Religion, Anti-Catholicism, and the Mexican-American War

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
John C. Pinheiro
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mexican American War ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Protestant Christianity ◽  
Mormon Battalion ◽  
The U.S

The death and carnage that accompany war usually lead participants to seek transcendent meaning in their suffering as well as in their defeat or victory. This was especially true of the Mexican War, a conflict that deeply affected the growth of civil religion in the United States even as it tested the limits of religious pluralism. Religion gave Americans the most effective means of making sense out of their conflict with Mexico, even as it helped them solidify a national identity as a providentially blessed republic of Anglo-Saxon Protestants. The Mexican-American War of 1846–1848 was tremendously consequential for both countries. Its immediate cause lay in a dispute over territory claimed by both countries along the border of the newly annexed American state of Texas. Mexican and American troops clashed there on April 25, 1846. The U.S. Congress, though not without some grumbling, quickly responded to a request by President James K. Polk and declared war on Mexico. In the war, the U.S. Army invaded Mexico by land and sea, taking the capital on September 14, 1847. Other than a few skirmishes and scattered guerrilla attacks, the fighting war was over. In the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ending the conflict, Mexico ceded nearly its entire northern frontier—one-third of its territory—to the United States. The war occurred on the heels of the Second Great Awakening and amid the westward migration of the new, much-persecuted Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, or Mormons. At the same time, heavy Irish immigration had reawakened a latent anti-Catholicism, resulting in new political parties, fights over religion in public schools, and deadly anti-Catholic rioting. While evangelical Protestants got to work refining a civil-religious discourse that depended for its intelligibility on anti-Catholicism, nativist politicians began adopting Christian terminology. Thus, the war between the overwhelmingly Protestant United States and Catholic Mexico became the means by which anti-Catholicism emerged as integral to American identity and American belief in a God-given, special mission to the world: spreading liberty and republican government, along with their prerequisite, Protestant Christianity. Religion impacted the war in other important ways. The U.S. Army sponsored the Mormon Battalion, the only regular U.S. Army unit ever organized along religious lines. Religion also played a role in the formation by American deserters of the Mexican army brigade known as the San Patricios. And despite U.S. government policy to the contrary, a few U.S. soldiers, inspired by recruiters and derogatory descriptions of Mexican religion by American writers and preachers, vandalized and robbed Mexican churches and committed other atrocities. Meanwhile, the war challenged Protestant pacifists and abolitionists, who wondered whether an otherwise evil war could produce the good fruit of opening Mexico to Protestant missionaries or excising Catholicism from the continent. As a result of the brief but far-reaching Mexican-American War, Americans now possessed a civil religious sentiment and common identity that was intelligible only within a Protestant milieu and through a distinctively American anti-Catholic discourse.

Indian Raids in Northern Mexico and the Construction of Mexican Sovereignty

2020 ◽  
pp. 153-174
Author(s):  
Marcela Terrazas y Basante
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
The United States ◽  
Northern Territory ◽  
Free Movement ◽  
American Population ◽  
Mexican American War ◽  
Northern Mexico ◽  
The U.S

This essay focuses on the borderlands of Mexico and the United States in the decades following the Mexican-American War. There, American, Apache, Comanche, and Mexican inhabitants came into contact with one another and their distinctive and sometimes conflicting understandings of sovereignty led to significant discord. In different ways, Mexico and the U.S. sought to assert control over part of these borderlands, which included restricting the movement of outsiders within their territory. Apache and Comanche peoples, on the contrary, regarded free movement across the region as “irrevocable.” The increasing American population both provided demand for livestock that drove indigenous raids into Mexico and curtailed access to land and resources, promoting migration across the border and making it exceedingly difficult for Mexico to assert sovereign control over northern territory.

The US–Mexico War

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Omar Valerio-Jiménez
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Mexican Americans ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mexican War ◽  
Mexican American War ◽  
The Us ◽  
Northern Territories ◽  
United States Mexico ◽  
The U.S

The United States–Mexico War was the first war in which the United States engaged in a conflict with a foreign nation for the purpose of conquest. It was also the first conflict in which trained soldiers (from West Point) played a large role. The war’s end transformed the United States into a continental nation as it acquired a vast portion of Mexico’s northern territories. In addition to shaping U.S.–Mexico relations into the present, the conflict also led to the forcible incorporation of Mexicans (who became Mexican Americans) as the nation’s first Latinos. Yet, the war has been identified as the nation’s “forgotten war” because few Americans know the causes and consequences of this conflict. Within fifteen years of the war’s end, the conflict faded from popular memory, but it did not disappear, due to the outbreak of the U.S. Civil War. By contrast, the U.S.–Mexico War is prominently remembered in Mexico as having caused the loss of half of the nation’s territory, and as an event that continues to shape Mexico’s relationship with the United States. Official memories (or national histories) of war affect international relations, and also shape how each nation’s population views citizens of other countries. Not surprisingly, there is a stark difference in the ways that American citizens and Mexican citizens remember and forget the war (e.g., Americans refer to the “Mexican American War” or the “U.S.–Mexican War,” for example, while Mexicans identify the conflict as the “War of North American Intervention”).

Latino Catholics in the Southwest

2019 ◽  
pp. 43-62
Author(s):  
Timothy Matovina
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Latin America ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mexican American War ◽  
Church And Society ◽  
History Of ◽  
The U.S

This chapter summarizes new trends in scholarship on the U.S. Southwest by expanding and refining the three-era schema of Southwest history illustrated in the book of Francis Baylies, who accompanied the victorious U.S. forces on their march through Mexico following the Mexican–American war. The book reflected U.S. views on the history of the region and the U.S. takeover of the former Mexican territories. The chapter divides Latino Catholicism in the Southwest into a thematic schema: colonial foundations, enduring communities of faith in the wake of the war between Mexico and the United States, the rejuvenation and diversification of Latino Catholic communities with the arrival of numerous immigrants from Mexico and throughout Latin America, and the struggle for rights in church and society that accelerated during the second half of the twentieth century.

Concrete Biodeterioration in the U.S.-Mexico Border Region

2010 ◽  
Vol 1278 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. E. Rendon ◽  
M. E. Lara ◽  
S. K. Rendon ◽  
M. Rendon ◽  
X. Li
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Arid Region ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
Groundwater Resources ◽  
The United States ◽  
Border Region ◽  
Hardened Concrete ◽  
Mexico Border ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Sewage Systems

AbstractConcrete biodeterioration is defined as the damage that the products of microorganism metabolism, in particular sulfuric acid, do to hardened concrete. In Canada and in the northern part of the United States, sewer failures from concrete biodeterioration are almost unknown. In the southern part of the United States and in Mexico, however, it is a serious and expensive problem in sewage collection systems, which rapidly deteriorate. Also, leaking sewage systems result in the loss of groundwater resources particularly important in this arid region. Almost every city in the Mexican-American border region, who's combined population is more than 15 million people, faces this problem. The U.S. cities have made some provision to face these infrastructure problems, but the Mexican cities have made less effort. We recommend here the Mexican norm (NMX-C-414-ONNCCE-2004) [1] to be reviewed, or at least that a warning be issued as a key measure to avoid concrete biodeterioration.

Caged Birds

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly Lytle Hernández
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
The United States ◽  
Border Crossings ◽  
Ground Zero ◽  
Mexican Community ◽  
History Of ◽  
Immigrant Detention ◽  
The U.S

The fifth chapter continues to chart the rise of Mexican and Mexican American incarceration in the United States. Like Magon’s rebellion, it is a tale that unfolded in Los Angeles and across the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. Like the history of immigrant detention, it is a story about the collision of deportation and incarceration. But in particular, Chapter 5 examines how, during the 1920s and 1930s, the politics of controlling Mexican immigration to the United States directly prompted the criminalization of unauthorized border crossings and, in turn, triggered a steady rise in the number of Mexicans imprisoned within the United States. Home to the largest Mexican community within the United States, Los Angeles was ground zero for the politics and practices of Mexican incarceration in these years.

Welfare impacts of the 1996 United States - Canada Softwood Lumber (trade) Agreement

2001 ◽  
Vol 31 (11) ◽  
pp. 1958-1967 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daowei Zhang
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Trade Agreement ◽  
The United States ◽  
Price Impact ◽  
Policy Debate ◽  
Quota System ◽  
Welfare Impacts ◽  
Softwood Lumber ◽  
The U.S

This paper investigates welfare impacts of the 1996 United States – Canada Softwood Lumber (trade) Agreement (SLA), which set up a tariff-regulated quota system to restrict softwood lumber export from Canada to the United States. An aggregate price model is used to estimate the price impact of the SLA, and the implied quantity and welfare effects are examined. The results show that while the anticipated change in lumber price is about $59 in 1997 U.S. dollars or 16%, on average, for the first 4 years under the SLA, the gains to U.S. producers of softwood lumber are large and the losses to U.S. consumers are much larger. In addition, Canadian producers have benefitted from the SLA in the U.S. market, and the Canadian government has collected a small amount of additional export fees. As the overall efficiency costs of the SLA are modest, the SLA can be seen as an effective means of welfare transfer from U.S. consumers to the U.S. and Canadian producers. These results should provide a framework for ongoing trade policy debate.

Introduction

Islam ◽  
2017 ◽  
pp. 29-36
Author(s):  
Nadia Marzouki
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Public Schools ◽  
Federal Government ◽  
Religious Freedom ◽  
Muslim Women ◽  
The United States ◽  
Religious Minority ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The U.S

The 2004 French law that prohibits wearing conspicuous religious symbols in public schools provoked much perplexity and even indignation in the United States. The law appeared to go entirely against the American definition of religious freedom as a fundamental individual right and the principle of its free exercise as guaranteed by the First Amendment of the Constitution. The questions and moralizing multiplied: What right had the French state to intervene in the regulation of religious practices? Why did the French have the mischievous obsession of always instituting new laws to settle the least little problem? Did young Muslim women really need to be protected by the republic? But France is hardly the only target of America’s wrath. Several countries are regularly denounced for their intolerance toward this or that religious minority: Why do the Germans refuse to recognize Scientology as a religion? Why do Italians oppose the construction of mosques? Why are the Belgians afraid of a few burkas? One institution in particular has for many years played an essential role in the construction of this narrative that places an exceptional America—champion of religious freedom—in opposition to an aging Europe that is increasingly insular, intolerant, and racist. The United States Commission for International Religious Freedom is an independent, bipartisan group created by the federal government in 1998 to make recommendations to the U.S. State Department about the condition of religious liberties around the world. Based in Washington, D.C., ...

Building the Mexican Borderlands

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Verónica Castillo-Muñoz
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
Baja California ◽  
Colorado River ◽  
The United States ◽  
Mexican American War ◽  
Northern Mexico

This chapter examines the migrations of Diegueño and Californio families from the United States to Baja California, a migration previously unknown to U.S. historians. It delves into the tumultuous aftermath of the Mexican–American War, especially how indigenous peoples living on the banks of the Colorado River dealt with U.S. expansion into northern Mexico. Writing about indigenous people was challenging since they left almost no written documents. Moreover, the cyclical destruction of Baja's Catholic missions meant that only a few church records survived. The author spent three years piecing together small vignettes of indigenous people from scattered government and company minutes located in three countries.

Critical Perspectives in Youth Gang Formation in the United States

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin D. Lam
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Los Angeles ◽  
Critical Pedagogy ◽  
Asian American ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
The United States ◽  
State Violence ◽  
Youth Gang ◽  
Structural Forces ◽  
The U.S

Youth gangs of color in the United States have emerged in the context of larger structural forces. For example, Mexican American, black, and Vietnamese/Asian American youth gang formation in Southern California is tied to their respective racialized communities’ initial movements into the Los Angeles area (from Mexico and Vietnam, and for blacks, from the U.S. South). Structural forces such as political/social unrest and economic instability, both domestically and in their sending countries; the role of the U.S. military and economic apparatus; and (im)migration patterns and trends impact the particularities of youth gang subculture—including protection and self-preservation; ethnic pride and desire for family; having to navigate, resist, and rearticulate youth identities (in and outside the context of schooling); and the desire to garner money, power, and respect in a capitalist context. U.S. racism and state violence have also had an impact on youth gang formation. Anti-youth legislation in the late 1980s and early 1990s, in particular, have helped shape the discourse on youth of color, criminality, “gangs,” space, and citizenship over the past three decades. Although such youth are typically on the margins or left out of educational institutions, a critical pedagogy provides a space for engagement and hope.

The Mexican-American War

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irving W. Levinson
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
The United States ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Mexican American War ◽  
War Of Independence ◽  
The Face ◽  
Socioeconomic Structure ◽  
Political Milieu

The Mexican-American War ranks among the most consequential events in the history of both nations. Although the casus belli for the United States’s May 12, 1846, declaration of war was the Mexican ambush of a U.S. Army patrol in the disputed Nueces Strip on April 25 of that year, two underlying causes rendered conflict inevitable. The dispute over Texas was the first, and the desire of both nations to control the Mexican provinces of Nuevo Mexico and California was the second. President James Knox Polk identified the acquisition of that territory as the principal objective of his administration. The conflict also remains noteworthy for the extent to which the political milieu in both countries proved as important as events on the battlefields. In México, a devastating war of independence (1810–1821), multiple violent overthrows of the federal government, the failure of two constitutions to produce a structure acceptable to both conservatives and liberals, and enmities generated by the socioeconomic structure severely limited México’s growth, tranquility, and potential for armed resistance to an invader. In the United States, the national unity evident at the outbreak of the war faded in the face of sectional rivalries, unexpectedly high casualties, and declining relations between the executive and legislative branches. The military phases of the war fall into two segments. In the first, forces considerably smaller than those deployed in later phases of the war fought in Texas and in the Mexican provinces of Nuevo Mexico, California, Tamaulipas, and Nuevo Leon. When United States victories in northern Mexico failed to produce the anticipated Mexican surrender, the second phase of the conflict began on March 9, 1847, with General Winfield Scott’s invasion of central Mexico and ended with his entrance in Mexico City on September 14, 1847. In the following seven months, both governments sought to obtain the best terms. A rising tide of violent rural rebellion in Mexico and a rising tide of Whig opposition to the Polk administration in Washington served as catalysts during the negotiations. Two agreements, the February 2, 1848, Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo and the March 6, 1848, Truce Agreement brought hostilities a close. Consequences of the conflict included the Mexico’s loss of 525,000 square miles of territory, the emergence of the United States as the dominant continental power, the dispossession of many Mexican citizens living in what had become U.S. territory, and the reestablishment of Mexican sovereignty over territories in rebellion.

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