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[1-3] 4-384 pp. (8vo), 23.6x15 cm (9¼x6"), modern tan leather with gilt-lettered spine labels, spine with raised bands. First Edition.

This is the official printing of the secret version of the treaty between the United States and Mexico considered by the Senate, with added documents and proceedings of the Senate regarding their deliberations on the question of whether to adopt it. The treaty was signed in February, 1848, but its provisions kept a secret while the U.S. Senate debated ratification of the document. On May 31, 1848, the secrecy injunction was removed and the document ordered printed for the use of the Senate, which is this printing and which precedes the first printing of the final version. The “Confidential” version of the treaty in English and Spanish is on pp. 38-66.

This official Senate printing of the treaty amounts to a virtual history of the negotiations between the United States and Mexico, and includes previously-secret correspondence between the United States government and its agents, Nicholas Trist and John Slidell. Many Mexican documents are also included. In the treaty, agreements were reached for the withdrawal of American troops from Mexico, the payment of Mexican claims, and the formal cession of territory (the U.S. had already occupied all of the land). The theoretical boundaries were set out and arrangements for boundary commissioners were made. By this treaty the U.S. obtained an addition of land equalled in size only by the Louisiana and Alaska purchases.