Background
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War (1846-1848). Mexico ceded approximately 525,000 square miles of territory to the United States — including all of present-day California. The treaty was signed on February 2, 1848 and ratified by the Senate on March 10, 1848.
At the time of cession, California was home to an estimated 150,000 Native people representing dozens of distinct tribal nations — including the Pomo, Wailaki, Yuki, and other peoples of the Mendocino region. Under Mexican law, California Indians had been nominally citizens with certain protections (though these were poorly enforced).
When the United States acquired California, it assumed a federal trust obligation toward these Indian nations — an obligation rooted in both the treaty itself and in established federal Indian law (Cherokee Nation, Worcester).
Article XI — The Indian Provision
Article XI (excerpt):
"Considering that a great part of the territories which, by the present Treaty, are to be comprehended for the future within the limits of the United States, is now occupied by savage tribes, who will hereafter be under the exclusive control of the Government of the United States, and whose incursions within the territory of Mexico would be prejudicial in the extreme; it is solemnly agreed that all such incursions shall be forcibly restrained by the Government of the United States..."
Article XI used the language of its era ("savage tribes") but established a critical legal principle: the Indian nations in ceded territory would be "under the exclusive control of the Government of the United States." This is an international treaty commitment that the federal government — not the states — would be responsible for Indian affairs in the ceded territory, including California.
What Happened Next in California
- 1848: Gold discovered at Sutter's Mill. Gold Rush begins.
- 1850: California admitted as a state. California passes the "Act for the Government and Protection of Indians" — which legalized indentured servitude, kidnapping, and killing of Indians.
- 1851-52: Federal commissioners negotiate 18 treaties with California tribes, promising 7.5 million acres of reservation land. The California Senate delegation secretly blocks ratification. The treaties are hidden in Senate archives for 50 years.
- 1856: Mendocino Indian Reservation established by federal action — one of several executive-order reservations created to fulfill the federal obligation to California Indians.
- 1850-1870: California Indian population drops from 150,000 to approximately 30,000 — an 80% decline through violence, disease, starvation, and displacement.
How This Treaty Supports ATN's Claims
- 1. Federal — not state — authority over California Indians. Article XI established that Indian nations in ceded territory are "under the exclusive control" of the federal government. California's P.L. 280 assumption contradicts this foundational commitment.
- 2. Treaty-level obligation. The U.S. obligation to California Indians is not merely statutory — it's rooted in an international treaty with constitutional supremacy (Article VI). This is a higher authority than P.L. 280.
- 3. The unratified treaties prove federal recognition. The 18 unratified treaties of 1851-52 — though never ratified — prove that the federal government recognized California tribes as treaty-eligible sovereign nations. This evidence supports Carcieri's "under federal jurisdiction in 1934" requirement.
- 4. Mendocino Reservation fulfills the treaty obligation. The 1856 establishment of the Mendocino Indian Reservation was a direct exercise of the federal trust obligation assumed under Guadalupe Hidalgo. The reservation is the physical manifestation of a treaty commitment.
- 5. Charming Betsy canon. Under Murray v. Charming Betsy (1804), federal statutes must be construed consistently with international obligations. P.L. 280 should be read narrowly to avoid conflict with the U.S.'s Guadalupe Hidalgo obligations to California Indians.
Related Authorities
- Donnelly v. United States (1913) — California executive-order reservations are Indian Country
- Murray v. Charming Betsy (1804) — Statutes construed consistently with international law
- Carcieri v. Salazar (2009) — "Under federal jurisdiction in 1934" — unratified treaties as evidence
- Rancheria Act & Tillie Hardwick — Later California-specific betrayal and restoration
- Indian Removal Act (1830) — The contemporaneous federal policy toward eastern tribes
- UNDRIP (2010) — Modern international framework for indigenous rights