U.S. didn’t steal land

Published 11:42 am Friday, August 12, 2011

Letter to the Editor

Paul Westrum, Albert Lea

Let’s put to rest this debate over who owns certain land areas of our nation. Mexico claims it is the rightful owner of vast expanses of the Southwest; that the United States stole those lands in the mid-1800s, following the U.S.-Mexican War, which Mexico lost.

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The Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty of 1848 ended hostilities between the United States and Mexico, a conflict lasting from 1846 to 1848.

In that treaty, Mexico sold to the United States territories covering all or parts of what became Texas, Oklahoma, Arizona, New Mexico, California, Colorado, Kansas and Wyoming, in exchange for payment of $18.2 million. The U.S. forgave claims against the Mexican government and exonerated Mexico from claims by U.S. citizens against Mexico prior to the treaty. This should put to rest the ill-conceived notion that the United States stole these lands from Mexico. My source: Colliers Encyclopedia.