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#46
06-17-2006, 04:26 PM
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#47
06-17-2006, 06:02 PM
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 As a Californian, I am well aware of how this State was populated etc....but here is a nearly contemporary view of the events of Texas/Californian annexation. The Mexican War by David Saville Muzzey, Ph.D. Barnard College, Columbia University, New York Mexico refuses to recognize the Annexation of Texas. The annexation of Texas was a perfectly fair transaction. For nine years, since the victory of San Jacinto in 1836, Texas had been an independent republic, whose reconquest Mexico had not the slightest chance of effecting. President James L. PolkIn fact, at the very moment of annexation, the Mexican government, at the suggestion of England, had agreed to recognize the independence of Texas, on condition that the republic should not join itself to the United States. We were not taking Mexican territory, then, in annexing Texas. The new state had come into the Union claiming the Rio Grande as her southern and western boundary. By the terms of annexation all boundary disputes with Mexico were referred by Texas to the government of the United States. President Polk sent John Slidell of Louisiana to Mexico in the autumn of 1845 to adjust any differences over the Texan claims. But though Slidell labored for months to get a hearing, two successive presidents of revolution-torn Mexico refused to recognize him, and he was dismissed from the country in August, 1846. Taylor attacked on the Rio Grande. The massing of Mexican troops on the southern bank of the Rio Grande, coupled with the refusal of the Mexican government to receive Slidell, led President Polk to order General Zachary Taylor to move to the borders. Taylor marched to the Rio Grande and fortified a position on the northern bank. The Mexican and the American troops were thus facing each other across the river. When Taylor refused to retreat to the Nueces, the Mexican commander crossed the Rio Grande, ambushed a scouting force of 63 Americans, and killed or wounded 16 of them (April 24, 1846). The United States accepts War with Mexico. When the news of the attack reached Washington early in May, Polk sent a special message to Congress, concluding with these words: "We have tried every effort at reconciliation...But now, after reiterated menaces, Mexico has passed the boundary of the United States [the Rio Grande], has invaded our territory and shed American blood upon the American soil. She has proclaimed that hostilities have commenced, and that the two nations are at war. As war exists, and, notwithstanding all our efforts to avoid it, exists by the act of Mexico herself, we are called upon by every consideration of duty and patriotism to vindicate with decision the honor, the rights, and the interests of our country." The House and Senate, by very large majorities (174 to 14, and 40 to 2), voted 50,000 men and $10,000,000 for the prosecution of the war. Taylor invades Mexico. Photograph of Zachary TaylorMeanwhile, General Taylor had driven the Mexicans back to the south bank of the Rio Grande in the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma. Six days after the vote of Congress sanctioning the war, he crossed the Rio Grande and occupied the Mexican frontier town of Matamoros, whence he proceeded during the summer and autumn of 1846 to capture the capitals of three of the Mexican provinces. The Occupation of California and New Mexico. As soon as hostilities began, Commodore Sloat, in command of our squadron in the Pacific, was ordered to seize California, and General [Stephen Watts] Kearny was sent to invade New Mexico. The occupation of California was practically undisputed. Mexico had only the faintest shadow of authority in the province, and the 6000 white inhabitants made no objection to seeing the flag of the United States raised over their forts. Kearny started with 1800 men from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in June, and on the eighteenth of August defeated the force of 4000 Mexicans and Indians which disputed his occupation of Santa Fé. After garrisoning this important post he detached Colonel Doliphan with 850 men to march through the northern provinces of Mexico and effect a juncture with General Taylor at Monterey, while he himself with only 100 men continued his long journey of 1500 miles to San Diego, California, where he joined Sloat's successor, Stockton. Taylor's Victory at Buena Vista. After these decided victories and uninterrupted marches of Taylor, Kearny, Sloat, Stockton, and Doniphan, the Mexican government was offered a fair chance to treat for peace, which it refused. Then President Polk decided, with the unanimous consent of his cabinet, to strike at the heart of Mexico. Photo of Gen. Winfield ScottGeneral Winfield Scott, a hero of the War of 1812, was put in command of an army of about 12,000 men, to land at Vera Cruz and fight his way up the mountains to the capital city of Mexico. Santa Anna, who, by the rapid shift of revolutions, was again dictator in Mexico, heard of this plan to attack the capital and hastened north with 20,000 troops to surprise and destroy Taylor's army before Scott should have time to take Vera Cruz. But Taylor, with an army one-fourth the size of Santa Anna's, drove the Mexicans back in the hotly contested battle of Buena Vista (February 23, 1847), securing the Californian and New Mexican conquests. Santa Anna hastened southward to the defense of the city of Mexico. Scott take the city of Mexico. Scott took Vera Cruz in March and worked his way slowly but surely, against forces always superior to his own, up to the very gates of Mexico (August, 1847). Here he paused, by the President's orders, to allow the Mexicans another chance to accept the terms of peace which the United States offered,-the cession by Mexico of New Mexico and California in return for a large payment of money. The Mexican commissioners, however, insisted on having both banks of the Rio Grande and all of California up to the neighborhood of San Francisco, besides receiving damages for injuries inflicted by the American troops in their invasions. These claims were preposterous, coming from a conquered country, and there was nothing left for Scott to do but to resume military operations. Santa Anna defended the capital with a force of 30,000 men, but the Mexicans were no match for the American soldiers. Scott stormed the fortified hill of Chapultepec and advanced to the gates of the city. On the thirteenth of September his troops entered the Mexican capital and raised the Stars and Strips over "the palace of the Montezumas." Polk's Efforts to secure Peace. Lithograph of Gen. SantannaFrom the beginning of the war Polk had been negotiating for peace. He had kept Slidell in Mexico long after the opening of hostilities and had sent Nicholas Trist as special peace commissioner to join Scott's army at Vera Cruz and to offer Mexico terms of peace at the earliest possible moment. He had allowed Santa Anna to return to Mexico from his exile in Cuba in the summer of 1846, because the wily and treacherous dictator held out false promises of effecting a reconciliation between Mexico and the United States. He had asked Congress for an appropriation of $2,000,000 for peace negotiations when General Taylor was still near the Rio Grande, ten days before General Kearny had taken Santa Fé and the province of New Mexico, and before General Scott's campaign had been thought of. The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. When the Mexican commissioners made advances for peace at the beginning of the year 1848, they were given terms almost as liberal as those offered them before Scott had stormed and occupied their capital. By the treaty concluded at Guadalupe-Hidalgo, February 2, 1848, Mexico was required to cede California and New Mexico to the United States and to recognize the Rio Grande as the southern and western boundary of Texas. In return, the United States paid Mexico $15,000,000 cash and assumed some $3,250,000 more in claims of American citizens on the Mexican government. Considering the facts that California was scarcely under Mexican control at all and might have been taken at any moment by Great Britain, France, or Russia; that New Mexico was still the almost undisturbed home of Indian tribes; that the land from the Nueces to the Rio Grande was almost a desert; and that the American troops were in possession of the Mexican capital, the terms offered Mexico were very generous. Polk was urged by many to annex the whole country of Mexico to the United States, but he refused to consider such a proposal. The Justice of the Mexican War. The Mexican War has generally been condemned by American historians as "the foulest blot on our national honor," a war forced upon Mexico by slaveholders greedy for new territory, a perfect illustration of La Fontaine's fable of the wolf picking a quarrel with the lamb solely for an excuse to devour him. But Mexico had insulted our flag, plundered our commerce, imprisoned our citizens, lied to our representatives, and spurned our envoys. As early as 1837 President Jackson said that Mexico's offenses "would justify in the eyes of all nations immediate war." To be sure we were a strong nation and Mexico a weak one. But weakness should not give immunity to continued and open insolence. We had a right to annex Texas after that republic had maintained its independence for nine years; yet Mexico made annexation a cause of war. We were willing to discuss the boundaries of Texas with Mexico; but our accredited envoy was rejected by two successive Mexican presidents, who were afraid to oppose the war spirit of their country. We even refrained from taking Texas into the Union until Great Britain had interfered so far as to persuade Mexico to recognize the independence of Texas if she would refuse to join the United States. The Moral Aspect of the Annexation of Texas. If there was anything disgraceful in the expansionist program of the decade 1840-1850, it was not the Mexican War, but the annexation of Texas. The position of the abolitionists on this question was clear and logical. They condemned the annexation of Texas as a wicked extension of the slavery area, notwithstanding all arguments about "fulfilling our manifest destiny" or "attaining our natural boundaries." To annex Texas might be legally right, they said, but it was morally wrong. James Russell Lowell, in his magnificent poem "The Present Crisis" (1844), warned the annexationists that "They enslave their children's children who make compromise with sin." We certainly assumed a great moral responsibility when we annexed Texas. However, it was not to Mexico that we were answerable, but to the enlightened conscience of the nation. Completion of the Program of Expansion. With our acquisition of the Oregon territory to the forty-ninth parallel by the treaty of 1846 with Great Britain, and the cession of California and New Mexico by the treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in 1848, the boundaries of the United States reached practically their present limits. The work of westward extension was done. Expansion, the watchword of the decade 1840-1850, was dropped from our vocabulary for fifty years, and the immense energies of the nation were directed toward finding a plan on which the new territory could be organized in harmony with the conflicting interests of the free and slave sections of our country. IN: An American History, by David Saville Muzzey. Boston : Ginn Company, 1911 ************** another article: Mexico, WAR WITH. The annexation of Texas caused an immediate rupture between the United States and Mexico, for the latter claimed Texas as a part of her territory, notwithstanding its independence had been acknowledged by the United States, England, France, and other governments. Here's a little known fact about the antics of the Mexican Government: Quote:
Being fully aware of the hostile feelings of the Mexicans, President Polk ordered (July, 1845) General Zachary Taylor, then in command of the United States troops in the Southwest, to go to Texas and take a position as near the Rio Grande as prudence would allow. This force, about 1,500 strong, was called the Army of Occupation for the defense of Texas. At the same time a strong naval force, under Commodore Conner, sailed to the Gulf of Mexico to protect American interests there. In September Taylor formed a camp at Corpus Christi, and there remained during the autumn and winter. He was ordered, Jan. 13, 1846, to move from his camp at Corpus Christi to the Rio Grande, opposite the Spanish city of Matamoras, because Mexican troops were gathering in that direction. This was disputed territory between Texas and the neighboring province of Tamaulipas. When he encamped at Point Isabel, March 25, on the coast, 28 miles from Matamoras, Taylor was warned by the Mexicans that he was upon foreign soil. He left his stores at Point Isabel, under a guard of 450 men, and with the remainder of his army advanced to the bank of the Rio Grande, where he established a camp and began the erection of a fort, which he named Fort Brown, in honor of Major Brown, in command there. The Mexicans were so eager for war that they elected General Paredes to succeed President Herrera because he was overly anxious for peace with the United States. The latter sent General Ampudia, with a large force, to drive the Americans beyond the Nueces. This officer demanded of General Taylor, April 12, the withdrawal of his troops within twenty-four hours. Taylor refused, and continued to strengthen Fort Brown. Ampudia hesitated, when General Arista was put in his place as commander-in-chief of the Northern Division of the Army of Mexico. He was strongly reinforced, and the position of the Army of Occupation became critical. Parties of armed Mexicans soon got between Point Isabel and Fort Brown and cut off all intercommunication. A reconnoitering party under Captain Thornton was surprised and captured (April 24) on the Texas side of the Rio Grande, when Lieutenant Mason was killed. Having completed his fort, Taylor hastened to the relief of Point Isabel, May 1, which was menaced by a Mexican force, 1,500 strong, collected in the rear. He reached Point Isabel the same day. This departure of Taylor from the Rio Grande emboldened the Mexicans, who opened fire upon Fort Brown, May 3, from Matamoras, and a large body crossed the river to attack it in the rear. Taylor had left orders that in case of an attack, if peril appeared imminent, signal guns must be fired, and he would hasten to the relief of the fort. On the 6th, when the Mexicans began to plant cannon in the rear and Major Brown was mortally wounded, the signals were given, and Taylor marched for the Rio Grande on the evening of the 7th, with a little more than 2,000 men, having been reinforced by Texan volunteers and marines from the fleet. At noon the next day he fought and defeated Arista, with 6,000 troops, at PALO ALTO At 2 A.M. the next day his wearied army was summoned to renew its march, and, towards evening, fought a more sanguinary battle with the same Mexicans, at RESACA DE LA PALMA. Again the Americans were victorious. The Mexican army in Texas was now completely broken up. Arista saved himself by solitary flight across the Rio Grande. The garrison at Fort Brown was relieved. In the mean while, Congress had declared, May 11, 1846, that, " by the act of the republic of Mexico, a state of war exists between that government and the United States," and authorized the President to raise 50,000 volunteers. They also (May 13) appropriated $10,000,000 for carrying on the war. The Secretary of War and General Scott planned a magnificent campaign. On May 23 the Mexican government also declared war. THE FIGHT IN THE STREETS OF MONTEREY. General Taylor crossed the Rio Grande, drove the Mexican troops from Matamoras, took possession of the town (May 18), and remained there until August, when he received reinforcements and orders from his government. Then, with more than 6,000 troops, he moved on Monterey, defended by General Ampudia, with more than 9,000 troops. It was a very strongly built town, at the foot of the great Sierra Madre. A siege commenced Sept. 21 and ended with the capture of the place on the 24th. General Wool had been directed to muster and prepare for service the volunteers gathered at Bexar, in Texas, and by the middle of July 12,000 of them had been mustered into the service. Of these, 9,000 were sent to reinforce Taylor. Wool went up the Rio Grande with about 3,000 troops, crossed the river at Presidio, penetrated Mexico, and, in the last of October, reached Monclova, 70 miles northwest of Monterey. He pushed on to Coahuila, where he obtained ample supplies for his own and Taylor's troops. General Taylor had agreed to an armistice at Monterey. This was ended Nov. 13, by order of his government, when, leaving General Butler in command at Monterey, he marched to Victoria, the capital of Tamaulipas, with the intention of attacking Tampico, on the coast. Meanwhile, General Worth, with 900 men, had taken possession of Saltillo (Nov. 15), the capital of Coahuila. Taylor, ascertaining that Tampico had already surrendered to the Americans (Nov. 14), and that Santa Ana was collecting a large force at San Luis Potosi, returned to Monterey to reinforce Worth, if necessary. Worth was joined at Saltillo by Wool's division (Dec. 20), and Taylor again advanced to Victoria (Dec. 29). Just as he was about to proceed to a vigorous campaign, Taylor received orders from General Scott, at Vera Cruz, to send the latter a large portion of his (Taylor's) best officers and troops, and to act only on the defensive. This was a severe trial for Taylor, but he cheerfully obeyed. He and Wool were left with an aggregate force of only about 5,000 men, of whom only 500 were regulars, to oppose 20,000, then gathering at San Luis Potosi, under Santa Ana. Taylor and Wool united their forces, Feb. 4, 1847, on the San Luis road, determined to fight the Mexicans, who were approaching. The opportunity was not long delayed. The Americans fell back to Buena Vista, within 11 miles of Saltillo, and encamped in a narrow defile, and there a severe battle was fought, Feb. 23, resulting in victory for the Americans. GENERAL STEPHEN W. KEARNY was placed in command of the Army of the West, with instructions to conquer New Mexico and California. He left Fort Leavenworth in June, 1846, and, after a journey of 900 miles over the great plains and among mountain ranges, he arrived at Santa Fe, Aug. 18, having met with no resistance. Appointing Charles Brent governor, he marched towards California, and was soon met by an express from COMMODORE ROBERT F. STOCKTON, and LIEUT-COL. JOHN C. FREMONT, informing him that the conquest of California had been achieved. Fremont and a party of explorers, sixty in number, joined by American settlers in the vicinity of San Francisco, had captured a Mexican force at Sonoma pass, June 15, 1846, with the garrison, nine cannon, and 250 muskets. He then defeated another force at Sonoma, and drove the Mexican authorities out of that region of country. On July 5 the Americans in California declared themselves independent, and put Fremont at the head of affairs. On the 7th Commodore Sloat, with a squadron, bombarded and captured Monterey, on the coast; on the 9th Commodore Montgomery took possession of San Francisco. Commodore Stockton and Colonel Fremont took possession of Los Angeles on Aug. 17, and there they were joined by Kearny, who had sent the main body of his troops back to Santa Fe. Fremont went to Monterey, and there assumed the office of governor, and proclaimed, Feb. 8, 1847, the annexation of California to the United States Meanwhile, Colonel Doniphan, detached by Kearny, with 1,000 Missouri volunteers, marched towards Chihuahua to join General Wool. In two engagements with Mexicans he was victorious, and entered the capital of Chihuahua in triumph, March 2, and took possession of the province. After resting six weeks, he joined Wool at Saltillo, and thence returned to New Orleans, having made a perilous march from the Mississippi of about 5,000 miles. The conquest of all northern Mexico was now complete, and General Scott was on his march for the capital. He had landed at Vera Cruz, March 9, with an army of 13,000 men. It had been borne thither by a powerful squadron, commanded by Commodore Conner. He invested the city of VERA CRUZ on the 13th, and on the 27th it was surrendered with the castle of San Juan de Ulloa. Scott took possession of the city two days afterwards, and, on April 8, the advance of his army, under General Twiggs, began its march for the capital, by way of Jalapa. Santa Ana had advanced, with 12,000 men, to meet the invaders, and had taken post at Cerro Gordo, a difficult mountain pass at the foot of the Eastern Cordilleras. Scott had followed Twiggs with the rest of his army, and, on April IS, defeated the Mexicans at that strong pass, and, pushing forward, entered Jalapa on the 19th. On the 22d the American flag was unfurled over the Castle of Perote, on the summit of the Eastern Cordilleras, 50 miles from Jalapa. This was considered the strongest fortress in Mexico, excepting Vera Cruz. It was surrendered without resistance, and with it fifty-four pieces of cannon, some mortars, and a large amount of munitions of war. Battle of Churubusco BATTLE OF CHURUBUSCO. Onward the victorious army marched, and entered the fortified city of Puebla, May 15, a city of 80,000 inhabitants; and there the army rested until August. Being reinforced, Scott then pushed on towards the capital. From that very spot on the lofty Cordilleras, Cortez first looked down upon the quiet valley of Mexico, centuries before. Scott now beheld that spacious panorama, the seat of the capital of the Aztecs—the " Halls of the Montezuma." He pushed cautiously forward, and approached the stronghold before the city. The fortified camp of Contreras was taken by the Americans on Aug. 20. Then the strong fortress of San Antonio yielded the same day. The heights of Churubusco were attacked. Santa Anna advanced, and soon the whole region became one great battlefield. Churubusco was taken, and Santa Anna fled towards the capital. A Mexican army, 30,000 strong, had in a single day been broken up by another less than one-third its strength in number, and at almost every step the Americans were successful. Full 4,000 Mexicans were killed and wounded, 3,000 were made prisoners, and thirty-seven pieces of cannon were captured on that memorable day. The Americans had lost 1,100 in killed and wounded. They might now have entered the city of Mexico in triumph, but General Scott preferred to bear the olive-branch rather than the palm. As he advanced to Tacuba, Aug. 21, only 7 miles from the city, he met a deputation from Santa Anna to ask for an armistice, preparatory to negotiations for peace. It was granted. NICHOLAS P. TRIST, appointed by the United States government to treat for peace, was present. The treacherous Santa Anna had made this only a pretext to gain time to strengthen the defenses of the city. When the trick was discovered, Scott declared the armistice at an end, and advanced upon the city. Less than 4,000 Americans attacked Santa Ana with 14,000 Mexicans, Sept. 8, at Molino del Rey (the King's Mill), near Chapultepec. The combatants fought desperately and suffered dreadfully. The Mexicans left almost 1,000 dead on the field; the Americans lost 800. The lofty battlemented hill of Chapultepec was doomed. It was the last place to be defended outside of the city. It was attacked by mortar and cannon shells and round-shot, Sept. 12, and the assault continued until the next day, when the American flag waved in triumph over its shattered castle. The Mexicans fled into the city, pursued by the Americans to the very gates. That night Santa Ana and his troops, with the civil officers, fled from the city, and, at 4 A.M. the next day, a deputation from the municipal authorities waited upon Scott, begging him to spare the town and treat for peace. He would make no terms, but entered the city, Sept. 13, a conqueror ; and from the grand plaza he proclaimed the conquest of the republic of Mexico. Santa Ana made some feeble efforts to regain lost power, but failed. He was defeated in two slight battles. Before the close of October he was stripped of every command, and fled for safety to the shores of the Gulf. The president of the Mexican Congress assumed provisional authority, and, on Feb. 2, 1848, that body concluded a treaty of peace with the United States commissioners at Guadalupe-Hidalgo. It was ratified by both governments, and, on July 4, 1848, President Polk proclaimed it. It stipulated the evacuation of Mexico by the American troops within three months; the payment of $3,000,000 in hand, and $12,000,000 in four annual installments, by the United States to Mexico, for New Mexico and California, which had become territory of the United States by conquest, and, in addition, to assume debts due certain citizens of the United States from Mexico to the amount of $3,500,000. It also fixed boundaries and otherwise adjusted matters in dispute. General Scott Mexican War GENERAL SCOTT'S ENTRY INTO THE CITY OF MEXICO. Unfaithful American citizens plotted schemes for the extinction of the Mexican Republic (see KNIGHTS OF THE GOLDEN CIRCLE). While the plots were fast ripening, the two governments successfully negotiated a treaty by which the boundary-line between the United States and Mexico was defined and fixed. The treaty was ratified early in 1854, and it was agreed that the decisions of the commissioners appointed under it to revise the boundary should be final. By that treaty the United States was to be released from all obligations imposed by the treaty of peace with Mexico in 1848, and, as a consideration for this release, and for the territory ceded by Mexico, the United States agreed to pay the latter $10,000,000—$7,000,000 on the ratification of the treaty, and the remainder as soon as the boundary-line should be established. These conditions were complied with, and the peaceful relations between the two countries have never since been broken. For documents relating to the war, see POLK, JAMES KNOX. See, also, the titles of the military and naval officers above mentioned, and of the scenes of battles. See CHAPULTEPEC, BATTLE OF; CHURUBUSCO, BATTLE OF. Apparently people seem to want to think that Mexico was bullied into the loss of California and Texas but the opposite is true. Last edited by irishgrl; 06-17-2006 at 06:06 PM..
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#48
06-17-2006, 06:12 PM
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By the way and for the record, I am not anti-Mexican. My point in this thread has always revolved around the aspect of illegality of these immigrants, which by the way have come from more than just Mexico (but the overwhelming majority have been Mexican) as I posted in another article, these illegals are from around the globe, to wit:
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#49
06-17-2006, 11:53 PM
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Much of the excerpt seems to be poorly written unless it's that parts are missing or something. I write poorly sometimes but I'm not making money from a University publisher, and I never have even graduated high school. There are other histories from other periods, other sides perhaps even, that paint a portrait of deceipt, unfair dealings, broken agreements and so forth essentially starting at how the territory was simply invaded illegally which is about how most countires or empires add territory anyway. But as I say, Santa Ana was an awful character himself and faced with choosing between him or joining the union a great many finally went with joining the union even though they regretted it not long after. The U.S. acted from the beginning as if it's manifest destiny was to rule as much of N. America as possible such as in the war of 1812 and populating and developing the west. Law always came after the fact, retroactively (and to make the history books look good if you don't look too closely).
Well, the land has been pretty valuable which had been part of Spanish America, and they took it from the natives in the first place in any case, even more gruesomely then the later northern Europeans. But it seems a bit odd outside the U.S. sometimes to have people in places with Spanish names like Nevada and Texas and California complaining about being invaded by Spanish speaking people. In Canada the English beat the French but we allowed them to keep their language officially and maybe the U.S. should have done the same, or at least for the historically Spanish states.
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#50
06-18-2006, 09:09 AM
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California wasnt as disputed as Texas was, since vast tracts of land were given to provisional Governors (white) to manage and control. The original "thief" if you will, was SPAIN, who set about sytematically establishing missions and converting the natives to Christianity. Prior to the advent of the influx of white people, California was a mix of pastoral natives and renegade outlaws from Mexico who preyed upon the unwary few white settlers in CA. By the time California joined the Union, there were more whites than any other race in this area and as you know, possession is 9/10ths of the law (that is, if you possess something your chances are almost assured you "own" it) I realize the articles I posted may appear choppy by todays standards but they were the first two I came across that detailed the events around Texas and CA. And I did leave some parts out, because they were a duplicate of the others. I could do another search and bring in other articles but it doesnt change the basic facts that (1) Texas was independent (first thru war, then thru treaty) for 9 years before Mexico decided it wanted Texas back (thus not honoring its own treaty) and (2) California was primarily populated by white people at the time of Commodore Sloat's military seizure, all of which were more than happy to join the Union. As an aside, When I took a California History class in college, there was an idea presented that there is a theory among some people (not saying I agree, just posting the theory) that Mexico never got over the loss of California and Texas and has systematically been infiltrating these two states as a way of reconquering from within. Some people believe this is true and are deathly afraid that this scheme will succeed! one other thing: about the language, I think its admirable that the English allowed the French to keep their language in Canada but at the same time, I think it can cause a division between peoples. In effect you have two distinctly different cultures, seemingly existing side by side, yet not blending. Since language is a huge part of a nation's identity, I for one think it is important that it be identified and USED. What you speak at home is your own business, but its unrealistic, especially in a country with as many cultures as the US has, to keep trying to accomodate so many languages. If you come here to LIVE, you need to be able to speak the language. It makes life easier all the way around I think...
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