Mexican immigration to
the United States began with bad theology and an “unjust war.”
In 1821, Mexico was about twice its current size. It included what is now California, Texas,
Arizona, New Mexico, and Nevada, as well as parts of Utah, Colorado, and
Kansas. After Mexican independence from Spain in 1821, Anglo
Americans began settling in the Texas territories. In 1836, these
immigrants and Mexican Texans, or, “Tejanos,” gained their independence from
Mexico through military battle (i.e., “Remember the Alamo”…). As you can imagine, Mexico was
not quick to recognize Texas’ claim to independence and did not like it when
Texas became a state of the American union in 1845. To make matters
worse, the U.S. and Mexico disagreed as to what constituted the official border
between Texas and Mexico. The U.S.
asserted that the boundary was the Rio Grande River (what it is today). Mexico claimed that the border was 150
miles farther north at the Nueces River (which was the historical boundary
line). This border dispute is theoretically what sparked the
Mexican-American War in 1846.
Following failed diplomatic negotiations regarding the
boundary line, 4,000 U.S. troops marched to the disputed Rio Grande
region. According to President
Polk, Mexican troops then fired on American troops and started the
Mexican-American War. A year and a
half later, the U.S. won the war and Mexico was forced to sign the Treaty of
Guadalupe-Hidalgo.
As part of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, Mexico
surrendered half of its territory to the United States in exchange for 15
million dollars. That’s how the
U.S. acquired the present-day states of California, New Mexico, Nevada and
parts of Colorado, Arizona, Utah, and even Oklahoma—over half a million square
miles.
That’s also how we Mexicans first “immigrated” to the
U.S. We didn’t cross the border; the border crossed us!
Unknown to most people, many
Americans felt that the Mexican-American War was an “unjust war.” Abraham Lincoln was the most famous
opponent of the Mexican-American War.
Lincoln felt that the war “was unnecessarily and unconstitutionally
commenced by the President," and he staked his early congressional
reputation on opposition to the war.
Ulysses S. Grant, famous Civil War general and 18th President
of the United States, also condemned the Mexican-American War later in
life. He stated, “I had a horror
of the Mexican War…only I had not moral courage enough to resign…I considered
my supreme duty was to my flag.” Grant went so far as to say that he felt the
Civil War was God’s punishment of the U.S. for the Mexican-American War.
Nicholas Trist, the man responsible for brokering the Treaty
of Guadalupe-Hidalgo for the United States, had some of the harshest words to
say about the war and ensuing treaty:
“If those Mexicans…had been able
to look into my heart at that moment, they would have found that the sincere
shame I felt as a North American was stronger than theirs as Mexicans. Although I was unable to say it at the
time, it was something that any North American should be ashamed of…”
To make matters worse,
the Mexican-American War and the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo were inspired by
bad theology. This bad theology had a name, and it
was called Manifest Destiny. According to Manifest Destiny, God had ordained the United
States to colonize North America “from sea to shining sea”—from Maine to
California, and everything in between.
Moreover, as a specially
anointed people of God, Anglo Americans
were given the “manifest destiny” to spread Protestant Christianity and U.S.
democracy throughout North America.
The brutal colonization of the Native American population and the seizure
of half of Mexico through an unjust war was all part of this so-called “divine
calling.”
John O’Sullivan, editor of the Democratic Review, coined the term “Manifest Destiny.” In the July/August 1845 issue of the Democratic Review, Sullivan claimed
that it was the American “destiny to overspread the whole North American
continent with an immense democratic population” (i.e., white and
Protestant). Manifest Destiny was not some fringe
idea either. It had broad social
support, and proponents included rural communities, New England poets, northern
abolitionists, and southern slave holders. Notable supporters of Manifest Destiny included Walt
Whitman,
John Quincy Adams, and Andrew Jackson.
Perhaps not surprisingly, the letters and diaries of American
soldiers during the Mexican-American War clearly articulate the bad theology of
Manifest Destiny. In fact, some of
these letters and diaries are quite shocking. For example, one volunteer officer wrote the following to
his cousin who was a Protestant minister:
“I wish I had the power to stop
their churches [Mexican Catholic Churches]…to bring off this treasure hoard of
gold and jewels, and to put the greasy
priests, monks, friars and other officials at work on the public highways
as a preliminary step to mending their ways…It is perfectly certain that
this war is a divine dispensation intended to purify and punish this misguided
nation…Most of our officers concur with me that nothing but a divine ruler
and commander could have brought us safely through so much peril against awful
odds.”
Unfortunately, some American Catholics were also not immune
to the lure of Manifest Destiny.
One Catholic soldier wrote:
“ I cannot help but think, that
God has fought upon our side, to chastize them for their sins.”
Some American soldiers not only misrepresented Christianity
through their bad theology and journal entries, but also through unjustified
violence on the battlefield. Accounts
of soldier misconduct during the Mexican-American War were also often
squelched. Highlighting the
military abuses committed by American soldiers, and the silencing of voices of
opposition, one military private wrote the following to his father:
“The majority of the Volunteers
sent here are a disgrace to the nation; think
of one of them shooting a woman while washing in the bank of the river—merely
to test his rifle; another tore forcibly from a Mexican woman the rings
from her ears. Their officers take
no notice of these outrages, and the offenders escape. If
these things are sent to the papers, they are afraid to publish, and so it
happens.”
One regular officer commented on the military destruction in
northern Mexico in the following way:
“From Saltillo to Mier, with the
exception of the large towns, all is a desert, and there is scarcely a solitary
house (if there be one) inhabited.
The smiling villages which welcomed our troops on their upward march are
now black and smouldering ruins, the gardens and orange groves destroyed, and
the inhabitants, who administered to their necessities, have sought refuge in
the mountains.”
Boy, this is making me depressed! I’ve taught about the Mexican-American War many times in my
classes, but this is the first time I’ve had the opportunity to speak about it
in depth to a broader audience in the context of my faith. As a follower of Jesus,
it makes me so sad to know that there were those who misrepresented His
name in such a horrific way.
I am filled with hope,
however, to know that there were Christians who loudly and boldly denounced the
Mexican-American War. As we’ve
already said, Abraham Lincoln was a vocal Christian critic of the war, and so
was Ulysses Grant--later in life at least. In a book called, The
War With Mexico Reviewed, Abiel Abbott Livermore also denounced the war in
powerful—and explicitly Christian—terms.
In stinging condemnation of Manifest Destiny, Livermore wrote:
“Again, the pride of race has
swollen to still greater insolence the pride of country, always quite active
enough for the due observance of the claims of universal brotherhood. The Anglo-Saxons have been apparently
persuaded to think themselves the chosen people, anointed race of the Lord,
commissioned to drive out the heathen, and plant their religion and
institutions in every Canaan they could subjugate…Our treatment both of the red
man and the black man has habituated us to feel our power and forget right…The
god Terminus is an unknown deity in America. Like the hunger of the pauper boy of fictionm the cry had
been, ‘more, more, give us more.’”
(As cited in Rodolfo Acuna, Occupied
America, 46).
In recognition of his forceful critic of the
Mexican-American War, Livermore was awarded the American Peace Society prize
for “the best review of the Mexican War and the principles of Christianity, and
an enlightened statesmanship” (Acuna, 46).
The example of Livermore reminds me of an historical
principle that I’ve found to be at
play in the past 2,000 years of world history. Every time
someone, or some country, misrepresents the name of Jesus through racism or oppression
of the poor and marginalized, God always raises up a witness. Like Livermore, these witnesses denounce such misrepresentation as
counter to the teachings of Jesus and sacred Scripture, and loudly declare that
God is a God of justice and compassion for the poor and marginalized of
society.
Can I get a witness?
Robert Chao Romero
@ProfeChaoRomero
Nice informative post dear.. i discussing Mexican Immigration Guidance for your consideration
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