Video: 'Documentary_The Mexican - American War' (Feb. 2, 1848 at 1:21:08)

(Wednesday, February 2, 1848) — The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed today at the main altar of the old Basilica of Guadalupe at Villa Hidalgo, now a neighborhood in northern Mexico City, ending the Mexican-American War after nearly two years of fighting.

The treaty gave the U.S. undisputed control of Texas, established the U.S.-Mexican border of the Rio Grande, and ceded to the United States the present-day states of California, Nevada, and Utah, most of New Mexico, Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming.

In return, Mexico received $15 million, less than half the amount the U.S. had attempted to offer Mexico for the land before the opening of hostilities, and the U.S. agreed to assume $3.25 million in debts that the Mexican government owed to U.S. citizens.