Whose land? United States of America’s land.
An awful lot of crying and gnashing of teeth in Los Angeles in regard to ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) actually enforcing immigration law.
As usual, those waving Mexican flags and screaming that the Western states are “stolen land,” I’d like to point out some historical facts to the same Marxist protesters.
Just about everyone knows that the majority of America’s Western states (present-day states of California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming) were brought under the USA’s control at the end of the Mexican-American War (1846-1848).
Very important to understand that the warring nations agreed to end hostilities by both countries signing the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848).
Even here, we have to back-up as to why this war even started.
It was MEXICO who started the war. Known as ‘The Thornton Affair,’ the Mexican Army violated the Treaties of Velasco, signed in 1836 by President (and General) Antonio Santa Anna and Republic of Texas president David G. Burnet.
Under the command of Mexican General Anastasio Torrejón, 1,600 cavalry and infantry troops violated Velasco (1846) by crossing the US-Mexican border, then ambushed a small troop of 63 American Dragoons under the command of Captain Seth Thornton in the small pueblo of Rancho de Carricitos (now the town of San Benito), six miles north of the Rio Grande.
Fast forward to the end of the war (1848). As we all know, the United States won following the surrender of the Mexican government after the collapse of the nation’s army and central government.
Literally, all of Mexico, from the border of Oregon to the Yucatan Peninsula, the entire nation was under the de facto military occupation of the United States.
But unlike every winning nation to date, the United States gave Mexico their nation back, minus the now-American West.
Not only did we give the defeated their nation back, the US actually paid the Mexican government $15 million in gold and silver pesos for our Western states.
In another unheard-of move, all the Mexican citizens in the annexed states were granted automatic US citizenship, to include the right to vote.
Not done yet, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo also guaranteed that any pre-war lawsuits by American citizens against the government of Mexico would be dropped and the US citizens would see their lawsuits paid in full… by the US government.
Now it’s time for some honesty from the protesters. Prior to 1846, there were no great cities in the annexed region we now call our Western states.
According to WorldPopulationReview.com, here are the numbers of the 1850 US Census;
- San Francisco, CA – 30,000
- Santa Fe, NM – 4,800
- Monterey, CA – 1,100
- San Diego, CA (in 1860) – 731
- El Paso (in 1880) – 700
To the ones screaming about ‘stolen land,’ I suggest you stop screaming at the United States, start screaming at Mexico.
To take it even a step further, wasn’t it Spain who initially ‘stole’ the West from the Indians?
But wait… I thought Indians didn’t believe it was possible for any human being to ‘own’ any part of Mother Earth?