The U.S.-Mexican War and
the Peoples of the Year 2000

Overview

There is a New/Old nationality at work in North America, now. It makes a difference to how we can understand the U.S.-Mexican War of the 1840s. This New/Old nationality can be traced in two directions:

in a cascade of new developments in the politics of our own time, from national developments in French Canada, to the articulation of new political schemes in some Mexican states, to the explosion in demands by indigenous peoples

in a new writing of history, showing how the United States and Mexico (and other nation-states) competed against each other for power over the indigenous and African peoples of the continent.

Each of these -- the politics, and the history -- contributes to the other. What we see now about the movements of people in North America tells us things we never knew before about the war between the United States and Mexico in the 1840s. And the ways we re-think the story of that war can guide our thinking about the problems of the year 2000.

Politics
&
History

Overview

Inputs from the Politics of Today

Inputs from History

Opening Attack on Indigenous Life

A Border World Rebels

Officers Capitulate: Ampudia and Taylor

Leader within Walls: Santa Anna

Generals for Social Order

The Sorting of Identities

The Future of New/Old Nations

Nationality is not what it once was, not anywhere, and least of all on the continent of North America :

political citizenship sets no limits on what nationality can be
nor does nationality constitute any special claim on citizenship
a "nation" no longer needs to be confined to any particular territory
individuals can often choose for themselves among their various "national identities"
a nation or people can adopt its own policy on whether it wants to be a state, or some other kind of political unit, or any political unit at all
the indigenous peoples of the continent have always been nations of their own, alongside and overlapping "Mexico," and "Guatemala," and "Canada," and "the United States"; and
individuals can assign to any nation they wish the right to negotiate rules governing property rights, labor relations, migration, language, and citizenship, as well as the right to make agreements with other nations about politics and territory.

The New/Old Nations that are emerging now are not just pretty labels. They will have concrete problems on their agenda --

The U.S.-Mexican War and the Peoples of the Year 2000

Overview

The U.S.-Mexican War and
the Peoples of the Year 2000