The Ethnicity of Mexians in the United States
For centuries, Mexican Americans have dealt with an enormous amount of hardships that date back to their early Aztec roots. The source of many problems in Mexican American history can be traced in the pre-colonial period, before the United States of America was even conceived. Major problems of this era in history not only affected the Aztecs, but also the following generations of Aztec and Mexican descent, and continue to have an impact on their descendents in contemporary American society.
Beginning in the fifteenth century with the arrival of Columbus, natives of the Americas were infected with European diseases that proved to be deadly to the Indians. The population in northern Mexico
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By the mid-nineteenth century, the United States had developed into a significant threat towards the occupants of the southwest; manifest destiny had begun to sweep the land. The United States would proceed to conquer the same lands that the Spaniards had conquered from the natives only years before. Upon acquiring these lands, the United States also attained the issue of how the people who lived there should be treated. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 1848 offered a solution to the problem. In the treaty, the United States officialized the land transfer from Mexico to the United States, paid Mexico for the land, established boundaries between the two countries, and granted citizenship and land property rights to the Mexicans living in the newly acquired lands. Although the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo guaranteed "the enjoyment of all the rights of citizens of the United States according to the principles of the Constitution" (139) to the Mexicans in the newly acquired territories, the sincerity conveyed in the treaty is questionable. Failure to uphold these promises resulted in the Chicano Rights Movements of the twentieth century.
In the years following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the Mexicans who had been granted citizenship and property rights did not receive all that had been
In Harvest of Empire’s “Mexicans: Pioneers of a Different Type” Juan Gonzalez outlines how Mexican descendants contributed to U.S. prosperity and culture. Gonzalez’s assertion is that the Mexicans and their culture have been in the United States long before the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the establishment of settlements and trade along the Rio Grande by Mexican pioneers, and the important factor Mexican-American workforce had in the nation. He supports his argument using historical records, individual’s stories and local papers. Respectively, Gonzales provides information that Mexicans greatly affected the economic uprising and culture of United States across the border.
The Mexican people were forced into war over the possession and border of Texas and eventually lost Texas. Then American settlers moved into New Mexico and California, where they revolted with support from the American government. Mexico lost Texas and got paid a minimal amount for California and New Mexico. Missouri was made a slave state in the Missouri Compromise and in the Compromise of 1850 Texas was made a leave state to counterbalance the non-slave states. Overall the Native Americans took the biggest hit from westward expansion. They were driven off their land by settlers, and even the government. President Jackson ordered the Indian removal act in 1830 resulting in the trail of tears where many Native Americans were moved from their land. They were placed onto land reservations where, according to H. Riley, the “[Native Americans] could not hunt buffalo… and were instead provided with supplies of beef… from the government” (Westward Expansion). The Native American’s culture and tradition were torn away from them along with their land and they were no longer to live how they had and wanted to. All because of two reasons, to provide more land, and to avoid
The U. S. then proceeded to divide up this land, but settlers could not buy any of it until 1788. Many Americans became restless and decided to go in and settle these lands illegally, not honoring their treaty with the Indians.
Mexican American struggles in the United States date back to the Spanish discovery of the New World in 1492. For over five hundred years, Mexicans have endured social injustices and inequalities at the hands of their superiors. The mistreatment of the native people of this land is constantly overlooked for "…the
The Mexican American war was the fight for land that was the U.S. calling of Manifest Destiny. The idea of land conquest and growth towards the west coast. The company History, in the article Mexican-American War, says lands that were fought over were including nearly all of present day California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico. This land was obviously lost, or sold from the hands of the Mexicans leading towards raised tensions between America and Mexico. Now fast forward to the early 1900s were there can be seen large boom immigration of Mexicans into the United States. These immigrants came to the United states with aspirations to make better living then how they were in Mexico. At first it was great opportunity for Latinos to enter the United States to earn a better life, that is though, until farm businesses decided to exploit these illegal, undocumented, Latinos for personal benefits and gains. Around the 1940s major farm companies that covered most of west coast hired undocumented Latinos as farm labor. They paid these farm laborers close to nothing in order to offset more of there costs, to gain more money. The abuse of these migrant workers was sickening with labor intensive work to just only be compensated for pennies on the dollar. The big farm business knew that they were taking advantage of these people trying to make a better, but do not bat an eye because all they cared about is making more money.This was called at the time “legal slavery”, due to the illegal immigrants having no legal citizenship, henceforth having no rights. Latinos were suppressed in society being discriminated and seen as only cheap labor. In the book by Lopez, Ian Haney., White By Law: The Legal Construction of Race, it talks about the ways that that big farm companies took advantage of undocumented illegal farm workers, from paying low wages because they did not fall under U.S. citizens, meaning
From 1846 to 1848, the United States and Mexico fought a brutal war that ended with near 45,000 casualties. The casualties include all of the people who were wounded or had died because of the war. While they attempted to expand their country, the United States unjustly stole land from Mexico. Texas was still a part of Mexico, according to both the people who lived there and many of the people who lived in the Northern states, so they should not have been able to apply for statehood. The Americans also began to trespass along the land that was owned by Mexico, so the people who lived there needed to defend it. Finally, the Americans believed in Manifest Destiny; if the people of America were allowed all of that land, why wouldn’t the people
For several years, the inhabitants of our country were taken advantage of, trade inhabitants d into slavery, victims of killings and singled out by the immigrants who sought entitlements of their territories. Before any European or Spanish authority stepped foot on American coasts, the inhabitants already had their origins rooted in the soil of what was to become the United States of America. Different from the immigrants, the occupants did not have the same approach to declaring and take control of the land. They were seekers who were watchful of the land they were occupants of and deemed themselves equivalents of any, and anything that occupied the area. They pictured the land as open for those who wanted to live there. They were also well
Through the ratification of The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo on March 10, 1848 by the United States, the war between the U.S. and Mexico came to an end. However, it can be argued that the legacy and aftermath of this treaty at the end of the war has had consequences that are still felt to this day. Issues of race, culture, and social political status continue and although diplomatic peace may have occurred the legal, cultural and physical violence continued. In this document, we will review the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, its provisions and method of enforcement for land rights, citizenship, and violence that targeted the Spanish speaking inhabitants of the land in question.
Juan Cortina, who operated a ranch near Brownsville, believed Tejanos were being treated unfairly. He argued that some Anglo Americans had taken land from Tejanos who were unfamiliar with the U.S court system. The author supports his argument by giving specific dates, citations, and links to
The Mexican citizen did not leave their land or country to go to the United States, the American citizens invaded their land through the American-Mexican war and took control of part of the Mexican territory. Mexicans were forced to became citizens of the U.S., the abolitionist Frederick Douglass stated : "They have succeeded in robbing Mexico of her territory, and are rejoicing over their success under the hypocritical pretense if a regard for peace." (Fraser 320). As a result of the American conquest in the Mexico City, New Mexico, and California, many of them lost their land and lives fighting against the Americans in the war, approximately 90,000 Mexican became a new citizens in the U.S.
When people tell Mexicans to go home, they are ignorant of the history of Mexico’s lands, and Americas forceful overtaking of the nation. Prior to the Mexican American war, most of Mexico controlled the land known as the Mexican Cession. However, after their independence from Spain in1821 through 1846 the U.S. took control of Mexico and California during the Mexican-American War. The U.S. and Spain set the United States Of America Boundary in 1821 and in which Mexico Ratified in 1831. Moreover, Taxes took the Rio Grande and what was north from the Rio Grande headwaters. Additionally, the southern boundary was made by the
These Northern sides were already colonized and occupied areas. The invaders were mostly looking for gold and land that they sought to obtain by all means. These people fixed their eyes to what is now known as Texas, and they stayed there, divided the Mexican land amongst themselves and enlarged their population. As a result, by the year 1835, there were more foreign settlers in Mexico than the original occupants. By 1836, the white settlers had already stolen the land, renamed it and called it the Republic of Texas (Greenberg & Shaffer, 2012). This theft of land is what has caused the war between America and Mexico for the first time and until the treaty of Guadalupe Hilaldo was signed; many lives had been lost as a result of the
During this time period, the United States and Mexico went to war for the land. The Mexicans allowed the Americans stay as long as the followed these rule: they must follow their Catholic Religion, have no slaves working on their land, and they must obey the Mexican rules at all times. The Americans followed this until more and more Americans started to live there and started to break their rules. The Mexicans did not like this at all and they want to make sure they have an agreement on still on this land. Was this the right thing to do or could have the Mexicans do something different? I will be explaining this in the next few paragraphs.
After Columbus sailed the blue ocean in fourteen hundred ninety-two, the New World encountered catastrophic epidemics from the European conquest. The spread of diseases between Europeans and Native Americans led to a demographic calamity. The earliest explorations from European countries introduced a plethora of diseases; these diseases hindered the Native’s population and way of life. Not only early explorations of European countries impacted the indigenous people, but the settlement and encounters with Europeans in the twentieth century did as well.
Which it was the arrangement between Mexico and Spain stating that Mexico will become an independent constitutional monarchy, and the catholic religion will maintain. Americans first began to arrive friendly to California, Arizona, Nevada, Kansas, and many other states, they adopted the lifestyle and lived peacefully and friendly with the Native Americans. Unfortunately, in 1845 president Polk came to office and everything changed. Polk was an expansionist, the amount of Americans coming to Mexico was increasing. This created the perfect excuse for Polk to come up with a plan. The United States declared war on Mexico. Mexico with no strong army and poor economic condition decided to accede and sell all the states to Polk. “The General Allotment Act was passed with the idea of Indians gaining back liberty, property, and power. In reality, the Allotment act forced them to live as whites and took ⅔ of land” (Covarrubias). This is in a way similar to the policies and treatments Spanish had toward Natives. Both Had a leader that arrived with a purpose but pretend to be people that will allow them to grow and have a better life when in reality they arrived to take all the peace and happiness of the Indians. On the other side, Spanish arrived with the idea of destroying everything and impose their own beliefs and lifestyles, and attack Indians right away with no compassion, compare to Americans many adapted and still