Mexico ceded its northern territories to the U.S. under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo including all or parts of modern California , New Mexico , Arizona , Nevada , Utah , and Colorado Many property rights arising under Spanish and Mexican land grants were not recognized by the United States. These land loss statistics can be attributed, in significant part, to the fact that the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was not regarded as self- executing. As a result, Mexican property rights were not ratified by the treaty itself but had to await congressional action for their confirmation. That legislation, in turn, required Mexican landowners to assume the burden of proving the validity of their titles and to negotiate a maze of legal requirements implemented by a system and in a language that were foreign to them. Even confirmed land grants, moreover, were subsequently lost due to the enormous costs of litigation.
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