Students will evaluate the goals of negotiators attempting to develop a peace treaty.

President James K. Polk recalled Nicholas Trist away from Mexico with orders to end negotiations. Trist, however, refused to leave until he had a signed treaty. Disobeying a president is a serious offense, so why did Trist do it?

Why did Polk accept the treaty Trist brought from Mexico?

There was a movement within the U.S. to take all of Mexico's land. Who would have benefited from this action? What might the consequences have been in doing so? What would have been the immediate difficulties the U.S. would have faced in doing so?

Why did the U.S. pay money to Mexico? Is this usual after a war?

What reasons did the Mexican President give when he asked Congress to approve the peace treaty? What was the general feeling of Mexicans at the end of the war?

Many Mexicans continued to live on their land on the U.S. side of the new border. What were some of their experiences?

Review the CLASSROOM TIPS FOR USING ANY VIDEO CHAPTER .

Use THE U.S.-MEXICAN WAR MAP to illustrate the territorial consequences of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo from the perspective of both countries. Consider trying the geographer's technique of making a point: Hang the map upside down to give students a different exposure to what was lost by one country and gained by another.

Explain how the acquisition of land led to continued debates on slavery and deepened sectional divisions.

Discuss how Native Americans were affected by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

Explain the role of political parties in the sectional debates leading up to the Civil War in the U.S.

Identify the reason for the Gadsden Purchase.

• Divide the class into focus groups and report on the end of the war from multiple perspectives. Compare what the U.S. originally sought from Mexico before the war (to settle payment for citizens' claims and to purchase New Mexico and California) to what was achieved in the treaty.

• What could have been done to avoid war and achieve the same goals?

Small Group Exercise

Ask students to draw a map of the U.S. after the war and highlight the lands that were ceded to the U.S. under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

Map Skills

Plot a potential railroad route from the east to the west connecting it to one of the Pacific ports.

Analyzing for Understanding

Ask students to pretend to be members of a Mexican family living in the borderlands who just learned that the land they live on now belongs to the U.S. Discuss the choices the family now faces under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. What if the family has other relatives living on the Mexican side of the new border? How does that complicate their situation?