Mexico Quotes
This quotation illustrates the racist view of Native Americans that prevailed at the time. The Mexican government invited settlers and would give then the Indian lands. In addition to Mexicans who came to Texas, many Americans also went to Texas, changing their citizenship to Mexico. Later, they banded together and broke from Mexico and Joined the United States. The Indians lost most of their lands.
Andrew Macdonald
This quotation shows what prompted the Texas rebellion against Mexico. Military dictators had taken over the Federal Government of Mexico and Mexico was no longer a free country.
Austin renounced his American citizenship and committed himself to Mexico where he was recruiting American emigrants for settlement in what is now Texas as a Mexican territory. Later, he grew disillusioned with the Mexican government and chose Texas independence.
Early in his career, Santa Anna was an enthusiast for democracy. However, the republican form of government did not work at the time in Mexico and he developed into a despot and dictator.
The slavery issue was the dominant issue in pre-Civil War America. It even drove foreign policy.
The Polk Administration wanted War with Mexico but felt it would not have public support if the Unites States was the aggressor. So the Army was sent to the border to provoke the Mexicans to attack first. The strategy worked and President Polk had much more support since he claimed that Mexico had attacked American Soldiers and retaliation was necessary. In the aftermath of the Mexican War, the United States obtained much new territory including the Southwestern States and Mexico was destabilized.
Santa Ana was, at the time, a captive of Sam Houston.
He was speaking metaphorically here. Literally dreaming in English is not his requirement. What is required is an outlook, perception, value system, and national identity that is American. Lack of English language proficiency makes that much harder to achieve.
Owner of one of the only 2 Mexican Television Networks. Mexico is constantly criticized by the American government and media for not cracking down on Mexican drug kingpins who operate very visibly in Mexico. Salinas points out that while the American drug kingpins are not as ostentatious and open as in Mexico, the U. S. did not have the will or the skill to prosecute the American drug kingpins.
Under the Mexican law which governed Texas at the time, slavery had been much curtailed. Austin and many others wished to expand it “to permit families to bring the necessary and indispensable house servants and laborers”
He was referring to the fact that the Spaniards had not only explored but settled much of America before the English settlers ever came. When Americans came to Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado and California, the Hispanics were already there and had been for some time. Spanish was the language of all these states before they were states and of many of the residents after they had become states. When the United States bought New Mexico and Arizona from Mexico, Spanish was the principle language in those territories. Those that would argue that immigrants should not bring new languages to America have little knowledge of history. Spanish was spoken in much of America long before anyone ever said a word in English.
It is very easy for an American company to make parts in the United States, ship them to Mexico for assembly and bring the finished product back. However, for counties like France it is much more difficult.
Mexicans were very sensitive to the problem of a leader being elected and then controlling the police, media and election system, keep getting elected. Diaz ran on a slogan of a term limit of a single term. He was elected on that basis and served one term and stepped down. Then, breaking his campaign pledge, he ran again and served term after term for 30 years. The Mexican Revolution resulted. The Mexican Constitution was then written to have a term limit of one 6 year term.
Emerson was right on both points. It was the first U. S. foreign policy effort where invading and conquering a country was much easier than dealing with it afterward.
He was originally a teacher and made a fortune as a politician through corruption which was extreme in Mexico and is still quite bad.
