In response to your letter of November 14th, 1983 written by Joseph E. Fallon, our Kern County Basque Club held its first business meeting of the year, and 15 officers and Board of Directors were present. This is 100% attendance. We unanimously voted to publicly take a stand on H.R. Resolution 169 and we would like to see an amendment added to the Constitution declaring English as the legally recognized language of the U.S. We have very close to 500 members in our Club and many of them born in the Basque country either in France or Spain. We feel that they would also feel very strongly to support this resolution. If you could send me the addresses of Congressmen Shumway and Senator Huddleston, I would like to write them if it is not too late. We would appreciate receiving the latest developments of this Resolution, and also would like to know to whom else we could write to give more support.` Very sincerely yours, Mr. Marie & jribarren. Mrs. Marie J. Iribarren, Secretary During last June's hearings on the English Language Amendment, reference was made by our opponents to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Since no one had a copy of the treaty on hand, there was little that could be done at the moment to refute their statements about its contents. For some time now, a few Hispanics have claimed that the treaty guarantees the people of the annexed territories and their descendants the right to perpetual official use of their language. In fact, the treaty makes no mention of langenge rights. Perhaps even more interesting is Article IX, which addresses the assimilation of the people from the annexed territory to the United States. U.S.ENGLISH has decided to reproduce the text of the treaty -- a copy is enclosed. If it is appropriate, we request that a copy of the treaty be included in the official hearing record of June 12. Board of Directors: S. I. Hayakawa, Ph.D., Honorary Chairman; John Tanton, M.D., Chairman, Stanley Diamond, Leo Sorensen; Gerda Bikales, Executive Director PEACE, FRIENDSHIP, LIMITS, AND SETTLEMENT (Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo) US ENGLISH Reprinted by U.S.ENGLISH 1424 16th Street, Suite 714 Washington, DC 20036 PREFACE Nearly 140 years after its signing, the Treaty that ended the Mexican-American War in 1848 is routinely cited as the legal justification for the quasiofficial recognition of Spanish in the United States. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, we are told, guarantees the people of the annexed territories, and their descendants, the right to perpetual official use of their language. One encounters this assertion in indignant "Letters to the Editor" that denounce the imposition of American culture and of English, in defiance of the terms of the Treaty. One hears the claim repeated in the passionate oratory of Latino activists addressing their constituents. One sees it in Congressional testimony, presented by welleducated Hispanic leaders who really ought to know better. In discussions of America's gradual drift into bilingualism, the claim to Treaty-guaranteed language rights is more likely to be greeted by embarrassed silence than by questioning the accuracy of the claim. Few of us are very familiar with the details of this document, and even fewer will admit to it. Most of us have vague memories from high school history classes that the Mexican-American war fulfilled a young America's expansionist dreams of "manifest destiny". - a land that stretches across the continent from sea to sea. In the post-Vietnam era any allusion to it is sure to make us uneasy and timid, rather than disputatious and assertive. Thus the claim remains unchallenged, the untruth remains unexposed. The myth of entrenched Spanish language rights guaranteed in the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo has taken hold; the ignorant and the unscrupulous continue to spread it around. To help remedy this situation, we decided to make the full text of the Treaty readily available to all who care about the language future of the United States. The text reproduced here was obtained from the National Archives.' Those unfamiliar with it may be surprised to find that the Treaty makes for lively and interesting reading. We hope that its publication by U.S.ENGLISH will help to dispel the myth that the maintenance of the Spanish language in the American West and Southwest is a Treaty obligation incumbent upon all of us. We hope to renew the strength and confidence of the American people's conviction that English is indeed our public language-by tradition, by the imperatives of national unity, and by right. Gerda Bikales U.S.ENGLISH September 1984 In the name of Almighty God: The United States of America, and the United Mexican States, animated by a sincere desire to put an end to the calamities of the war which unhappily exists between the two Republics, and to establish upon a solid basis relations of peace and friendship, which shall confer reciprocal benefits upon the citizens of both, and assure the concord, harmony and mutual confidence, wherein the two Peoples should live, as good Neighbours, have for that purpose appointed their respective Plenipotentiaries: that is to say, the President of the United States has appointed Nicholas P. Trist, a citizen of the United States, and the President of the Mexican Republic has appointed Don Luis Gonzaga Cuevas, Don Bernardo Couto, and Don Miguel Atristain, citizens of the said Republic; who, after a reciprocal communication of their respective full powers, have, under the protection of Almighty God, the author of Peace, arranged, agreed upon, and signed the following of Almighty God, the author of Peace, arranged, agreed upon, and signed the following TREATY OF PEACE, FRIENDSHIP, LIMITS AND SETTLEMENT BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA AND THE MEXICAN REPUBLIC ARTICLE I There shall be firm and universal peace between the United States of America and the Mexican Republic, and between their respective Countries, territories, cities, towns and people, without exception of places or persons. ARTICLE II Immediately upon the signature of this Treaty, a convention shall be entered into between a Commissioner or Commissioners appointed by the General in Chief of the forces of the United States, and such as may be appointed by the Mexican Government, to the end that a provisional suspension of hostilities shall take place, and that, in the places occupied by the said forces, constitutional order may be reestablished, as regards the political, administrative and judicial branches, so far as this shall be permitted by the circumstances of military occupation.6 ARTICLE III Immediately upon the ratification of the present treaty by the Government of the United States, orders shall be transmitted to the Commanders of their land and naval forces, requiring the latter (provided this Treaty shall then have been ratified by the Government of the Mexican Republic and the ratifications exchanged)" immediately to desist from blockading any Mexican ports; and requiring the former (under the same condition) to commence, at the earliest moment practicable, withdrawing all troops of the United States then in the interior of the Mexican Republic, to points, that shall be selected by common agreement, at a distance from the sea-ports, not exceeding thirty leagues; and such evacuation of the interior of the Republic shall be completed with the least possible delay: the Mexican Government hereby binding itself to afford every facility in it's power for rendering the same convenient to the troops, on their march and in their new positions, and for promoting a good understanding between them and the inhabitants. In like manner, orders shall be despatched to the persons in charge of the custom houses at all ports occupied by the forces of the United States, requiring them (under the same condition) immediately to deliver possession of the same to the persons authorized by the Mexican Government to receive it, together with all bonds and evidences of debt for duties on importations and on exportations, not yet fallen due. Moreover, a faithful and exact account shall be made out, showing the entire amount of all duties on imports and on exports, collected at such Custom Houses, or elsewhere in Mexico, by authority of the United States, from and after the day of ratification of this Treaty by the Government of the Mexican Republic; and also an account of the cost of collection; and such entire amount, deducting only the cost of collection, shall be delivered to the Mexican Government, at the City of Mexico, within three months after the exchange of ratifications. The evacuation of the Capital of the Mexican Republic by the Troops of the United States, in virtue of the above stipulation, shall be completed in one month after the orders there stipulated for shall have been received by the commander of said troops, or sooner if possible. ARTICLE IV Immediately after the exchange of ratifications of the present treaty, all castles, forts, territories, places and possessions, which have been taken or occupied by the forces of the United States during |