Foreigners in Their Own Land

1
Foreigners in Their Own Land
2
Loss of Land

• After the Treaty of Guadalupe was signed, only
  about 2,000 Mexican headed South of the new
  border. The majority stayed behind in the land
  they still called home (about 100,000 by some
  estimates)
• Many disputes followed regarding the rightful
  ownership of Mexican Land by its owners in US
  Courts even up to this day.

3
Loss of Cultural Rights

• US citizens of Mexican descent lost some 20
  million acres of land and the guarantee that the
  new government would respect their culture and
  language was often violated.
• In Texas, English became the official law of the
  land and kids were punished for speaking Spanish
  in schools.

4
Racial Injustices

• On the frontier areas, US merchants often
  exaggerated the fear of Mexican bandits because
  this way the US would build military
  installations that would purchase goods and
  services of local businesses. (Acuna 200059)

• US merchants even fought Mexican merchants in
  border towns like Brownsville and Matamoros. In
  1855, US merchants lynched 11 Mexicans along the
  Nueces River. Two years later white traders
  killed 75 Mexican competitors in San Antonio. At
  Goliad, the townspeople killed several Mexicans
  because the Mexicans drove carts on public roads
  (Acuna 200063)

5
Texan Rangers

• In Arizona, Texan Cowboys formed gangs that
  raided defenseless Mexican villages. The Texans
  showed little respect for women or children.
• Without violence the white elite could not have
  maintained control. The Texans Rangers played the
  role of the enforcer. From multiple accounts and
  documents, the Texan Rangers were in many case
  paid assassins.

6
California Gold Rush

• On January 24, 1848 James W. Marshall found gold
  on John Sutters property. Thousands of outsiders
  flooded into California. It made the Mexicans in
  California an instant minority!
• By mid-1849, nearly 100,000 miners were panning
  for gold- 80,000 were white, 8,000 were Mexicans,
  5,000 were South Americans, and several thousand
  were Europeans.

7
Decline of the Californios

• With the Gold Rush almost over, the Yankees
  turned their attention to securing more land for
  themselves. In 1851 the US Congress set in motion
  a way to challenge all Spanish and Mexican land
  grants by establishing a land court and requiring
  all owners to prove legal title.

• Some of the forty-niners who failed at mining
  wanted something to show for their trouble. So
  they took land--some of which belonged to the
  Californios. Some miners squatted, or lived on
  the ranchos without the permission of the
  landowners. Many squatters seized land violently,
  killing cattle, burning crops, and chasing
  Californios out of their homes. Others used the
  courts to make unfair claims on the Californios'
  property.

8
Governor Andres Pio Pico

• Last Mexican Governor of California who was of
  Spanish, African, Italian and native American
  descent. He was born in San Gabriel Mission in
  1801 and became governor in 1832.
• During the Mexican American War, his army killed
  18 North Americans in Battle of San Pascual.
  Ultimately, his forces are outnumbered and he is
  forced to surrender in 1847.

9
(No Transcript)
10
(No Transcript)
11
Acts of Violence

• Juanita, a former prostitute, killed a white
  miner who forced himself into her house and tried
  to force himself on her. She killed him with a
  knife to defend her honor. She was tried quickly
  and sentenced to be hanged publicly, eventhough
  she was pregnant.
• It is estimated that 597 Mexicans were lynched in
  the US between 1848 and 1928. At least 163
  Mexicans were lynched in California between 1848
  and 1860 (Acuna2000115).

12
Vigilante Committees

• Several vigilante groups formed throughout the
  large cities in California to keep order. In
  fact, many of them committed acts of violence
  against Mexican miners and other foreigners.
• On July 15, 1849, a group attacked a Chilean
  community in San Francisco where they killed a
  mother and sexually assaulted her daughter (Bean
  and Rawls 1988110)

13
Joaquin Murrieta

• Some myths say he was Chilean but he was
  originally from Sonora. And the best known
  bandit in California. He was a miner who was
  discriminated by Anglo miners of 1849 legend in
  Northern California. Stories tell of his brother
  being hanged and his wife being raped. He formed
  a group of about 50 to 80 other outlaws and
  robbed stagecoaches and got revenged on the men
  that killed his brother and raped his wife. He
  was just 18 years old when this started and
  killed several law enforcement who were sent out
  to kill him. They finally killed him in 1853, cut
  his head and parade it throughout several towns.

14
Joaquin Murrieta
15
Juan Cortina

• Juan Cheno Cortina was another Mexican Outlaw
  from the region of Brownsville Texas. He came
  from a well off family. Legend has it he killed
  an officer who was pistol whipping a Mexican
  worker he knew and insulted him. So he shot him.
  In 1859, he left to Mexico with some of his
  followers because he knew he would not get a fair
  trial in the new Anglo courts. Cortina went to
  Tamaulipas where from 1861 to 1867 he defended
  the state against the French and became for a
  time its military governor as well as a general
  in the Mexican Army. From his Mexican base
  Cortina allegedly led rustling operations against
  Anglo ranchers north of the border. (Acuna65).

16
Tiburcio Vazquez

• He was born in Monterey in 1835. About 1853, he
  was involved in a shooting of a law enforcement
  and fled to the mountains with other followers
  (or social rebels) attracted by the social
  inequalities of the times and who also saw an
  easy opportunity to enrich themselves by
  stealing. His gang operated for about 20 year
  until he was caught and hanged.

17
Outlaws or Social Bandits?

• What do you think?

18
Californios Disappear

• In Southern California, White Americans became
  the majority in the 1870S.
• Lower class Mexicans were also called greasers
  and cholos

19
Mexican Stereotypes