Abstract
For generations, Mexicans and American Indians ritualistically and reciprocally took captives from one another's societies throughout what are today the US–Mexico borderlands. Many of these captivities originated on what had become US territory by 1848. Yet no law expressly duty-bound US officials to locate and liberate this class of captives. In this article, I argue that Article IX's liberty clause in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848) could have been used by federal authorities as the basis for a territorial liberation program. I believe federal authorities were reluctant to make use of Article IX as a liberating tool because this type of program had political implications for black slavery in the South and because racial asymmetries in the enforcement process devalued non-white captives.
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