The Treaty of Cahuenga was an 1847 agreement that ended the Conquest of California during the Mexican–American War. It resulted from the conflict between American forces and Californios (Mexican Californians) fighting for control of Alta California, which is modern-day California. The treaty was necessary to establish a ceasefire and conclude the fighting within the region as part of the broader Mexican–American War.
The treaty was signed on 13 January 1847 at the Campo de Cahuenga. It was drafted in both English and Spanish by José Antonio Carrillo and signed by John C. Frémont, who represented the American forces, and Andrés Pico, who represented the Mexican forces. The agreement addressed the military situation by requiring the Californios to surrender their artillery and called for the immediate release of all prisoners held by both sides.
The treaty's outcome established terms for peace and reintegration of the Californio population. Those Californios who agreed not to take up arms again during the war and promised to obey United States laws and regulations were permitted to return peacefully to their homes and ranchos. They were granted the same rights and privileges as United States citizens and were not required to take an oath of allegiance until a formal peace treaty was signed between the United States and Mexico. Additionally, Californios were given the privilege of leaving if they chose to do so. This agreement effectively ended the fighting of the Mexican–American War within Alta California.
The Mexican-American War (1846–1848) grew from the annexation of Texas (1845) and a disputed border between Texas and Mexico at the Rio Grande. President James K. Polk ordered US troops under General Zachary Taylor into the contested zone; after a skirmish that killed American soldiers, Congress declared war in May 1846. US forces won a series of engagements — Palo Alto, Monterrey, Buena Vista — before General Winfield Scott led an amphibious landing at Veracruz and an overland campaign to Mexico City, which fell in September 1847. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (February 1848) transferred California, Nevada, Utah, most of Arizona and New Mexico, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming to the United States in exchange for $15 million and assumption of $3.25 million in claims — roughly 525,000 square miles, a 67 percent expansion of US territory. The war's outcome immediately reopened the slavery question: the Wilmot Proviso, debated throughout the war, proposed banning slavery from any territory acquired from Mexico, foreshadowing the sectional crisis of the 1850s.
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