New Mexico Case Study

In chapter three, Menchaca discussed the Northern migration of the Spanish, Mestizo, Indian, and afromestizo population to the southwest region of the United States. After the fall of the Aztec empire, the Spanish conquistadors were interested in conquering new lands to the north and south. The Spanish had their eyes on possessing land near the northern region between the Valley of Mexico and present United States border, that they called the Gran Chichimeca (land of uncivilized dogs). This land was inhabited by various native Indians tribes. The Spanish wanted to vanquish the Chichimeca villages because they were considered a military problem and prevented the Spaniard’s movement of the North. The Spanish took action and began a series of

The main reason for the Spanish settlers came to California was to consolidate the Spanish Empire. As usual by that time, the conquer procedures of a region where, take control of the Indians, convert them to Catholicism, and used Indian labor. To accomplish their purpose, a mission system was created. A total of 21 missions was built along the coast line of California, and with them, a nightmare for the American Indians.

In this paper, I will be summarizing the following chapters: Chapter 3: "A Legacy of Hate: The Conquest of Mexico’s Northwest”; Chapter 4: “Remember the Alamo: The Colonization of Texas”; and Chapter 5: “Freedom in a Cage: The Colonization of New Mexico. All three chapters are from the book, “Occupied America, A History of Chicanos” by Rodolfo F. Acuna. In chapter three, Acuna explains the causes of the war between Mexico and North America. In chapter four, Acuna explains the colonization of Texas and how Mexicans migrated from Mexico to Texas. In chapter five, Acuna explains the colonization of New Mexico and the economic changes that the people had to go through.

Any student of history has come to recognize the fact that history is written by the victor and in lieu of this, research becomes essential to uncover where the truth lies. The True History of the Conquest of New Spain, so ironically named, is a personal account for historical events leading up to the conquest of New Spain, formerly known as the City of Mexico. The author, Bernal Diaz, was a soldier of the conquering army who composed the document well after the events took place sometime between 1552 and 1557. Though the document did provide insight in regards to the victor’s perspective, it also served as a tool to rewrite the account of the conquered people.

     Later that day, there were uprisings in many of the pueblos, but the capital of Santa Fe was not attacked yet. On August 14, 500 Indians marched on Santa Fe. The governor tried to negotiate with the Indians before they attacked, but it failed and the next morning the Spaniard attacked the Indians. The Indians were driven from their position and fled to the foothills, until Indian reinforcements put them back in position to attack Santa Fe.

Knowing that the Texans were not obeying Mexico’s laws, the Mexican President sent Antonio López de Santa Anna to fight and stop the revolting Texans. “Santa Anna gained his earliest military experience fighting for the Spanish army

Another speculated cause was that the Anglo-Americans that lived there refused to conform to the Mexican rules and laws. Most were protestant and therefore refused to convert to Catholicism. They also refused to pay their duties to the government and did not support troop

Thousands of Americans, who changed citizenship and received large tracts of land from the Mexican government, rebelled in Texas in 1835 for several reasons, including Mexico’s abolition of the locally popular Texas provincial government and its inability to

The Mexican government were seen as not knowing what they were doing, especially after them gaining independence from Spain in 1821 because the Mexican leaders lacked experience in politics, on top of being a nation that had deep-rooted connection to Spain’s ideologies rather than that of their own. While the United States thrived from the time of its colonial origins, for Mexico to modernize after gaining independence meant breaking its structures, destroying old institutions and building new ones whilst juggling an aggressive neighbor who eagerly sought more land. By putting into context the origin of the soon-to-be-at-war states, it is easier to comprehend why holding aggressive nationalistic behavior was the norm with the United States when they decided to take on its southern neighbor as the state’s population started to expand increasingly. The origins of the United States shows the attitude of “us versus them”, where Mexico’s top officials and administration were seen as incompetent and trickled down to its

     Along with the desire of new land, there were other contributing factors that initiated the war with Mexico. There were also political and economical factors that were as equally important in the start of the war. With most of the Mexican land below the 34o30` line, the Democrats and the southern states were pushing for the war. With the increased amount of representatives for the southern states, there would finally be a tiebreaker in the free-slave argument. Without saying, the Whigs of the northern states were opposed to the

Discuss the motivations from both sides for the Mexican-American war of 1846-1848? Was Manifest Destiny the driving factor or was it something else?

The Spanish had been expanding their influence in the new world by conquering the empires and peoples. Soon they would extend northward continuing to claim new land thereby building New Spain. Starting in 1540 the Spanish moved into what would become New Mexico. With the Spanish expansion came soldiers, missionaries, and settlers. These movements would lead to a confrontation between the Pueblo people and the Spaniards known as the “Tiguex War.” The "Tiguex War" was spearheaded by occurred during the winter of 1540-41. Leading the Spaniard troops was Francisco Vásquez de Coronado. The Spanish attacked the 12 tribes of the region leading to a further breakdown of Native and Spanish relations that would continue until 1598. Juan De Onate led a force of over 100 soldiers women children and Priests into the Rio Grande Valley attempting to start a Spanish settlement. The establishment of this new settlement soon leads to another revolt between the Pueblo and the Spaniards. This rebellion is known as the "Tacoma Massacre." Under the command of Juan De Onate, the Spanish soldiers killed and enslaved hundreds of Natives. Onate also ordered the right foot to be removed from the 24

While only being in this position for less than five years, Juarez was elected by the city as a liberal deputy to the federal legislator in 1835. During his time serving the people of Mexico with this leadership role, Juarez was known to be somewhat of a “noble man” (370). From studying Juarez, and understanding the impact he had during his time of serving, it was evident to see that the majority of people he served believed that he was very intelligent, and trusted that Juarez was the hope for change for the struggling improvised Indian communities—with their disadvantage of not being able to protect their landholdings. As explained in the readings (“Encyclopedia of Latin American History” 51) Juarez was elected into the state legislation, in the year of 1833. These years of life were very significant to Juarez as it emphasizes his vast progression throughout a short amount of time leading up to his running of the office.

In 1775, after working under Alejandro O’Reilly a captain of infantry and fought against “…the Algiers, he was promoted to a lieutenant colonel of Louisiana regiment and after 2 years he was promoted to governor” (Thonhoff, 2017). He proved he was a man of his word and with his years of military experience, he was titled governor of Spanish Louisiana in 1776, which was given to Spain in secret by France after the Seven Years War. As the governor of Spanish Louisiana in the New Spain, he had a lot of responsibilities such as building a friendship with the Indians, dealing with smuggling during the American Revolution, and if there was a chance of war with Great Britain than he would need to win to get Florida from the English. He made sure it was the right time to do so because he had a limited amount of soldiers during the time.

The French, even though being a super military power, struggled at the beginning to take under control the Mexican territory. The three European forces arrived at the Mexican port of Veracruz with the plans of negotiating their claims to be returned, but it came clear to Spain and Britain what the French intentions always were. Napoleon III had plans of