Focusing on the legacies of the Mexican War, the history of Mexican immigration and US-Mexican relations, and the struggle for citizenship and civil rights.
As you know, essay exams—and especially short essay exams—require careful thought and organization. So before you begin drafting your essay, it is important that you develop at least a rough outline, carefully choose examples in support of your argument, and write clear and direct sentences to develop that argument. Again, since you face significant space limitations, please avoid the use of long block quotes. To cite an article, simply use the following format at the end of the sentence in question: (Reisler, pp. 235-236).
Please respond to the following prompt.
In many ways, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is a remarkable document. On the one hand, it is a punitive measure that formalized the loss of nearly half of Mexico’s territory after a brutal war of invasion and conquest in which more than 25,000 Mexicans lost their lives. On the other hand, however, the treaty extended legal and political guarantees to those citizens of Mexico who chose to remain in the conquered territory that were virtually unprecedented in their generosity. According to the treaty, all former citizens of Mexico who chose to remain in the annexed territory after the war were to be “incorporated into the Union of the United States and be admitted…to the enjoyment of all the rights of citizens of the United States, according to the principles of the Constitution; and in the meantime, shall be maintained and protected in the free enjoyment of their liberty and property, and secured in the free exercise of their religion without restriction.” Moreover, since access to U.S. citizenship at that time was restricted to members of the “white race,” the terms of the treaty also appeared to legally define Mexicans in these territories as “white,” which was obviously an important status distinction in nineteenth-century America.
Utilizing evidence drawn from all relevant readings in the first four weeks of the course, write an essay of 8-10 pages (double-spaced, standard margins) in which you assess the effectiveness and historical legacies of the citizenship guarantees extended to Mexican Americans by the treaty in the period between 1850 and 1900. How did social, cultural, political, and economic factors influence the actual implementation of the treaty—and what role did these factors play in shaping people’s everyday lives after the war?