s
conferences represent the first generation of Latinos trained in law to
examine the legal issues arising from the treaty.
The NAFTA Comparison
