Bandidos or Citizens? Resistance to Political Changes

Bandidos or Citizens? Everyday Forms of Resistance to Political and Legal Changes

• The American westward expansion in the mid-19th century represents the third state-building attempt after Spain and Mexico, focusing on the villas del norte (northern towns).
• Both New Spain and the United States pursued territorial expansion to increase central power and promote state building.
• Neither New Spain nor Mexico established strong central governments due to challenges in controlling northern borderlands, aggravated by poor communication and sparse populations.
• The American government grew in size and power alongside territorial expansion.
• Internal disunity, mainly over slavery, increased.
• Spain and Mexico aimed to control northern borderlands protectively, while the United States' westward expansion was to solve political and economic issues.
• Expansionists believed new lands would ease slavery tensions and aid economic recovery from the 1830s depression.
• Colonists shared a disdain for existing populations; Spanish/Mexican colonists viewed their conquest as bringing civilization and religion to indigenous peoples, whereas Anglo Americans believed they were better stewards of the land than Native Americans or Mexicans.
• Anglo Americans migrated in search of economic prospects and relied on their government for military protection.
• The U.S. government depended on settlers to enforce jurisdiction over conquered populations, establish governance, and defend its territory.
• This interdependence transformed settlers into agents and privileged citizens of the United States.
• The villas del norte were central to the binational territorial competition that resulted in the U.S.-Mexican war; its outcome altered national boundaries and transformed river towns.
• The Rio Grande became the international boundary, dividing communities whose land stretched across both sides of the river.
• Residents on the left bank became U.S. citizens, while those on the right remained Mexican citizens.

Agents and Privileged Citizens

• Anglo Americans initiated American civilian rule by setting up municipal and county governments, introducing new judicial and political systems to former Mexican citizens.
• American holidays and cultural traditions were introduced.
• Newcomers spread their ideologies through English newspapers, schools, and Protestant churches among the local Spanish-speaking population.
• Ultimately, they aided U.S. nation-building efforts, striving to cultivate allegiance among conquered Mexicans.
• Newcomers enjoyed various benefits of American citizenship.
• The U.S. government constructed garrisons along the international boundary to shield inhabitants from Mexican and Indian attacks, also deterring uprisings from the conquered population.
• The federal government expected the settlers to form republics and to follow national laws.
• The U.S. government lacked the capacity to enforce its will in the remote area, allowing civilians latitude in administering local governments.
• The federal government failed to enforce trade laws, partly because of practicality and to avoid upsetting border merchants who profited from smuggling.
• American migrants were part of an ongoing westward movement.
• Westward settlers justified territorial expansion by believing in the superiority of American institutions and the backwardness of non-white populations.
• Some believed in "Manifest Destiny" and the nation's mission to spread liberty and governance, with God supporting territorial expansion to extend superior culture and institutions.
• Acquiring "all of Mexico" became a key goal for some Manifest Destiny supporters.
• Sectional differences and nativist opposition interfered with the nation's "divine mission".
• Northerners feared slavery's expansion into western lands, while others opposed incorporating more non-white individuals fearing they would cause racial problems.
• This unresolved issue was the primary dispute in the annexation debate, with politicians conflicted on what to do with the conquered Mexicans.
• Nativists feared incorporating a predominantly Catholic population after a large Irish immigration.
• Expansionists formed a temporary alliance by exploiting nationalism.
• They argued acquiring Mexico's northern borderlands would offer farmland for the growing population, preserving the Jeffersonian ideal of independent white farmers.
• Expansionists manipulated racial fears to gain support from the North, convincing slavery's northern opponents that westward expansion would prevent free and escaped slaves from migrating to northern cities, arguing instead that they would relocate to western states because of their warmer climate.
• A partial annexation was more agreeable to political leaders, who believed the sparsely populated northern borderlands would either disappear or eventually assimilate into U.S. institutions.

American Plan to Acquire Mexico's Territory

• The plan to acquire Mexico's territory began after rebels in Texas initiated a separatist revolt.
• The establishment of independent Republic of Texas in 1836 brought the United States and Mexico closer to war.
• The United States and several European nations recognized Texas's independence, but Mexico refused.
• The clash resulted in armed conflict and worsened ethnic relations.
• International hostilities and ethnic conflict spread to the villas del norte; before the 1840s, the villas enjoyed friendly relations with independent Texas and traded despite Mexican government prohibitions.
• Ironically, the vecinos had more confrontations with the Mexican military than Anglo Texans.
• The towns' isolation ended in 1842, when Texas launched a counteroffensive against the Mexican military's attacks on San Antonio.
• Anglo Texan soldiers captured Laredo and Guerrero.
• A large number of soldiers launched the Mier Expedition, attacking additional villas but were forced to surrender in Mier.
• The Mexican Army forced the Mier Expedition prisoners into a lottery and shot the losers, marching the remaining prisoners to Mexico City.
• This soured relations and fueled anti-Mexican anger, with American public support growing for Texas annexation and the U.S.-Mexican War.
• The villas remained in conflict.
• Texas renewed efforts to join the United States; the election of annexation supporter James Polk as president in 1844 raised hopes.
• Texans voted to join the United States, after which Congress accepted the new Constitution, and Polk signed the act admitting Texas into the Union.
• Polk ordered military troops to southern Texas and naval vessels to Mexico's Gulf Coast while pursuing diplomatic talks, which were unsuccessful.
• Unresolved issues included disagreements over Texas's southern boundary.
• The United States claimed the boundary lay at the Rio Grande, while Mexico believed the border was at the Nueces River.
• The villas became a flashpoint for conflict again with economic opportunities along the Rio Grande.
• The vecinos' ancestors had claimed the land for Spain, and the vecinos then aided Mexico's international trade recovery from a war of independence.
• This commerce drew them closer to Americans and further from Mexico's central government.
• Territorial dispute offered the vecinos a choice involving political allegiance and trade alliances.
• They lacked enthusiasm for Mexico, burdened by years of neglect and harsh trade restrictions.
• The United States offered more economic possibilities, but its citizens were motivated by an ideology that placed Mexicans in an inferior position.
• Americano (American citizen) newcomers to the villas spread an expansionist Manifest Destiny through writings.
• An editor's explanation of the United States flag spoke of States with Uncle Same to back them, and the only way to be a People was to “'camp' beneath its folds.
• Anglo Americans were proud of their nation, though less strident.
• Helen Chapman observed "athletic Americans, and puny-looking Mexican laborers,” conjuring the scene of "an old race passing away-a new race pressing on its departing footsteps-a new scene in the history of the Country,” she wrote, “a possession by conquest.”
• Social interaction with Indians/African Americans had popularized racial Anglo Saxonism, reinforced by contact with Mexicans.
• The tone of superiority was occasionally absurd, with one writer stating Americans will plan a bold, extensive and successful robbery; the Mexican will confine himself to petty theft."
• Newspapers disseminated negative views of Mexicans; the national press described the Texas Revolution as a racial struggle and a conflict related to unjust government.
• The Americans increasingly equated the Mexican government with the Mexican people based on ideas of racial inferiority.
• U.S.-Mexican War determined the amount of territory the nation obtained, yet the United States acquired only the land north of the Rio Grande because of incorporating "mongrels" and Indians.
• The U.S.-Mexican War was the first major conflict covered by the penny press (tabloid-style newspapers), which propagated stereotypes of a corrupt government, an idolatrous “priest-ridden" society, and an inferior people.

The Boundary Dispute

• The boundary dispute led to a military confrontation along the Rio Grande.
• President James Polk ordered General Zachary Taylor to lead U.S. soldiers across the Nueces River toward the Rio Grande.
• The Nueces Strip, the land between the rivers, was disputed territory.
• Texas claimed it after breaking free from Mexico in 1836, the United States repeating this claim later after annexing Texas in 1845 yet the land was under Mexico's jurisdiction.
• Moving soldiers into disputed territory aimed to incite the Mexican Army to attack, with U.S. troops constructing Fort Texas across the river from Matamoros.
• Ulysses S. Grant stated, “We were sent to provoke a fight, but it was essential that Mexico should commence it.”
• Two hundred U.S. soldiers (Irish and German ancestry) deserted due to anti-Catholic nativism in the U.S. Army.
• Tensions intensified when Mexico's military ordered Zachary Taylor's troops off their soil.
• Mexican troops defeated two companies of U.S. dragoons at El Rancho de Carricitos, in April 1846, which left fourteen U.S. soldiers dead.
• President Polk claimed Mexico "has passed the boundary of the United States, has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon American soil."
• The rhetoric ensured Congress support for his declaration of war.
• American troops occupied the villas del norte.
• The U.S. victory ensured seemingly cordial relations between troops and residents during the occupation's early days.
• Officers dined with Mexican families, soldiers also took Spanish lessons, while others attended their first Catholic Mass, military bands staged exhibitions.
• On the streets, soldiers talked to mexicanas while the U.S. Army quartered outside the villas, and reportedly paid market value for goods.
• The occupying officers placed the villas under light guard.
• Underneath a friendly veneer, the American army worked to establish the instruments of social control.
• The interim U.S. military government placed officers in supervisory roles over elected Mexican officials, still nominally in charge of local government.
• Occupation politics allowed Mexican politicians to govern Mexican civilians without authority over American soldiers, with American quartermaster William Chapman controlling tax collection and directing a provisional police force.
• This model became the standard for American municipal and county governments during the postwar era.
• Early in the occupation, the United States aimed to weaken Mexico's influence over its citizens.
• The army published a bilingual newspaper, the Republic of the Rio Grande and Friend of the People, aimed at swaying local residents.
• The paper sought to rejuvenate the idea of an independent “Republic of the Rio Grande” and critiqued the corruption of the Mexican government with a goal to unite the people of the states of Tamaulipas, Nuevo León, Coahuila, and Chihuahua to understand the merits of a separate Northern Mexican federation.
• The newspaper failed to attract its target audience.
• The paper switched editors, dropped its Spanish version, became known as the American Flag, and promoted Manifest Destiny to an exclusively English-speaking audience.
• Negative representations of Mexicans were disseminated, this was also a precedent for the region's future newspapers.
• The atmosphere in Matamoros radically shifted with the arrival of more troops, augmenting the number of soldiers from 2,500 to about 12,000.
• They easily controlled a population estimated at 4,000 people, but the troops' caused accommodation issues.
• Many volunteers lacked military training, discipline, and preparation for confronting the heat and disease.
• Sutlers, gamblers, and prostitutes accompanied the military, transforming the city into a raucous setting.
• These individuals sought profits from naive soldiers and unsuspecting Mexicans.
• Taylor's attempts to restore order failed.
• Shootings occurred daily, local jails bulged with American soldiers, and drunks littered the streets.
• The situation inflamed ethnic tensions.
• Volunteers began stealing cattle and corn, tearing down houses and fences for firewood, murdering civilians, terrorizing local residents, and raping mexicanas.
• Louisiana volunteers “had driven away the inhabitants," taken possession of their houses and were emulating each other in making beasts of themselves."
• Vecinos fled after unsuccessfully complaining to U.S. Army officers, and those who openly objected to this criminal behavior were shot.
• American wrongdoers evaded punishment by bribing or threatening Mexican officials, who feared recriminations.
• Regular soldiers thought the volunteers lacked discipline and of killing civilians “for no other object than their own amusement.”
• The Texas volunteers were known for their hatred.
• Organized as Texas Rangers, they had no official uniforms.
• The Rangers had experience fighting Indians and Mexicans, also holding deep-seated prejudices from the Texas Revolution and the Mier Expedition.
• Texas volunteers sought to inflict revenge on Mexicans for past conflicts, with their violence leaving the countryside “strewed with the skeletons of Mexicans sacrificed by these desperadoes.”
• Ulysses S. Grant commented they seem to think it perfectly right to impose upon the people of a conquered city to any extent," “and even to murder them where the act can be covered by dark.”
• Officers hesitated to discipline the Rangers, knowing their knowledge of the Mexican frontier was indispensable.
• In addition to ethnic tensions, the war forced the vecinos to choose sides.
• The U.S.-Mexican War was another territorial dispute.
• The vecinos' relationship to their central government changed due to governmental neglect, and the vecinos had closer identification with local area.
• The vecinos offered minimal support for the Mexican Forces, and their alternatives were threefold: resist U.S. occupation, cooperate with foreign troops, or remain neutral.
• The vecinos response mirrored that of tejanos by adjusting opportunities to maximize opportunities.
• Some vecinos resisted; they gave American soldiers bad directions or took up arms.
• Others refused to help find food and supplies.
• Resisters included Antonio Canales, Juan Cortina, José María Carvajal, and Blas Falcón.
• Mexican troops named Canales's men the guerrilleros that harassed the invading U.S. army.
• Armed resistance was impractical for vecinos, leading to strategic cooperation.
• Though some residents opposed Mexico's leaders, they did not want to welcome American forces.
• One vecino described himself as residing in an occupied city and being "a republican opposed to all recent military governments, and as a patriot opposed to the Americans.”
• Troops were surprised to encounter no resistance, and thought the area was better because the Rangers had not repeated the Matamoros atrocities upriver.
• Moreover, the villas' from the recent atrocities were wary not to antagonize the U.S. forces.
• Civilians found themselves pleasing neither side and incurring reprisals.
• Guerrilleros and leaders extracted loans to punish inhabitants for assisting the Americans.
• Most civilian officials cooperated for Americans forces.
• This gained scorn from Mexican guerrilleros, as the alcaldes where reminded by municipal officials of their principal responsibilities.
• Some civilians assisted the U.S. Army for economic reasons.
• Mexican traders' business boomed (despite guerrilleros' reprisal threats).
• A number of the swell of U.S. soldiers led to petty entrepreneurs and laborers profiting.
• New job opportunities created a shortage, with elite trying to obtain servants.
• The war fueled but was kept from ethnic exploding.
• Most were in no position to come to a numerous and well-armed foe.
• Instead, they wanted to attempt the remain neutral while paradoxically the U.S army presence in the villas created create and employment opportunities.

Postwar Growth

• The region's troubles continued, and introduced jurisdictional changes.
• Mexico reluctantly signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, giving up half its national territory to the United States as its principal cities were occupied.
• The estimated 100,000 Mexicans in the conquered territory were required to citizenship of either remaining Mexican or becoming American citizen within one year of the treaty's passage.
• The provision meant that newly incorporated Mexicans were entitled to all rights and property according to the Constitution, despite their being discrepancies law and reality.
• The war established the Rio Grande border, which split the population.
• Vecinos faced a complicated choice.
• Families with property on the left backed the decision to remain in the older villas.
• Some of the residents with land in Mexico moved across, some vecinos felt insecure to retain control of their land owners as elites of the war future could change governmental jurisdictions.
• Others were left possibly living amongst enemies.
• Attracted by better economic opportunities, many residents spurred the growth. The war devastated the villas, so Mexico's ranch owners would force labors fleeing.
• Economic opportunities would accompany many European immigrants to become the region's newcomers.
• By 1850 the population would grow to 8,541 people of Texas three Southern most counties.
• The numbers were divided by American citizens as European immigrants.
• The newcomers as merchants, professionsals while a small number of labors.
• The new encouraged a new population shift into the region.

The boundary transforms the urban landscape

• Boundaries transformed the urban landscape.
• The right in the ranchos bank was mostly to American settlements.
• The increase of American settlement, the Mexican could then would be paired with the American town across the other.
• The environment increasingly displayed Americanized with housing, yet some towns retained a similar atmosphere.
• To enforce the jurisdiction the United States, the Fort was across point Isabel.
• The citizens then had a better understanding of military government for assist to cattle thieves.
• Troops also reinforced Texas Rangers, the troops were distributed to 1,418 among the Nuevo Strip.
• The prime people that could make of this profit were the Americans.
• Before the war civil former soldiers also helped obtain the land while Anglos would then be artisan.
• They provided assistance the to the efforts of those Mexico by contributing by in building local governments.
• The merchants had officers enjoyed economic connections, the governments
• The traders wanted sell to newcomers
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Postwar policies

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