In order to adequately explain modernization and colonialism, one must take into consideration some basic historical factors. The Mexican-American War took place in the years 1846 to 1848. As of result of this War, Mexico was forced to cede half of their land to the United States. The land Mexico ceded to the United States includes states such as California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, half of New Mexico, about a quarter of Colorado and a small section of Wyoming. The importance of this succession is that an estimated 75,000 Spanish-speaking people lived in the Southwest. The majority of these Spanish Speakers lived in New Mexico (60,000), followed by California (7,500), Texas (5000), Arizona, and Colorado (1,500) (Language Rights and New Mexico …show more content…
Hence, these upcoming activists urged for political, economic, and social equality. The fact that there was an increasing population of Mexican Americans being born in the United States led to a series of problems to Anglo-Americans. One question that was being raised was in regards to Mexican Americans knowing the English language and uplifting American values and still being rejected and considered “foreigners”. Mexican Americans questioned their roles in an American society that they began to demand recognition. Many Mexican Americans envisioned a society where they would be treated with respect. One example of such urgency for change can be seen in the conventional meeting that became known as The Congreso Mexicanista often referred to as El El Primer Congreso Mexicanista. This event took place on September 14 to the 22 of 1911 in Laredo, Texas. The meeting was proposed and organized by the Idar family, who owned and published La Cronica. The importance of this meeting is that it educated groups about the intolerable racism and brutality against Mexicans in South Texas. Jovita Idar made it her duty to promote the advancement of education, culture, and civil rights for Mexican Americans. Organizations such as the “La Gran Liga Mexicanista de Beneficencia y Proteccion” and “Liga Femenil Mexicanista” were established in the Congreso Mexicanista “to promote cultural and moral values among Texas Mexicans, provide protection from abuse by public authorities, and combat segregation of Texas Mexican students”( Congreso Mexicanista). Both established the motto “Por La Raza y Para La Raza”. The Congreso Mexicanista is the beginning of political activists like Jovita Idar combating Anglo American unjust treatment and
*Vargas, Zaragosa . "Major Problems in Mexican American History.." Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.. (2011): n. page. Print. .
The early years of colonial Mexico were a time of great change, as the native Indian populations were decimated by disease and increasingly dominated by the Spanish social and economic structure. Under the encomienda system, the initial flood of Spanish immigrants were provided with a support structure in New Spain, as the Indians’ land and labor were put at their disposal in exchange for moral guidance.[3] As Spain sought to reap the benefits of its new colony, the need for dependable labor in Mexico’s agr...
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.
Mexico, once home to ancient cultures like the Maya and Aztec which ruled vast territory expanding from present day South America all the way up north to present day western United States now reduced to roughly half its size. The cause of this dramatic loss of land was contributed to the expansion of the United States and secession of southern provinces, now Central America. The loss of land not only affected Mexico’s presence of power but also affected hundreds of thousands of native people. This was just the beginning of what would come to be known as the land struggle and the fight for land grants, something the United States government would not acknowledge nor recognize.
Mexico’s problems originally began upon the arrival of the Spanish in 1492, as illustrated in Major Problems in Mexican American History by Zaragosa Vargas as well as in the video documentary, Chicano!. The sequence of events which date back to the precolonial Spanish days and take place in Mexico’s history eventually provoke the national movement that called for social justice and equality, especially after the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. Then came the question of group and individual identity. Those of Mexican heritage were broken up into the groups "Chicanos," which were the ‘Americanized’ Mexicans or the Mexicans born in the United States, and the actual "Mexicans," who were the native born people which were discriminated against the most.
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 main goals shaping Spanish colonial policy were to maintain and expand political control and to convert Indians to Christianity." (Vargas p.30) With this mindset, the basic nature of relations between the dominant Anglos and the inferior Mexicans was that of suppression, rejection, ignorance and separation as opposed to establishment of ideals that would foster cultural relations and produce the true definition of a "melting pot" society.
I will begin to examine the Mexican American ethnic group, probing the historical circumstances that impelled them to come to America, focusing on the structure and functioning of their family life to determine or, at least, to raise clues about how and why they have been able or unable to maintain an ethnic identification over the generations, and take a brief look ahead to being to speculate what the future endeavors are for this ethnic group and their constitutive families.
After three hundred years of suffering and oppression by the Spanish crown, and inspired by the fire of revolution sweeping over the world in places such as United States and France, the Mexican population finally decided that they could endure no more, it was time for a change! In this essay I put together some of the various factors of Spanish colonialism that led to the Mexican independence. These factors were the socio political conditions of nueva españa, the enlightment era, as well as various leaders
The United States has always has been an oppressor of its neighboring countries, making any and all populations that stand in the way of what it wants an enemy. The U.S.-Mexican War was a violent and shattering event for Mexican citizens that lasted from 1846-1848. It drastically altered the course of Mexican and American history for years to come. Once the debilitating battle ended, the United States emerged a world power having acquired more than 500,000 square miles of valuable territory and Mexico spent years recovering from the loss of land and Mexican citizens. Ultimately, it was the “insatiable ambition of the United States, favored by [Mexican] weakness” that was the principle cause of the U.S.-Mexican War. This can be broken down into many potentially feasible explanations on the core causes; including, fault lying with American slaveholders in their support for the conquest of Mexico, the war as an American plot, and responsibility lying with President Polk of the United States. This paper discusses several of these concrete theories including Manifest Destiny, which is the belief that the U.S. has the right and responsibility to expand its borders outward, the unsettled disputes regarding the borders of newly annexed Texas, and the expansion of slavery.
...heightened sense of self and group identity. The term Chicano encouraged Mexican Americans to take pride and interest in their history of struggle in America. It is when dealing with this period in Mexican-American history that the documentary Chicano! steps in for Vargas, better explaining the movement that occurred. Mexican Americans distinguished themselves at home and abroad during World War II and worked toward political, educational, and social equality in the country they defended.
In February 2, 1848, the final armistice treaty Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed, through which the United States government got the access to entire area of California, Nevada, Utah plus some territory in Colorado, Arizona, New Mexico and Wyoming. As a compensation, the United States government paid 18.25 million dollars to Mexico.( Pecquet, Gary M., and C. F. Thies. 2010) However, apart from the death of people, Mexico lost half of its territory in this war, which initiate Mexican’s hostile towards American. In addition, after the Mexican-American war, there was an absence of national sense in Mexican, which had a negative effect on the unity and development of the country.
The European exploration and colonization resulted in commercial expansion of trade in agricultural products between Europe and America. In some time, colonization resulted in religious tolerance and representative government that have for several years encouraged similar developments in other countries. In addition, early European exploration led to redistribution of human populations as magnitude of people from Europe and Africa moved to America. Before the colonization and exploration period, the Native Americans had established a number of forms of social organization.
Mexican national culture slowly emerged from a process of accommodation between the indigenous cultures and the Spanish colonial domination that lasted three centuries. Mexico gained independence in 1821. In the nineteenth century, the formation of the national culture and polity remained a difficult task mainly due to political instability, military uprisings, and foreign invasions. During this time Mexico lost large portions of its original territory. Most important in this respect was the war with the United States between 1846 and 1848, which broke out when the United States attempted to annex independent Texas. The war...
The ethnic- Mexican experience has changed over the years as American has progressed through certain period of times, e.g., the modernity and transformation of the southwest in the late 19th and early 20th century, the labor demands and shifting of U.S. immigration policy in the 20th century, and the Chicano Civil Rights Movement. Through these events Mexican Americans have established and shaped their culture, in order, to negotiate these precarious social and historical circumstances. Throughout the ethnic Mexicans cultural history in the United States, conflict and contradiction has played a key role in shaping their modalities of life. Beginning in the late 20th century and early 21st century ethnic Mexicans have come under distress from the force of globalization. Globalization has followed the trends of conflict and contradiction forcing ethnic Mexicans to adjust their culture and combat this force. While Mexican Americans are in the struggle against globalization and the impact it has had on their lives, e.g., unemployment more common, wages below the poverty line, globalization has had a larger impact on their motherland having devastating affects unlike anything in history.
Both Apartheid and Colonialism represent egregious violations of basic human rights according to the United Nations. The international community condemns colonialism because it prevents a people from freely exercising its right to control through political and economic policies its own future. Apartheid is a state-sanctioned collection of institutions and laws that position one group of individuals over another group of individuals and methodically oppresses them. Israel is now sitting on a powder keg, that once lit cannot help but end in disaster. Over the course of the last seven decades, Israel has been engaging in nothing less than Colonialism and Apartheid as defined by International law and the United Nations. Israel must stop perpetrating these injustices and restore civil rights to all peoples.