Anglo-American Stereotypes

     In times before the confrontation at the Alamo, the Mexican government welcomed settlers into Texas. The motive behind Mexico’s act was to create a buffer zone between Mexican settlements and the Indians. Settlers were able to come to Texas as long as they promised to convert to Catholicism and become Mexican citizens among other

The book, Beyond the Alamo: Forging Mexican Ethnicity in San Antonio, was written by Raul A. Ramos. It was well written and backed up with good research. As I read the book, I realized how history doesn’t have a definitive conclusion; it’s an infinite series of events that have shaped us to where we are today. The book showed how certain factors contributed to the tension between the Tejanos and other groups, which led to certain outcomes. I believe the author did a great job in writing this book with the Tejano perspective of the Anglo intrusion because it well illustrated those who gave up their lives in defense of freedom against an oppressor.

It is interesting how there are many parts of the first thanksgiving that many textbooks do not mention. I, myself thought that America’s origins was when the pilgrims had thanksgiving with the Native Americans. According to the reading, I was incorrect, where the settling of America happened long before then. I never knew that the first non-Native people in the country were black slaves back in 1526, where they were brought to this land by the Spaniards. The author, James Loewen mentions an interesting fact that one-third of the country has been Spanish longer than it has been American.

The Indians and Mexicans had a lot in common. Americans tried to take over their land. “From 1814 to 1824, in a series of treaties with the southern Indians, whites took over three-fourths of Alabama and Florida, one-third of Tennessee, one-fifth of Georgia and Mississippi, and parts of Kentucky and North Carolina.” (Zinn Ch. 7/8). As well as all these other lands. Americans believed that their superior power would lead to the extinction of Indians, as well as, Mexicans. Another example, the United States misled both the Indians and the Mexicans into thinking that they were going to live in a civilized community. For example, Jackson signed a treaty in 1814 that stated that Indians were going to receive their share in land,” (Zinn Ch.7). But, instead Jackson forced all the Indians out by the Indian Removal Act. As well as, Mexico signed “The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed February 1848, gave half of Mexico to the Americans” (Zinn Ch. 8). They, both also had their differences; however, the whites have mistreated both of these minority

The contraception of the term ‘American exceptionalism’ is widely disputed, but the one thing that remains constant is the aura of innate superiority that has been attached to it. In understanding the significance of this term, it is necessary to delve even further into the past than the time of its first use – to the initial settlement of the eastern seaboard of America. Sporadic waves of settlers arrived in America in the early 17th century (mostly from Britain) through to the 1770’s, by which time Britain had thirteen individual colonies consisting of approximately two and a half million settlers along the Atlantic coastline. During this time, Spanish settlers had also occupied Florida and the Southwest. It was this period of

In early 19th century America, there was a shared feeling of exceptionalism, often leading to egocentrism and prejudice towards foreigners. This egocentrism and prejudice belief system has been passed down, and ignorance towards reforming these beliefs is evident throughout history. Many Americans believe that the colonies of Jamestown and Plymouth were the first settlements in America, thus that the Europeans who traveled across the Atlantic were the first to inhabit the New World. In fact, St. Augustine was a Spanish settlement in Florida established in 1565, 42 years prior to the Jamestown settlement and 55 years prior to the Plymouth settlement. Historical accounts of the American nation tend to neglect this information, resulting in American citizens believing that people of Spanish and Mexican descent do not belong, when in reality, they settled America first. Furthermore, American history tends to neglect mentioning the resistance which Anglo-Americans met as they expanded westward into lands which Native Americans and Mexicans lived in. Accordingly, people of Mexican descent occupied present-day Texas when Anglo-Americans first arrived. Through brutal, immoral, and unjust conquering, Texas became a state separate from Mexico, disregarding the Tejanos of Mexican descent and forcing them to migrate elsewhere.

Texas, initially Mexican territory, would lose this identity as diversity began to advance across the state. Texas became full of diversity prior to the rebellion. Texas at the time was at its most diverse (Unit 4, The Peoples of Mexican Texas). There were visible cultural differences and practices. However, the differences were hardly significant enough to propel Texas into a rebellion. The moment the Anglos set foot in to Texas, the cultural differences were noticeable to both sides, but it was not enough to deter either side from attempting to coexist (Unit 4, The Peoples of Mexican Texas). The Texas rebellion began to formulate at a time where the Anglo population began to peak. The rebellion was inevitable, and long before cultural conflicts

“During the eighteenth and earl nineteenth centuries, while the Spanish were approaching Texas from the south and the Americans and French from the east, another people, more formidable than either the Europeans or the Americans, entered Texas from the north” (Brands 44). This group was called the Comanche tribe whom were ready to explore. The Spanish liked the

Native Americans are a central pillar in the history of Texas. Texas is one of the most critical states to them. Their story revolves around the exploitation of the natural resources in their places of origin, and it shapes their interactions with the European colonialists and subsequent governments. The acquisition of the Indian lands by the American colonial government through treaties was the first type of contact that the Indian communities had with the government. The primary treatment of Native Americans by their government subjected them to duress, pressures, undue influence, and policies that produced uncertainty, despair, and frustration.

In chapter one Conquerors and Victims: The Image of America Forms (1500-1800) Gonzalez talks about the impact upon the arrival of the Europeans to America. This arrival was categorized as “the greatest and most important event in the history of human kind”. Spain and England were two countries that had a big impact on our modern world and transplanted their cultures around the territories they took over. Both countries created their empires in which they established on their identities and viewpoint of their language and social customs. Upon their arrival the native population was outnumbered, many of which live around Mexico’s Valley and others populate the Central Andes region and Rio Grande.

The colonization of Texas began in 1690 when the Spanish arrived to establish missions in the region. The propose of these missions were to expand their doctrine and culture to the indigenous people that lived in the region, leading to twenty-nine missions during the Spanish conquest (Mechaca 98). The colonization of Texas wasn’t seen as a full success until in 1716 when the first civilian colonization’s began to establish further in the Texan territory. These new colonization’s mainly consisted in criollos, mestizos and peninsulares, all with the same goal of colonizing Texas (Mechaca 103). The settlement of Texas had some difficulties because of its great population of indigenous tribes such as the Comanche and the apache. These tribes usually attacked and raided the new settlers. This happened because the natives wanted to protect their land from the invaders and to maintain other settlements away from their territory. The ambition of the Spanish crown in expanding their lands kept more settlers form moving even further into the center of Texas. Texas was also seen a place of opportunities, the lands of Texas was perfect for the commercial agriculture, the raising of cattle and the resources within the territory. During the 1800’s Texas settlements were concentrated in four regions such as San Antonio, La Bahia, Nuevo Santander and Nacogdoches, and the majority of the population consisted of white

The Mexican government was called imbeciles just for wanting to get Texas back and/or work things out with the events happening with America (O’Sullivan323). The Mexican government allowed new settlers to to live in Texas if they agreed to “live on the land for 10 years; pledge loyalty to Mexico; and promise to accept the Catholic religion” (Roden269). Not only did the Americans oppose their laws, they revolted and fought for what they believed were their rights. Very few of the rebels in Texas were actually of Mexican descent the rest were American or European (Roden269). American people had no part in Mexico’s problems with the Tejanos, but they still decided take action against the Mexican government.

American Imperialism, if discounting the conquering of Native populations and forced assimilation with Indian Wars, began with the Mexican – American War in 1846 which led to the annexation of several hundred thousand square miles of Mexican lands. While the causes of the Mexican – American War was mainly about economics and manifest destiny, race still played a major role in the war’s end in that while 525,000 sq. miles of new land was acquired, once again it was not for all Americans. White Americans were the only ones who were encouraged to move west in order to move west in order to populate the newly acquired lands with Americans. The native Indian populations living in these newly acquired lands were met with the same treatment as those who were already apart of the United States, they had no rights, blacks faced an even bigger threat of having slavery spread to the new territories which would’ve meant even longer bondage for them and the few free blacks who were around were not afforded the luxury of leaving their homes to move westward to buy

Long ago Texas was nearly uninhabited and Mexicans wanted to change that. They began to offer land grants to Americans who would come and settle. Moses Austin was the first to receive a land grant, but died while it was being processed. The grant was passed on to his son Stephen F. Austin in the 1820s. When Stephen received the land grant, he recruited 300 families to settle with him. These settlers became known as the “Old 300.” The Mexicans were content but laid out colonization laws for the American settlers to follow. Settlers could inexpensively receive land, and not be taxed for 4 years if they followed Mexican law and converted to the Mexican religion of Catholicism. Only the earliest Texan settlers followed these requirements, many

At first the new Texans had been allowed to bring in their African American slaves from their previous homes. Mexicans were highly against slavery and believed everyone should be treated equally but they had a hard time doing anything about it due to how it helped the economy and population in Mexico Texas. Many of the Texans believed that darker skinned people were inferior and weren’t of the same morals compared to the Caucasian or lighter skinned people. The Anglo Texans would rather keep their slaves and further their ethnocentrism with further fueled the problem and made the Mexicans hate the Texas colonists. Another problem was that Texans refused to adopt the Spanish language and felt as though they were too good to speak it.