United States. Secretary of State Buchanan delivers to President Polk the peace treaty with Mexico negotiated by clerk Nicholas Trist. Trist had skillfully negotiated the treaty, taking advantage of a favorable economic climate and obtaining California, Arizona, and New Mexico for the United States. Polk, however, is dissatisfied because he also wanted Baja California, and Trist is promptly fired, ending his career; he is also denied his back pay, which will not be paid until decades later.
