Cultural Difference between Mexicans and Americans
While Texas leader Stephen Austin initially had no contempt toward Mexicans, the Anglo-American citizens in the area did. The American Texans of the 1800’s defined Mexicans as “a race alien to everything that Americans held dear” (De Leon 4). This sentiment would serve as the primary catalyst to the Texas secession from Mexico. When Austin began colonizing the area, he envisioned a place in which Anglo-Americans and Tejanos, Mexicans living in Texas, could live together. Eventually, though, the public opinions of North American settlers in the territory and in Washington would make him realize that the goal of unity between the two groups was impossible.
There were many cultural bricks laid by Spaniards, English, Mexicans, and Americans, which built a wall of cultural difference between the Mexicans and Americans so massive that it would lead to war. The Spanish and the English laid the first bricks during the sixteenth century. The English viewed the Spanish as “heartless and genocidal” (De Leon 4). Ironically, the Spaniards’ cruelty to Indians in Latin America was the primary reason for the English’s characterization. The Spaniards devotion to the Roman Catholic Church made the chasm between the predominately Protestant English and the Spanish grow even wider.
The Spaniards continued to lay more bricks through their domination and influence over the inhabitants of Mexico. The Catholic Church became Mexico’s “largest landowner and moneylender” (Cantrell 105). Today America prides itself on religious freedom; however, during the 1800’s America viewed any religion other than Protestant as a threat.
The Anglo-Americans laid the largest set of bricks with their be...
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...niversity: William P. Clements Center for Southwest Studies, 1958.
4.Crane, William Carey. Life and Select Literary Remains of Sam Houston. J.B. Lippincott & Co.: Philadelphia, PA, 1884.
5.Del Castillo, Griswold. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. University of Oklahoma Press: Norman, OK and London, 1990.
6.De Leon, Arnoldo. They Call Them Greasers. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1983.
7.Hitsman, J. Mackay. “The Texan War of 1835-1836”. History Today. 1960 10 (2).
8.Lester, Charles Edwards. Life of Sam Houston. J.C. Derby: New York, 1885.
9.Long, Walter Ewing. Stephen F. Austin’s Legacies. Steck-Vaughn Co.: Austin, TX, 1970.
10.Stenberg, Richard R. “The Texas Schemes of Jackson and Houston, 1829-1836”. Social Science Quarterly. 1970 50(4).
11.Weber, David J. The Mexican Frontier, 1821-1846. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 1982.
Andrew Jackson was undoubtedly a man of the people. He was the first president to be chosen by the people and his background was not that of a typical president. He was not born into a rich family. Jackson's favored the general public rather than the wealthy. His election shifted the balance of power from the wealthy East Coast, to farmers and small businesspeople in the west. Jackson vetoed more bills than all previous presidents did in an attempt to help the common man.
When we see Texas, we remember today mainly for its BBQ, Football and Black Gold, Texas tea. However, there is much more than just the usual itineraries that we find in most other states as well. Molly Ivins in her essay “Is Texas America” categorically states that, “Here's the deal on Texas. It's big. So big there's about five distinct and different places here, separated from one another geologically, topographically, botanically, ethnically, culturally and climatically” (Ivins). This is a true belief from Molly Ivins of how huge Texas was and how the demographics changed in each geographical location in Texas. The population of Texas and the demographics are two essential factors that include many important parameters in deciding the history of any state. The presence of many ethnic groups further adds to the diversification of
The books “Fertile Ground, Narrow Choices” by Rebecca Sharpless and “The Path to a Modern South” by Walter L. Buenger paint a picture of what life was like from the late 1800’s to the 1930’s. Though written with their own style and from different views these two books describe the modernization of Texas through economics, politics, lifestyles and gender roles, specifically the roles of women during this era.
In the afternoon of February 23, 1836, Santa Anna’s army arrived in San Antonio. The Texan defenders retreated to the well-fortified Alamo. Santa Anna had given the defenders time to escape if they wanted, but the Texans stayed, confident with their weaponry. With the few soldiers he had, Colonel Travis sent requests to Colonel James Fannin for reinforcements, but received none. Fannin thought that the 300 men he had wouldn’t make a difference and may not arrive in time. Of the 200 defenders, there were settlers who wanted independence as well as a dozen Tejanos who joined the movement. Although they believed in ind...
Just before Polk's presidency Texas had freed itself from Mexican rule and desired American annexation. This desire came from thousands of former American citizens that settled in Texas in the 1820s. This was due to the Mexican government supplying huge land grants to entice new settlers to Texas and secure its northern border from America. The Mexican government failed to realize the true impact that their persuasion of Americans for settlement would cause. In 1830, Mexico finally put a freeze on all American immigration due to the large number of American settlers and their certain revolution. In 1836, The Republic of Texas was est...
Rosales, F. Arturo. Lecture 2/14 Film The US-Mexican War Prelude. Weber, David J. - "The 'Path of the World'" Foreigners in Their Native Land: The Historical Roots of Mexican Americans.
Written by Randolph B. Campbell and edited by Mark C. Carnes, Sam Houston and the American Southwest tells the story of the life of Sam Houston. Sam Houston, born in 1793 in Tennessee, was a soldier, lawyer, and also one of the founding fathers of the state of Texas. This biography of Sam Houston goes on to describe the life of Sam Houston in topics such as presidential elections he ran in, wars he has fought, friends and rivals of Houston, his personal life, marriages, wins, defeats, and changes he brought upon the United States of America. Sam Houston was liked by the majority of people, he looked up to Andrew Jackson who was his general when Sam Houston joined the army in his 20’s. This book goes into depth to portray to the reader of the type of person Sam Houston was including his strengths, weaknesses, and the fact that he was an alcoholic and despite all that, he was a very intelligent and noble man of U.S. history as we now know.
Throughout the Jacksonian era the Jacksonians proved to be violators of the United States Constitution and not the guardians they believed themselves to be. Both the Jacksonians and President Jackson went against the Supreme Courts regarding cases that were said to be constitutional. An instance in which the Jacksonian Democrats violated the Constitution was in the "Trail of Tears". The Supreme Court stated that the Jacksonian Democrats' actions were unconstitutional because they had issued the "Indian Removal Act". By doing this, they were in violation of the treaty of New Echota. In the 1832 decision Worcester v. Georgia, Chief Justice Marshall ruled that the Cherokees had their own land and that they did not need to follow Georgia law in their own territory. This ruling of the Supreme Court did not stop Jacksonians from driving the Cherokees off of their land. Jackson used the Constitution to benefit himself when he vetoed the national bank, even after the Supreme Court had already ruled that the bank was constitutional. When South Carolina declared a reduced tariff void and threatened to secede, President Jackson responded in an unconstitutionally. He threatened to send militia to enforce the tariff and the Jacksonian Congress passed a bill approving this military force, if necessary. This was in direct violation of the Constitution. They continued to violate the Constitution by placing censors on the mail and intercepting abolitionist literature or mail into or from the south. This was an infringement on the Constitution because it violated the first amendment.
Welfare is a federally funded program that provides health care, food stamps, child care assistance, unemployment, cash aid, and housing that is under the umbrella of TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families). Per Welfare Information, eligibility is determined by net income, family size, and any crisis situation such as: pregnancy, homelessness, and unemployment. TANF also requires the recipient to obtain employment within two years of receiving help (2014). A majority of the monies that support Welfare come from taxes paid by the working class and donations from private companie...
The Annexation of Texas was one of the most debatable events in the history of the United States. This paper argues the different opinions about doing the annexation of Texas or not. In this case Henry Clay and John L. O’Sullivan had completely opposite opinions about this issue. The reasons of why not do it was because of the desire to prevent war, for division over slavery, and for constitutional rights. On the other hand, John L. O’ Sullivan wanted to do this because of his idea of Manifest Destiny. By 1845, the annexation of Texas went into effect.
Jackson was a strong opponent of the unequal and aristocrat dominated economic structure of most of America. He was very against the Bank of America because he believed it to have a monopoly on banking and felt that it was owned and run unjustly by wealthy aristocrats who were not always Americans (B). It must also be noted however, that while the Bank of America was undoubtedly corrupt (Nicholas Biddle is known to have given sums of money to close friends, and was also known to regularly bribe newspapers and similar media.) it also did what it was supposed to do very well. It provided money and credit to many of the lower classes that Jackson defended, and also was the source of much economic growth. As a result of this veto Jackson established pet banks in many Western areas to try to appease his main group of supporters and build up the rivalry between the agrarian South and West and the industrial North (C). Many immigrants found that one of the first things they discovered upon entering America was a sense of economic equality and lack of poverty, which are exactly the things Jackson was working towards (D). The case Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge decided that a charter given a person or group to do a service does not allow that group to have complete rights over this service. This decision supports the Jacksonian Democracy ideas that the rights of the community are more important than the rights of business (H).
One of the Jacksonian Democrats’ attempts to reduce the influence of the rich was by vetoing the charter to the Bank of the United States. Jackson stated his reasons in Document B mainly as a precaution of...
To some people Andrew Jackson is remembered as the, metaphorically speaking, “People’s King” and is accused of dictator-like political moves. However, Andrew Jackson was quite the contrary, he was exalted amongst the people for being the new era of democracy: instilling a political revolution, the protection of the American people, and social equality among the masses. Therefore, Andrew Jackson was a precedent of democratic rule in the United States.
was the big problem with the American Settlers, which with in a few years out numbered the Mexican population twice if not more in Texas. The United States had been trying to purchase Texas and other territories unsuccessfully. A movement began to stir in Texas
In schools, students are being taught wrong information. “Our gods were vanquished after the fall of Tenochtitlan as were our traditions. Our warriors and nobles were eradicated, our children starved and our women ravished by the white conquerors and their allies.” (157). In books across America, the Spaniards were said to be good people, but the way that Huitzitzilin described what happened, shows the complete opposite of how the Spaniards actually were.