The Mexicans had fought bravely, even stubbornly and at times skilfully, yet in every contest, even when the odds were greatly in their favor, without a single victory. In part superior leadership and training won for the soldiers of the northern republic; in part their cooler and more persistent character; hut in the main it was not bravery, nor generalship, nor even character that won. It was science and education applied in the equipment of the armies, the guns of the soldiers, the cannon on the ramparts and the powder in the arsenals which made the one so much more effective than the other that the most daring bravery was no counterpoise.
The Treaty of Peace.— The treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo gave to the administration of President Polk the territory that his diary informs us he intended to acquire, California and New Mexico. Mexico in return for the loss of its fairest northern provinces was paid $15,000,000 and released from all claims of all kinds held by citizens of the United States against her, estimated at $3,250,000, which the United States assumed. Boundary lines were drawn, and provision made in regard to other questions at issue between the two countries.
Results.— Usually successfully waged wars redound to the credit of the party in power. In this case, however, the Democratic party, the author and supporter of the war, was defeated by the Whig party, the party of opposition and criticism, in the Presidential election of 1848. The Whigs made use of the popularity of a successful general to defeat the party that had made his glory possible. Evidently the Amer ican people were ready to accept the fruits of the war, hut also ready to punish the party they believed had wrought in a wrong manner. A large number of young officers, destined to re nown in later years proved their worth in this war. U. S. Grant and Wm. T. Sherman, Roht. E. Lee, "Stonewall" Jackson and Jefferson Davis, in the great Civil War, foreshadowed, in this Mexican struggle, the greatness that was to he theirs in the "days that tried men's souls" from 1861 to 1865. The acquisition of 522.568 square miles of territory— an empire four times as large as Great Britain, was the most important immediate as well as remote result. It was important in the issues that its acquisi tion precipitated. Should it he slave or free territory? Who should determine its institu tions? Out of this question grew the larger one, who had the right to control the institu tions of the territories in general? To settle the first question David Wilmot, a Democrat of Pennsylvania, proposed the celebrated "Wilmot Proviso" (q.v.) which would exclude slavery forever from all territory acquired from Mex ico. Four long years of intense and bitter de bate followed. This question and a series of others were settled temporarily in the Compro mise of 1850. The second question was an
swered by the phrase "Non-intervention," which meant, or soon came to mean, one thing to Douglas and the Northern Democrats, and an other to Davis and the South. Three main the ories were evolved or defended in answer to. the third query. (1) That Congress had the right to control the institutions of the Territo ries and could make them slave or free at its will. (2) The Dickinson-Cass-Douglas doc trine of Popular or "Squatter" sovereignty:— the doctrine that the people of a territory themselves, while yet in a territorial status, de termined their own institutions. (3) The radi cal Southern view that slaves were property, and, as property might be taken into any Tern tory,— the common public domain of the States, — with no constitutional power anywhere to hinder or prevent. It was important secondly in its industrial and political effect on the na tion. The United States now had an outlook on the Pacific Ocean comparable to that on the Atlantic. China, Japan and the East were brought within the circle of its influence. Con ditions favorable to further expansion were prepared. In addition to the great effect on commerce thus prefigured, that on wealth and industry was not less. The gold, silver, copper and other mineral wealth of the Rocky Moun tain region was turned into the pockets of the American people. This vast addition of terri tory and wealth tended also to emphasize na tional pride and ambition; to arouse a still more intense belief in destiny"; to develop a more optimistic tone, and perhaps also to produce a more materialistic spirit.
Bibliography.— Bancroft, H. H. (History of Mexico) (San Francisco 1885) ; 'history of California' (San Francisco 1886-90) ; 'History of Arizona and New Mexico' (Boston 1889); Benton, (Thirty Years' View); Burgess, 'The Middle Period); Connelly, W. E., new edition of (Doniphan's Expedition' (Kansas City 1907); Corwin, (Speeches' ; Grant, U. S., 'Per sonal Memoirs' (2 vols., New York 1885-86); Hal ferkorn, H. E., 'War With Mexico' (Washington 1914); Howard, 'General Tay lor) (New York 1892); Mansfield, E. D., 'The Mexican War' (New York 1852) ; McElroy, M., 'The Winning of the Far West' (New York 1914); Ripley, H. S.,