Chapter Summaries of 'Occupied America': Chapters 3-5
Occupied America Chapter Summary
In this paper, I will be summarizing the following chapters: Chapter 3: "A Legacy of Hate: The Conquest of Mexico’s Northwest”; Chapter 4: “Remember the Alamo: The Colonization of Texas”; and Chapter 5: “Freedom in a Cage: The Colonization of New Mexico. All three chapters are from the book, “Occupied America, A History of Chicanos” by Rodolfo F. Acuna. In chapter three, Acuna explains the causes of the war between Mexico and North America. In chapter four, Acuna explains the colonization of Texas and how Mexicans migrated from Mexico to Texas. In chapter five, Acuna explains the colonization of New Mexico and the economic changes that the people had to go through. In chapter three of “Occupied America, A History of Chicanos,” Acuna explains the cause of the war between Mexico and North America. Eugene C. Barker states that the immediate cause of the war was “the overthrow of the nominal republic by Santa Anna and the substitution of centralized oligarchy” which allegedly would have centralized Mexican control (Acuna 39). Texas history is a mixture of selected fact and generalized myth. The expansion and capitalist development moved together. The two Mexican wars gave U.S. commerce, industry, mining, agriculture, and stock rising. The truth is that the Pacific Coast belonged to the commercial empire that the United States was already building in that ocean. In the Polk-Stockton Intrigue, Americans found it rather more difficult than other people to deal rationally with their wars. Many Anglo-American historians attempted to dismiss it simply as a “bad war”, which took place during the era of Manifest Destiny. Most studies on the war dwell on the causes and results of the war, and dealing with war strategy. The attitude of Mexicans toward Anglo-Americans was obviously influenced by the war and vice-versa. In the end, by late 1847 the war was almost at an end. Scott’s defeat of Santa Anna in a hard fought battle at Churubusco
In this paper, I will be summarizing the following chapters: Chapter 3: "A Legacy of Hate: The Conquest of Mexico’s Northwest”; Chapter 4: “Remember the Alamo: The Colonization of Texas”; and Chapter 5: “Freedom in a Cage: The Colonization of New Mexico. All three chapters are from the book, “Occupied America, A History of Chicanos” by Rodolfo F. Acuna. In chapter three, Acuna explains the causes of the war between Mexico and North America. In chapter four, Acuna explains the colonization of Texas and how Mexicans migrated from Mexico to Texas. In chapter five, Acuna explains the colonization of New Mexico and the economic changes that the people had to go through. In chapter three of “Occupied America, A History of Chicanos,” Acuna explains the cause of the war between Mexico and North America. Eugene C. Barker states that the immediate cause of the war was “the overthrow of the nominal republic by Santa Anna and the substitution of centralized oligarchy” which allegedly would have centralized Mexican control (Acuna 39). Texas history is a mixture of selected fact and generalized myth. The expansion and capitalist development moved together. The two Mexican wars gave U.S. commerce, industry, mining, agriculture, and stock rising. The truth is that the Pacific Coast belonged to the commercial empire that the United States was already building in that ocean. In the Polk-Stockton Intrigue, Americans found it rather more difficult than other people to deal rationally with their wars. Many Anglo-American historians attempted to dismiss it simply as a “bad war”, which took place during the era of Manifest Destiny. Most studies on the war dwell on the causes and results of the war, and dealing with war strategy. The attitude of Mexicans toward Anglo-Americans was obviously influenced by the war and vice-versa. In the end, by late 1847 the war was almost at an end. Scott’s defeat of Santa Anna in a hard fought battle at Churubusco