5 Borderlands/Mexican American War
I am me
UCDImmigrationOLWk5BorderlandMexAmWar.pptxThe Southwest Borderlands
Week 5 On-line
This painting (circa 1872) by John Gast called American Progress, is an allegorical representation of the modernization of the new west. Here Columbia, a personification of the United States, leads civilization westward with American settlers, stringing telegraph wire as she sweeps west;
she holds a school book. The different stages of economic activity of the pioneers are highlighted and, especially, the changing forms of transportation.
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Effects of immigration
Immigration during the first five years of the 1850s reached a level five times greater than a decade earlier. Most of the new arrivals were poor Catholic peasants or laborers from Ireland and Germany who crowded into the tenements of large cities. Crime and welfare costs soared. Cincinnati's crime rate, for example, tripled between 1846 and 1853 and its murder rate increased sevenfold. Boston's expenditures for poor relief rose threefold during the same period.
Nativism
Although immigration resulted in urban development and an increase in manufacturing, some native-born Americans feared the newcomers were ruining their society
They were thought not to have an understanding of American republicanism
They thought America should be homogeneous (although it was diverse from the start)
Roman Catholics were discriminated against the most
This was due to fear of the Pope’s power over them would prevent then from full participation as citizens
American Party/Know-Nothings
1845-1860
Ideology: Nativism, anti-Catholicism, temperance, republicanism, Protestantism
promised to purify American politics by limiting or ending the influence of Irish Catholics and other immigrants
The origin of the "Know Nothing" term was in the semi-secret organization of the party. When a member was asked about its activities, he was supposed to reply, "I know nothing.”
Manifest Destiny---a phrase coined in 1845, expressed the belief that the US was destined, by God to expand its dominion and spread democracy and capitalism across all of the North American continent.
This painting (circa 1872) by John Gast called American Progress, is an allegorical representation of the modernization of the new west. Here Columbia, a personification of the United States, leads civilization westward with American settlers, stringing telegraph wire as she sweeps west;
she holds a school book. The different stages of economic activity of the pioneers are highlighted and, especially, the changing forms of transportation.
Louisiana Purchase
High birth rate and immigration ---US population exploded in first half of the 19thc from 5 million in 1800 to more than 23 by 1850
This drove Americans to the West
Definition of Borderlands
Cross-cultural exchange, conflict and change along shifting lines of power.
Dynamics of a contact zone that overlaps with the jurisdiction of the nation-state.
Two or more cultures meet, mix, and struggle, creating a hybrid social world that spans formal borders.
Southwest Borderlands Predated both US and Mexico
New Spain est. trade, mission and military presence
Not large numbers so est an uneasy balance of power
Cultural exchange, intermarriage, sometime violent interactions
James Brooks—discusses captive taking and trading---of women and children---between Indians and Euro-Americans New Mexico 17thc-mid-19th c
James Brooks: “Negotiating Captivity in the New Mexico Borderlands”
“Greater New Mexico was a “non-dominant frontier” [borderland] in which neither colonial New Mexicans nor the numerically superior indigenous peoples proved able (or willing) to dominate or eject the other completely/”
This article looks at the role captive women played in “promoting conflict and accommodation between colonial Spanish (and later Mexican) society and the indigenous people of greater New Mexico.”
During the Spanish and Mexican periods (c. 1600-1847), thousands of Indian and hundreds of Spanish women and children "crossed cultures" through the workings of a captive-exchange system that knit diverse communities into vital, and violent, webs of interdependence
Mexican Texas 1821-1836
Mexico wins independence from Spain in 1821
Encourages American settlers to protect from Indian incursions
By early 1830s American-born “Texians” many slave-owning cotton planters from South outnumber Mexicans by more than 3 to 1
David Montejano—article describes how Anglos established political and economic control over Mexicans in Texas; borderlands become more fixed and control goes to Anglos through in-migration and taking of land
The Anglos went to war with Mexico when it tried to restrict slavery and additional immigration
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Map of the regions of the First Mexican Empire, 1821
Stephen Fuller Austin
Born in Virginia
Brought 300 families to Texas
Texas Revolution 1836-creates Republic of Texas
The REPUBLIC OF TEXAS
Proclaimed an independent republic in 1836
Asked for admission to the U.S. as a slave state
American destiny called “Manifest Destiny”—says US continental expansion is God’s will
Existed from March 2, 1836, to February 19, 1846
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Library of Congress
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Mexican–American War
The Mexican–American War, also known as the Invasion of Mexico and the U.S. Intervention was an armed conflict between the US and Mexico from 1846 to 1848 in the wake of the 1845 U.S. annexation of Texas which Mexico considered part of its territory despite the 1836 annexation of Texas
What’s In a Name?
The Mexican–American War, also known as the Invasion of Mexico and the U.S. Intervention was an armed conflict between the US and Mexico from 1846 to 1848 in the wake of the 1845 U.S. annexation of Texas which Mexico considered part of its territory despite the 1836 annexation of Texas
In Mexico, terminology for the war includes primera intervención estadounidense en México (United States' First Intervention in Mexico), invasión estadounidense a México (United States' Invasion of Mexico)
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Specified the major consequence of the war:
a) the forced Mexican cession of the territories of Alta California and New Mexico to the United States in exchange for $15 million.
b)United States assumed $3.25 million of debt owed by the Mexican government to U.S. citizens.
c) Mexico accepted the loss of Texas and thereafter cited the Rio Grande as its national border.
A caricature of Democratic candidate Lewis Cass, a general in the War of 1812, suggesting that his expansionist leanings would lead the United States into war. Cass (dubbed "General Gas" by the unfriendly press) is pictured as a veritable war machine. He sits on a wheeled gun-carriage, with his various limbs and body parts in the form of cannon shells and barrels shooting "gas" and shot. Over his head he waves a bloody saber labeled "Manifest Destiny," while reciting, "New Mexico, California, Chihuahua, Zacatecas, MEXICO, Peru, Yucatan, Cuba." These reflect, with some exaggeration, Cass's ambitious agenda for territorial expansion in the wake of American victory in the Mexican War. In his left hand he holds a spear.
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http://www.common-place.org/vol-09/no-01/edling/ See article.
A political cartoon concerning the monetary proposal for peace between President Polk and General Paredes of Mexico during the Mexican American War. Polk and secretary of the treasury Robert J. Walker fire "Secret Service Money, $2,000,000" across the Rio Grande from the "U.S.A. Peacemaker" cannon. The coins fill the large money bag, "Mexican Sub Treasury," held by the wide-eyed Paredes. King Luis Phillippe of France and Queen Victoria witness the scene. The suspicious Louis Phillippe fears the expansionist "Yankees" and exclaims, "I shall send a fleet of observation to the Gulf at once!" Victoria begrudges the United States' possession of California and offers to act as mediator to "Friend Polk." Polk declines the offer, sneers about foreign involvement, and asks for more "ammunition" from Walker. Walker, kneeling by the filled "U.S. Treasury" chest, gleefully complies and boasts about the infinite bounty from his "free trade measures and sub-treasury system." "Mediation and Pacification," lithograph by H. R. Robinson [Edward Williams Clay, signed on stone], 26.8 x 39.6 cm (New York, 1850). Courtesy of the American Political Cartoon Collection at the American Antiquarian Society, Worcester,
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Feb. 2, 1848 - Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo Results in United States Acquiring Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, California, and Parts of Utah and Nevada
Ends the Mexican-American war.
The US acquires Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, California and parts of Utah and Nevada
80,000 Mexican citizens living the territory are allowed to remain and given citizenship
By 1849 in California, the English-speaking population was 100K compared to 13 K of Mexican descent
Ceded approx half of Mexico’s territory ---California, Arizona, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Colorado to the US
Immigration Issues in the Borderlands
The people of Mexican descent in the borderlands do not consider themselves immigrants, rather they say “We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed us.”
In the late 19th century, a new stream of migrants crossed the border from Mexico and that has continued through today
Until the late 20thc over 80% of ethnic Mexicans in the US would continue to reside in the Southwest and California
Gadsden Purchase 1853
The remainder (the southern parts) of New Mexico and Arizona were peacefully purchased under Gadsden Purchase, which was carried out in 1853. In this purchase the United States paid an additional $10 million (equivalent to $280 million today), for land intended to accommodate a transcontinental railroad.
