The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

Use this activity when studying the Mexican-American War and the topic of Manifest Destiny. For grades 6-12. Approximate time needed is 120 minutes.

Review with students the long-term, short-term and immediate causes of the Mexican American War. After listing these causes, ask students to predict how these issues may be resolved once the war was concluded via a treaty. If needed, define the term treaty for students.

Inform students that they will be reading and summarizing a section of the treaty. Read the opening aloud as a class and direct students to pay attention to the overall purpose and tone of the document.

Divide the class into small groups, giving each group several articles of the treaty to summarize the central ideas of each article. After the groups read and summarize their sections, complete a “jigsaw” activity.

Note: A transcript is included with the treaty; the Transcript button is available to students once they click on “View Entire Document.”

• Group 1: Articles 1 through 4
• Group 2: Articles 5 through 7
• Group 3: Articles 8 through 10
• Group 4: Articles 11 through 14
• Group 5: Articles 15 through 19
• Group 6: Articles 20 through 23

After discussing the terms of the treaty in small groups, ask students to focus on the question they’ll see when they click “When You’re Done:”

• Considering the events that led to the Mexican War, do you think the terms negotiated in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo were a fair conclusion to this crisis? Why or why not? Cite specific details from the treaty as evidence of fairness or unfairness.

This activity was adapted from an article published on www.archives.gov/education, written by Tom Gray, a teacher at DeRuyter Central Middle School in DeRuyter, NY.