Light

Mexican Cession

Definition

The Mexican Cession is a term for the region in present-day southwestern United States that Mexico ceded to the U.S. in 1848 under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo following the Mexican-American War.

Analogy

Imagine you're playing a game where you have different territories on a map. You lose some battles against another player who then claims your territories as their own - that's essentially what happened with Mexican Cession.

Related terms

Gadsden Purchase: An additional land purchase from Mexico by the United States in 1853 to secure a route for a transcontinental railroad in the southern U.S.

Compromise of 1850: A package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress, which defused a political confrontation between slave and free states on the status of territories acquired during the Mexican-American War.

California Gold Rush: A gold discovery in California that led to a large scale migration towards the state. This event was directly related as it occurred shortly after California became part of U.S. territory.