Who owned the land? There were the pure-blooded Indians (so-called) of one sort or another, but they didn’t recognized the concept of “private ownership of land” until we ever-so-kindly explained it to them. But that’s an entirely different issue from the one I think we’re talking about.
Mestizos (products of European/Native American interbreeding) may have held and/or worked land which was claimed as Spanish Crown Property, and U.S. payment of monies to the Spanish Crown in exchange for sovereignty/ownership of those lands, while of questionable morality, would I think have to be considered legally valid.
I live in California now but I grew up in Illinois, so I never really studied this specific area in our Local History units. Did the U.S. Government forcibly evict those of Spanish descent from these territories? (Again, my understanding is that this IS what happened in Texas.)
When Jefferson bought Louisiana from France, what he bought was really sovereignty to those lands. I don’t think he dispossessed French settlers in those areas, but French settlement in Louisiana wasn’t as extensive as Spanish settlement in New Spain. (Again, the indigenous inhabitants were another issue…)
The argument of some La Raza-type separatists that “We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed US” has some validity, but in truth the Great Spanish-speaking Nation of Aztlan never existed, and so it’s specious to say their goal is “reunification.”
Who owned the land? There were the pure-blooded Indians (so-called) of one sort or another, but they didn’t recognized the concept of “private ownership of land” until we ever-so-kindly explained it to them. But that’s an entirely different issue from the one I think we’re talking about.
Mestizos (products of European/Native American interbreeding) may have held and/or worked land which was claimed as Spanish Crown Property, and U.S. payment of monies to the Spanish Crown in exchange for sovereignty/ownership of those lands, while of questionable morality, would I think have to be considered legally valid.
I live in California now but I grew up in Illinois, so I never really studied this specific area in our Local History units. Did the U.S. Government forcibly evict those of Spanish descent from these territories? (Again, my understanding is that this IS what happened in Texas.)
When Jefferson bought Louisiana from France, what he bought was really sovereignty to those lands. I don’t think he dispossessed French settlers in those areas, but French settlement in Louisiana wasn’t as extensive as Spanish settlement in New Spain. (Again, the indigenous inhabitants were another issue…)
The argument of some La Raza-type separatists that “We didn’t cross the border, the border crossed US” has some validity, but in truth the Great Spanish-speaking Nation of Aztlan never existed, and so it’s specious to say their goal is “reunification.”