This index to the Despatches from U.S. Ministers to Mexico, 1823-1906, collection provides the dates each reel covers. Government Information MAY NOT hold all of these reels. The record in the library catalog describes the extent of our holdings. For help, or to make an appointment to view a reel, email rad@colorado.edu
In this microcopy are reproduced 185 volumes that consist, for the most part, of dispatches addressed to the Department of State by United States diplomatic representatives to Mexico between March 15, 1823, and August 11, 1906.
On Roll 1 of this microfilm publication are reproduced selected pages from 13 State Department registers of correspondence. Together these pages comprise a register, which to some extent serves as a calendar, of despatches from Mexico from March 15, 1823, to December 22, 1906, the despatches and communications after August 11, 1906, are filed in the new subject series begun at that time and so are not included in this microfilm publication.
Most of the communications are original numbered despatches and many of them are accompanied by enclosures. Among the subjects dealt with in these despatches are claims made by United States citizens against the Mexican Government on charges of illegal treatment of their persons and by United States mining and commercial companies for seizure of their property; the problems arising from the independence of Texas, its subsequent annexation by the United States, and the war between Mexico and the United States; the French occupation and the brief reign of Emperor Maximilian, as well as other instances of European intervention and influence in Mexico; raids back and forth across the Mexican-United States boundary by Apaches, Comanches, and Kickapoos resident in both countries; cattle rushing, riots, and other forms of armed violence between the Spanish and Anglo-Saxon populations of the Rio Grande frontier; the activities of revolutionary forces in Mexico, mainly in the northern states; reports and analyses of the political, social and economic situation in Mexico; the work of the American and Mexican Joint Commission to settle boundary disputes between the two countries, especially those caused by the changing course of the Rio Grande; extradition of criminals; railroad construction and the linking of railroads in Mexico with those in the United States; treaties and agreements between the two countries, especially those caused by the disputes between the two countries, especially those caused by the changing course of the Rio Grande; extradition of criminals; railroad construction and the linking of rail roads in Mexico with those in the United States and Mexico; illegal entry of Chinese laborers into the United States via Mexico; Mexican participation in the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 1893; Mexican opinion during the Spanish- American War; and the obtaining of permission from the Mexican Government for the disinterment and removal to the United States of the remains of United States citizens buried in Mexico.
Apart from numbered despatches and enclosures, these volumes contain many unnumbered communications, some of which are marked "Private" or "Confidential." These unnumbered communications, more informal than despatches, may report official matters requiring secrecy or not fully covered in the despatches or may convey personal news, acknowledgments of appointments, announcements of arrival or departure, and bills of official expenses. The volumes also contain occasional telegrams or cables which are not numbered, communications from private citizens and White House officials, and memoranda prepared by State Department officials.
Joel Robert Poinsett, who was commissioned Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Mexico on March 8, 1825, was the third to be appointed to and the first to serve in that post. Andrew Jackson had been commissioned with the same title on January 27, 1823, but he declined the appointment. About a year later Ninian Edwards was commissioned under the same title only to be instructed on April 24, 1824, not to proceed to his post.
Diplomatic relations were suspended during the Mexican War, but on April 15, 1847, Nicholas P. Trist was appointed Commissioner and empowered to conclude a treaty of peace with Mexico. His work resulted in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed on February 2, 1848. Ambrose H. Sevier and Nathan Clifford were appointed on March 14 and 18, 1848, as Commissioners to Mexico with the rank of Envoys Extraordinary and Ministers Plenipotentiary. They served jointly until Sevier's departure from Mexico City on June 4, 1848. Clifford was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary on July 28, 1848, and served in this capacity until September 6, 1849. The United States continued to maintain a Minister at Mexico City until January 3, 1899, at which time Powell Clayton presented his credentials as the first Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to Mexico.
The spreadsheet attached below contains a reel-by-reel description of the complete collection.