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History 101: Latin America is the Backbone of the U.S

Updated: Dec 4, 2020

The land stolen by the United States is never admitted but rather seen as a proper conquest justified by White supremacist advocates.


The United States expansion can be interpreted as the control of other land masses at the

turn of the nineteenth century. The dictatorship of regions of Spanish settlers, and thus the

Manifest Destiny was a concept that sparked a white supremesit view and authority. The US

began to expand and grow larger in terms of population and territory due to the help of

Anglo-Saxons and merchants. Juan Gonzalez’s, “The Spanish Borderlands and the making of an

Empire (1810-1898)” touches on the US expansion greatly and especially the manifesto as in

example as it states “Latin America as inferior in cultural makeup and bereft of democratic

institutions." Throughout this period, Mexico had lost a vast majority of its own

territory. A time in which there was a relocation of not just the Mexican population but as well as

the very known Native Americans, Puerto Ricans, etc living there at the time. It is best to

interpret this as the very own foreign minority in their own land of birth, even if there was a

percentage of whom were made United States citizens. The disputed lands were taken, or rather

stolen by none other than of the Anglo settlers and they were treated as a low caste. The Mexican

population had been outnumbered by these settlers in what is now known as the state of Texas.

There is no doubt that in this time the belief of manifest destiny viewed Latin Americans as

inferior and pronounced the White Europeans as superior.

As the government plays a role in white supremacists views, the underlying effect is the constant injustice faced by minority communities.

A key detail unveiled during this chapter is the government system in its operation during

this era. Briefly we can explain that what was known as prior Mexican territory, (California and

Nevada) had an abundance of gold and silver. Through the Gold Rush, led a series of attacks and

brutal murders towards the Mexican population. These resources alone were able to fuel an

economy much greater than one could imagine. The United States, fully aware of these resources

would take advantage of it for its own benefit. And of course there were other resources provided

such as cotton from Texas, cattle from New Mexico and the copper found in Arizona. As the government plays a role in white supremacists views, the underlying effect is the constant injustice faced by minority communities. A rise of racial problems and stereotyping was just the beginning of what Gonzalez describes as "Our nation's territorial expansion during the 1880s is well documented, but less attention has given to how that expansion weakened and deformed the young republics to the south, especially those closest to the ever changing U.S. Borders." It is important to note that the United States was very aware of the prosperity that Latin America would bring for them. The land stolen by the United States is never admitted but rather seen as a proper conquest justified by white supremacist advocates. A great deal of the United States prosperity was a result of Latin America, as they gained control, political and economic power.


Source: Harvest of Empire, Juan González

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