Old war haunts debate between Mexico, U.S.

[Flabbergasted]

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1102AP_Mexico_Memories_of_War.html

Old war haunts debate between Mexico, U.S.

By JOHN RICE
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

MEXICO CITY -- More than 1 million migrants flood into the United States each year across a border cutting straight through what once was Mexican territory, a touch of history that haunts the immigration debate 158 years after the land changed hands.

The territory north of today's 1,952-mile border - half of Mexico at the time - was ripped away in 1848 after a U.S. invasion that ended with the capture of "the halls of Montezuma," Mexico City itself.

Ulysses S. Grant, who took part, called the invasion "the most unjust war ever waged by a stronger against a weaker nation."

The loss changed Mexico's destiny and still tears at the country's heart. Primary school textbooks harp on it. Intellectuals often refer to it. Museums are dedicated to it.

In the United States, some anti-immigration activists see migrants as a threat to American land and culture, part of a Spanish-speaking invasion that will reclaim the American Southwest.

Their concern is fed by occasional Mexican references to the booming immigrant population as a "reconquista," or re-conquest, and by the Mexican government's efforts to reinforce the migrants' ties to their homeland

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[Xipe Totec]

3. My family, for one.

My family owned land on both sides of the Rio Grande. Settled there more than 300 years ago. Lost half the land and were forcibly removed across the US/Mexican border.

[DeaconBlues]

6. As the article points out, the overwhelming majority of people in the

Southwest were Native Americans. English and Spanish-speaking settlements were present in relatively equal numbers, but, overall, the Southwest was very sparsely populated.

This was one of the concerns of the American government at the time. Mexico had developed this area so little, and had such a loose grip as far as security is concerned, that the U.S. government feared that England or another European government would take control of this area. This would have violated the Monroe Doctrine, and we would have had a major conflict with a European power on our hands.

Of course, this can be seen as just a rationalization. But I believe that if the U.S. hadn't conquered these territories, they would have fallen into the hands of England or another power. In any case, Mexico could have never hold onto this land no matter what. Hell, they couldn't even keep European powers from setting up governments in Mexico City (anybody remember Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian?). As brutal as it was, those lands were going to get conquered by someone else, and, in my opinion, better the U.S. than anyone else.

[ixion]

2. after the land 'changed hands'

boy, that sure is a nice way of saying: "After we STOLE it from Mexico through violent conquest." :-(

[trof]

4. but..but..MANIFEST DESTINY?

I thought God told us to?
:sarcasm: OFF.

[Igel]

7. It's more neutral than

"after we stole the territories given to Mexico by Spain, territories that had previously been the subject of violent conquest and occupation by Mexico and Spain." That's rather like saying "The Turks stole Serbia from the Greeks," the Serbs being of somewhat less importance than chopped chicken liver, I suppose.

Both utterances somehow presuppose that the losers in the struggle had some greater right to the lands they controlled, one that derived not from habitation but something else.

It's not as though the Jumanos and Atakapans voted to join Spain, Mexico, or Texas. Their mistakes weren't being strong enough, or trying to secure short-term advantage in a long-term game.

[texanwitch]

5. What do you think the march is about on Monday, it isn't about jobs.

If the United States stoled parts of Mexico, what did the Spanish do when the came to the new world, people were living here for thousands of years. The United States didn't do anything different then Spain.

I have had family living in Texas since the 1820's, they had Spanish land grants.

[eppur_se_muova]

8. "Poor Mexico, so far from God, so close to the United States."

(interesting book: "So Far From God" by John S. D. Eisenhower, published by U. Oklahoma Press)