Abstract
Política: Nuevomexicanos and American Political Incorporation, 1821–1910, by Phillip Gonzales, is a well-written and thoroughly researched historical study that provides a detailed account of the annexation of New Mexico to the United States. Its 1054 pages include illustrations, maps, tables, preface, acknowledgments, appendices, notes, bibliography, an index, and five sections dedicated to the history of New Mexico from 1821 to 1910. The bulk of the analysis is in the sections that contain 15 chapters in 815 pages organized in chronological order. The author includes text and quotations in Spanish, presumably targeting bilingual readers who might appreciate interpreting the events and voices in their own language.
The chapters contain themes of race and ethnicity, social stratification, economic and political advantages and disadvantages, processes of differentiation and assimilation, resistance and acceptance, and the race for power and control. The political twists and turns drive the reader into chaotic times, to a place that Americans take for granted but which was once an unstable gathering of conflicting identities. The following paragraphs attempt to recreate the most salient sociological themes.
In New Mexico, economic and social disparities had been evident since independence was won from Spain (p.61). Early agricultural entrepreneurship was limited, given geographical and climatic conditions, lack of vision, and Indian raids. Frontier merchant exchanges ranged from products to the trading of women and children who would be used as slaves (p.65). Consistently, the upper classes were educated, while the poor remained illiterate (p.67). American goods entered the market, taking advantage of the proximity and appetite for a variety of products. While the United States quickly moved to adapt capitalism, Mexico was still trapped in the residual colonial ideologies that prevented the full integration of its citizens. It is in this arena that the United States seduced the minds of their neighbors, especially the wealthier elites, offering the ideals of “equal rights” and “equal development” and the opportunity of siding with a more progressive egalitarian and prosperous society.
The war came amid the thirst for expansion on one side and a new sense of patriotism on the other. The initial American perception was that New Mexicans would voluntarily integrate to the United States, given their appreciation for the culture and recognition of the economic advantages. Assembling a defense army in New Mexico was not an easy task. The lack of organization, poor military resources and tactics, and the ambivalent response against and in favor of the American occupation complicated a timely response. One encounter yielded one American killed and one wounded versus 20 Mexicans killed and 60 wounded (p.130), while the more notorious Taos Revolt ended with 47 American soldiers killed versus 350 Mexicans and Indians killed (p.131). The disadvantage was evident.
This book presents raw material apt for sociological analysis. First, there are several aspects of Durkheim’s theory of integration fit to analyze the chaotic climate in New Mexico before and after the U.S. arrival. Second, the author presents accounts showing how some New Mexicans perceived Americans as a superior race, while native Indians were viewed with fear of assaults and robbery and were compared to savages. Third, New Mexico was a stratified society, not so distant from the realities of today, but exacerbated by their lack of organization.
I found in Chapter Three some of the most solid sociological analysis in the transition from 1847 to 1848: 1) the national/ethnic imagination, described as a generalized depiction of the agreeable elite that could not be understood as the reality of other groups in the aftermath of the American invasion, since not all people were integrated in the social arena sharing similar citizen rights (p.146); 2) the importance of the first newspaper in New Mexico that promoted differentiation as a valuable democratic tool for the Anglo and Spanish-speaking communities; 3) the implementation of a rational bureaucratic American system that began with the translation to Spanish of the U.S. constitution, followed by the systematic adoption of legislative and political structures (pp.151–154); and 4) the transition to delimiting the Catholic Church’s power on political affairs.
It is somehow ironic to notice that political instability then and now seems to repeat history in contrasting but parallel lines. For example, after the annexation, the “Mexican government established a repatriation commission for California and New Mexico” (p.175). The government provided assistance to those who wanted to return to Mexico, which mirrors what the current government has done when a massive number of Mexican immigrants were deported. Coincidentally, the reason for their return was “the fear of losing rights in the [United States] because of their race” (p.175). Similarly, the election of New Mexico’s delegate to Congress in 1867 came surrounded with allegations of fraud (p.611). Another instance that resonates with current times is that in spite of apparent evidence that such fraud had in fact occurred, the U.S. House Elections Committee would not rectify the decision, claiming that it “would set a precedent making all candidates with a losing count in future elections eligible for the seat simply by claiming fraud” (p.614).
The byproduct of annexation was the loss of cultural values and traditions. Not only were indigenous people losing their land, but they lost their Mexican identity as well. Such a transition implied a certain degree of “trauma and . . . rupture with the past” (p.202) that included speaking English instead of Spanish. From the American point of view, the annexation brought long-lasting political instability. New Mexico was not immediately incorporated as a state; it had a military government to deal with riots and such until it was assimilated into the larger American arena.
An illustration of social integration and identification with the United States was the reaction to the news about President Lincoln’s assassination. New Mexicans identified with the quest for equal rights, especially since they felt they were regarded as second-class citizens. Decades after the annexation of New Mexico to the United States, some natives were still coping with feelings of exclusion and impotence. While some New Mexicans voluntarily surrendered, others continued fighting, wanting to preserve at least some aspects of their former identities, battling to have a space in politics and to continue exerting their right to the land and to voice their opinions above the imposed American ones. Among the groups mostly excluded were the Indian natives seen as problematic people raiding and robbing, black slaves who dealt with the polarized sentiments of the entire nation leading to the Civil War, and, to a lesser extent but still visible, the Jewish community facing anti-Semitism (Chapter 11).
The author provides detailed accounts of historical value, preserving the names and places where actions took place. Some of this detail might not be altogether needed, and some paragraphs could have been turned into sentences. Similarly, in some instances, the author could have summarized events instead of using quotations. Nevertheless, the book is interesting, well written, and entertaining, engaging the reader into visualizing and fully appreciating this Mexican-American history.