Joseph Richard Werne examines in great detail the Joint United States and Mexican Boundary Commission’s survey of the international line as concluded in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. First, utilizing extensive U.S. and newly available Mexican archival sources, Werne challenges interpretations that have credited the U.S. surveyors as primarily responsible for completing the international line. Instead Werne redirects attention to the long-neglected Mexican Boundary Commission to successfully argue that the effort was a partnership. Second, Werne attempts to demonstrate how the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo’s failure to settle the boundary question led to the Gadsden Treaty. According to Werne, while the new border between the two countries was clear to the treaty negotiators, it was actually vague enough that it “brought forth a controversy so perplexing that only an entirely new treaty could resolve the matter” (p. xiii).
The members of the Joint United States and Mexican Boundary Commission met...
