The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was the agreement that ended the war between Mexico and the United States in 1848, but the organization that brought the treaty to Tucson feels that the conflicts are not over.
Amistades, Inc., a local drug prevention program geared toward the Latino community, spent two years trying to bring the pages of the document to town. When an offer to house the treaty came from University of Arizona President Robert Shelton, Amistades knew that the Arizona State Museum on the university campus was the perfect place to showcase the treaty.
“It’s a dialogue that every community should be having,” said Claudia Jasso-Stevens, community development consultant for Amistades. “We should be embracing the history and the culture together.”
Amistades believes embracing culture is essential to drug prevention among Latinos. The organization holds an annual dinner on Feb. 2, the anniversary of the signing of the treaty, which includes a discussion about Mexican-American culture.
“It began as a platform to talk about substance abuse in the community and solutions to these problems,” said Jasso-Stevens. “Then we started to have dialogue about bringing the treaty out to Tucson.”
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo has never been to Tucson. The five pages that Amistades funded to bring here mark a historic moment in American, Latino and the Tucson culture.
“It’s a key document in our history but most people don’t know about it,” said Michael Brescia, head of research and associate curator for the Arizona State Museum. “Most people know about the Declaration of Independence, but don’t know about this.”
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo marked a change in Mexican and American history. After two years of war, America signed the treaty acquiring California, New Mexico, Arizona, Texas and parts of Nevada, Colorado and Utah from Mexico.
“It is the culmination of manifest destiny,” said Brescia. “The acquiring is an essential part of our history, and Mexico lost half of their territory. We appreciate the larger context of Mexican and American history.”
Amistades raised the money to bring the treaty to Tucson through fundraising and help from donors.
“We have gone to all kinds of organizations throughout Arizona letting them know how excited we are to bring this treaty here and how important it is to Arizona,” said María Federico Brummer, public relations chair for Amistades. “We even did grassroots things like setting up in front of Walgreens and selling raffle tickets.”
The sticker price from the National Archives, which usually houses the entire treaty, was about $50,000. The price includes travel costs for the treaty, security, a special case for housing the treaty at the museum and the loan for the treaty itself.
Amistades linked up with US Rep. Raul Grijalva, who contacted the National Achieves, to send the treaty to the Arizona State Museum.
Amistades thought the treaty was important for Tucsonans now more than ever because of the current cultural tensions between the U.S. and Mexico.
“The treaty [pages] includes immigration,” said Brummer. “Just overnight this land turned into another country. We as people try to migrate to where we can, have our families and our lives be more comfortable. It is very important to be talking about these issues right now, because it is happening right now.”
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo will be at the Arizona State Museum through Feb. 28, and afterward it will return to Washington D.C. The museum and Amistades are conducting several activities throughout the month to commemorate the treaty.
“It is about achieving a better understanding from where we come from and where we are going, not just to Arizona but to all the states,” said Jasso-Stevens.
