Foreigners in Their Native Land: Historical Roots of the Mexican Americans / Edition 1

by David J. Weber, Arnoldo de León

Overview

Most recent writing about Mexican Americans deals only with the twentieth century. This book provides the much-needed historical perspective that is essential for a full understanding of the present. Dozens of selections from firsthand accounts, introduced by the editor's knowledgeable essays capture the flavor and mood of the Mexican American experience in the Southwest from the time the first pioneers came north from Mexico.

The first edition was selected as a Choice "Outstanding Academic Book of the Year" and received the following accolades:

"An excellent job of illuminating the early historical experience of Mexicans living in the United States."—Western Historical Quarterly

"Weber . . . has done more than compile a first-rate anthology . . . he has done much to put the selected accounts into a meaningful historical framework. This coupled with excellent documentary choices and extensive notes makes it the single best volume for understanding the Mexican American experience in the nineteenth-century Southwest."—Choice

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780826335104
Publisher:	University of New Mexico Press
Publication date:	03/01/2004
Edition description:	Revised edition
Pages:	314
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.90(d)
Lexile:	1460L (what's this?)

About the Author

David J. Weber is The Robert and Nancy Dedman Professor of History and the Director of the Clements Center for Southwest Studies at Southern Methodist University.

Table of Contents

	Foreword to the Thirtieth Anniversary Edition	vii
	Foreword to the First Edition	xvii
	Acknowledgments	xx
	Introduction	1
I.	New Spain's Far Northern Frontier	11
	Editor's Introduction	12
	Sources
1.	Church and State - Luis de Velasco, 1595	23
2.	Frontier Military - Antonio Martinez, 1817	25
3.	"Contributions are small" - Francisco Martinez de Baeza, 1639	27
4.	A Communal Land Grant - Lorenzo Marquis - Antonio Jose Ortiz, 1794	30
5.	Mestizaje - First Los Angeles Census, 1781	33
6.	"Most hardy subjects" - Zebulon M. Pike, 1807; Miguel Ramos de Arizpe, 18182	36
7.	"There were no paupers" - Jose Agustin de Escudero, 1827	38
8.	"Backward" New Mexico - Pedro Bautista Pino, 1812	39
9.	The "wretched village" of San Antonio - Juan Agustin Morfi, 1778	43
10.	The Romantic Frontier - Guadalupe Vallejo, 1890; George Wharton James, 1914	45
II.	Yankee Infiltration and the Hardening of Stereotypes	51
	Editor's Introduction	52
	Sources
1.	"Calculating the profit" - Carlos Dehault Delassus, 1804	62
2.	"Indications are very dangerous" - Joaquin del Real Alencaster, 1807	64
3.	California "would fall without an effort" - William Shaler, 1808	65
4.	The Black Legend - William Robertson, 1777	68
5.	"Degenerate inhabitants of New Mexico" - Rufus B. Sage, 1846	71
6.	"Blood ... as ditch water" - Walter Prescott Webb, 1931 & 1935	75
7.	"An ill opinion of the Mexicans" - Jose Maria Sanchez, 1828	78
8.	"Lazy people of vicious character" - Jose Maria Sanchez, 1828	81
9.	"Industrious, honest North American settlers" - Ayuntamiento of San Antonio, 1832	83
10.	"Waiting the result" - Thomas O. Larkin, 1846	85
III.	Cultures Collide	87
	Editor's Introduction	88
	Sources
1.	"I am warning you" - Manuel Mier y Teran, 1828 & 1829	101
2.	"The two people cannot mingle together" - Committee of Vigilance & Public Safety, San Augustin, 1835	105
3.	"Their decision irrevocably sealed their fate" - Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, 1837	109
4.	"Texians! Render every possible assistance" - Juan Nepomuceno Seguin, 1836	111
5.	"War ... our final salvation" - Jose Maria Tornel y Mendivil, 1837	114
6.	"The sacrificial goat" - Pio Pico, 1846-48	117
7.	"We would have made some kind of resistance" - 105 New Mexicans, 1846	121
8.	"Keep yourselves quiet" - Donaciano Vigil, 1847	125
9.	Reactions to Defeat - Juan Bautista Vigil y Alarid, 1846; Juan Bautista Alvarado, 1876; Angustias de la Guerra Ord, 1878	127
10.	"A duty before God" - William P. Rogers, 1846; Robert F. Stockton, 1847	132
11.	"The Government of a white race" - John C. Calhoun, 1848	135
IV.	All the Rights of Citizens	139
	Editor's Introduction	140
	Sources
1.	"Their property, their persons, their religion" - Stephen Watts Kearny, 1846	161
2.	"All the rights of citizens" - Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 1848	162
3.	"For me the placers were finished" - Antonio F. Coronel, 1849	169
4.	"Hung as suspects" - El Clamor Publico, 1857	174
5.	"A foreigner in my native land" - Juan Nepomuceno Seguin, 1858	177
6.	"No justice for the Mexicans in Texas" - Comision Pesquisadora, 1873	182
7.	"A set policy of terrorizing the Mexicans" - A Texas Ranger, 1875	187
8.	"Parceled out to Mexicans" - Tucson Citizen, 1904	191
9.	"Compelled to sell, little by little" - Antonio Maria Pico, et al., 1859	195
10.	"A denial of justice" - Public Land Commission, 1880	200
V.	Accommodation, Assimilation, and Resistance	203
	Editor's Introduction	204
	Sources
1.	"Revenge took possession of me" - Tiburcio Vasquez, 1874; Joaquin Murrieta, 1854	226
2.	"To defend ourselves" - Juan Nepomuceno Cortina, 1859	231
3.	Las Gorras Blancas - Nuestra Plataforma, 1890; Felix Martinez, 1890	234
4.	"In sympathy" - N. A. Jennings, c. 1875	238
5.	"Volunteers, both Mexicans and Americans" - Juan I. Tellez, 1926	241
6.	"Now or never" - La Voz del Pueblo, 1906; Constitution of New Mexico, 1912	245
7.	"Por la raza y para la raza" - Congreso Mexicanista, 1911	248
8.	A Sample from the Press - El Labrador, 1904	251
9.	Workers from Mexico: Three Views - Mexican: Diario del Hogar, 1910; Anglo American: Samuel Bryan, 1912; Mexican American: El Labrador, 1904	255
	Afterword	261
	Afterword to the Thirtieth Anniversary Edition	265
	Notes	271
	Index	287
	Illustrations
1.	Racial mixture in New Spain
2.	Forced labor in New Spain
3.	Stereotyped sinister Mexicans
4.	Adobe building
5.	Pio Pico
6.	Jose Antonio Navarro
7.	"Dawn at the Alamo"
8.	Angustias de la Guerra Ord
9.	Luis de la Rosa
10.	Antonio F. Coronel and his wife Mariana
11.	"The Battle of San Pascual"
12.	Juan Nepomuceno Seguin
13.	Francisco P. Ramirez
14.	Manuel Dominguez
15.	Los Angeles, 1886
16.	Santa Fe, c. 1880
17.	Tiburcio Vasquez
18.	Juan Nepomuceno Cortina
19.	Ignacio Calvillo
20.	Miguel Antonio Otero

Editorial Reviews

"As the Mexican population in Texas grows from minority to majority status, it is important to understand their history in the Southwest. . . all libraries in Texas should have this important work on their shelves."

"This anthology, first published in 1973, is still an incomparable collection of primary sources of Mexican-American history."

"Weber ... has done more than compile a first rate anthology ... he has done much to put the selected accounts into a meaningful historical framework. This coupled with excellent documentary choices and extensive notes makes it the single best volume for understanding the Mexican American experience in the nineteenth century Southwest."

From the Publisher