The Ethnicity of Mexians in the United States Essay

The Ethnicity of Mexians in the United States For centuries, Mexican Americans have dealt with an enormous amount of hardships that date back to their early Aztec roots. The source of many problems in Mexican American history can be traced in the pre-colonial period, before the United States of America was even conceived. Major problems of this era in history not only affected the Aztecs, but also the following generations of Aztec and Mexican descent, and continue to have an impact on their descendents in contemporary American society. Beginning in the fifteenth century with the arrival of Columbus, natives of the Americas were infected with European diseases that proved to be deadly to the Indians. The population in northern Mexico†¦show more content†¦By the mid-nineteenth century, the United States had developed into a significant threat towards the occupants of the southwest; manifest destiny had begun to sweep the land. The United States would proceed to conquer the same lands that the Spaniards had conquered from the natives only years before. Upon acquiring these lands, the United States also attained the issue of how the people who lived there should be treated. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, 1848 offered a solution to the problem. In the treaty, the United States officialized the land transfer from Mexico to the United States, paid Mexico for the land, established boundaries between the two countries, and granted citizenship and land property rights to the Mexicans living in the newly acquired l ands. Although the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo guaranteed the enjoyment of all the rights of citizens of the United States according to the principles of the Constitution (139) to the Mexicans in the newly acquired territories, the sincerity conveyed in the treaty is questionable. Failure to uphold these promises resulted in the Chicano Rights Movements of the twentieth century. In the years following the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the Mexicans who had been granted citizenship and property rights did not receive all that had been