46th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2003

REQUESTING PARDONS BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES AND THE GOVERNOR OF NEW MEXICO FOR PEOPLE UNJUSTLY ACCUSED OF TREASON OR TREASONOUS ACTS IN NORTHERN NEW MEXICO IN DEFENSE OF LAND GRANTS.

WHEREAS, land grants were made in the internal provinces of the west, which included New Mexico, to Spanish settlers by the Spanish crown during the Spanish period, and land grants were made to Mexican settlers during the Mexican period; and

WHEREAS, land grants made by the Spanish crown to the settlers were made under applicable Spanish laws and these Spanish customs and traditions were assumed and enforced by Mexico, and Mexico also made new laws pertaining to land grants; and

WHEREAS, land grant laws required grantees to comply with certain conditions in order to keep their land, and one condition was that they were to defend it from the assault of foreign invaders; and

WHEREAS, an insurrection occurred against the American army of occupation in 1847 in northern New Mexico by the then defenders of their country, and many citizens in Taos, Mora and San Miguel counties were unjustly hanged for treasonous acts or for treason, and their towns destroyed and their land confiscated; and

WHEREAS, it was later found that these people could not legally be hanged for treason as they were not yet citizens of the United States, and their names still carry the stigma of committing a treasonous act; and

WHEREAS, on February 2, 1848, the United States assumed, assured and protected Spanish and Mexican land grant laws, customs and traditions under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and further clarified this protection under the Protocol of Queretaro, and the United States constitution and government further protected the land grants by various United States supreme court decisions; and

WHEREAS, the United States and Mexico jointly signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the Protocol of Queretaro and agreed to respect their provisions; and

WHEREAS, the descendants of the people hanged for treason need closure and justice for their ancestors; and

WHEREAS, the consequential loss to the descendants of the people hanged for treason resulted in extreme poverty for many, and all continue to bear the unwarranted stigma of treason; and

WHEREAS, the United States and New Mexico should rightfully clear the names of these so-called traitors, and the United States should compensate the families for the loss of their loved ones and the loss of their land; and

WHEREAS, new legal and historical information has been brought to light regarding the grave injustices and inadequate adjudications, which are today known as the treason trials of 1847; and

WHEREAS, the descendants of these brave defenders of their country in northern New Mexico have long wanted sufficient information and closure regarding the unjust acts perpetrated upon their ancestors;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the president of the United States and the governor of New Mexico be asked to pardon the people who were unjustly hanged in 1847 and to clear their names of all wrongdoing; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the United States reopen the cases and seek appropriate relief for the descendants of these people; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that appropriate memorials to these defenders of their country be erected in the towns of northern New Mexico where they were tried and unjustly convicted; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be sent to the president of the United States, the governor of New Mexico and members of the New Mexico congressional delegation.