Anglo Settlers

California Land Act of 1851 Enables Systematic Legal Theft from Mexican Land Grant Holders

1851-03-03 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 8/10

Congress passes the California Land Act of 1851 (9 Stat. 631), sponsored by California Senator William M. Gwin, establishing a three-member Board of Land Commissioners to determine the validity of prior Spanish and Mexican land grants. The Act places the burden of proof of title on …

William M. Gwin U.S. Congress Board of Land Commissioners Californio landowners Anglo settlers +1 more california-land-act land-theft treaty-violation institutional-corruption legal-dispossession +1 more

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Promises Land Rights Then Enables Systematic Theft from Mexican Americans

1848-02-02 00:00:00 +0000 UTC | Importance: 9/10

The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed February 2, 1848, ends the Mexican-American War by forcing Mexico to cede 55 percent of its territory—including present-day California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming—to the United States for …

U.S. Senate Mexico Mexican Americans U.S. government Anglo settlers treaty-guadalupe-hidalgo land-theft mexican-american-war treaty-violation institutional-corruption +1 more