Private Land Claims in the Southwestby J.J. Bowden Table of Contents Preface The Southwest was settled with Spanish subjects emigrating northward from the interior of Mexico contemporaneous with the colonization of the Atlantic seaboard by the English. A liberal land grant policy was necessary to induce emigrants to move to the hostile and arid frontiers of New Spain. Therefore, most of the desirable land had been appropriated under grants from the Spanish and Mexican governments by 1843. The United States was presented with a formidable challenge under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and Gadsden Treaty to investigate the claims presented … Continue reading Bowden