Manifest Destinies: The Making of the Mexican American Race

by Laura E. Gómez

In both the historic record and the popular imagination, the story of nineteenth-century westward expansion in America has been characterized by notions of annexation rather than colonialism, of opening rather than conquering, and of settling unpopulated lands rather than displacing existing populations. Using the territory that is now New Mexico as a case study, Manifest Destinies traces the origins of Mexican Americans as a racial group in the United States, paying particular attention to shifting meanings of race and law in the nineteenth century.

Laura E. Gómez explores the central paradox of Mexican American racial status as entailing the law's designation of Mexican Americans as "white" and their simultaneous social position as non-white in American society. She tells a neglected story of conflict, conquest, cooperation, and competition among Mexicans, Indians, and Euro-Americans, the regions three main populations who were the key architects and victims of the laws that dictated what ones race was and how people would be treated by the law according to ones race.

Gómez's pathbreaking work--spanning the disciplines of law, history, and sociology--reveals how the construction of Mexicans as an American racial group proved central to the larger process of restructuring the American racial order from the Mexican War (1846-48) to the early twentieth century. The emphasis on white-over-black relations during this period has obscured the significant role played by the doctrine of Manifest Destiny and the colonization of northern Mexico in the racial subordination of black Americans.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Latinx, Race, Sociology, Law, Anti Racist

243 pages, Hardcover

First published October 11, 2007

About the author

Laura E. Gómez is a professor of law, sociology, and Chicana/Chicano studies at UCLA.

Reviews

[Lore · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had super interesting information so why was I extremely BORED??? The writing felt like a textbook at most points (in the worst way).

[Mike Mena · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book reframes Manifest Destiny as part of American colonization--which, sadly, few people actually perceive as colonialism. In that sense, this is a crucial intervention to popular American history. My favorite aspect is Gomez moving beyond the black/white racial formation dichotomy to suggest that the first Mexican Americans fell on a spectrum the mixed Spanish racial orders with American racial orders, meaning Mexicans fell into an "off-white" status: legally white but socially non-white. Excellent book. Five stars, for sure.

[William · Rating 4 out of 5]

The formation of the racial hierarchy in the Viceroyalty of New Spain was instrumental in the creation of identity and class structure in the present-day southwest United States. Following the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in 1848, the U.S. completed its territorial ambitions of a continental nation within 100 years of the country’s formation. Twenty years prior, these territories were of the original inclusion of United Mexican States. This transition was eclipsed by over 200 years of Spanish rule; however, the original inhabitants and settlers of New Mexico and the neighboring northern territories reached a decisive moment in cultural preservation and representation for statehood while subjugated to the new defining racial norms of the United States. Author Laura E. Gomez bring attention to anti-Mexican racism that coexisted with the U.S. Civil War, the segregation of African-Americans and genocide of the indigenous Native American tribes, setting a precedent in the culmination of the Chicano movement in the twentieth century and Chicanx identity.

Through legal history, Gomez highlights the origins that placed Mexican Americans as second-class citizens, as well as organization within the collective struggle. Manifest Destinies is critical of historical misconceptions that have defined Mexican Americans as a relatively new group, despite settlement occurring at the same time of New England colonialism and Spanish settlements in Puerto Rico and Florida pre-dating Jamestown. The former inhabitants of Mexico would be racialized compared to African-Americans and anti-blackness was reinforced in the New Mexico territory based on a desire to include New Mexico as a slave state.

Gomez does not focus her research with Manifest Destinies on Mexican American identity in California, but builds upon the significant historical underpinnings in New Mexico and Texas. During Reconstruction., Santa Fe and Albuquerque became distinct urban examples of residential segregation. Las Vegas became racially divided from the new neighborhoods clear into the 1970s, which is built from Gomez’s own research and official city codes and census data. The railroad expansion in these regions included exploitation of Mexican American and Pueblo Indian workers. Evidence is based on recorded pay documents, where Mexican and Pueblo Indian workers received less than half the pay of the Irish workers for the same company. This correlates an important understanding that while Mexican Americans were coerced as white for convenience, they were still discriminated against and considered to be beneath other marginalized workers. The inclusion of the Puebloan Indians perplexed the new settlers. Gomez demonstrates from Clara Rodriguez’s book Changing Race: Latinos, the Census and the History of Ethnicity in the United States that Mestizos sought to distance themselves from Puebloan Indians, who were isolated from nomadic Indian life after having established sedentary communities.

The book is not intended to explore Mexican American racial identity formation in California, emphasizing the legal framework that was imposed in New Mexico and Texas. In relation to new insights of Chicanx scholarship, Gomez effectively provides an introduction to the origins and of an often underlooked saga in American history. Of great importance is the author’s postscript, which is updated to address the increase in racial division and hostility from the 2016 election, “where [race] is at the center of current immigration rhetoric and policy.” Proponents of Donald Trump who profess to “Make America Great Again” have a false sense of nostalgia of American greatness and sentiment in a time before Caesar Chavez’s labor organizing or the Plan de Santa Barbara, crucial to Chicanx preservation in the face of despotism and kakistocracy. The response to anti-immigration policies will enact young Latinos to continue working together in grassroots efforts. Manifest Destinies is a relevant examination towards the social consciousness of Chicanx and Latinx understanding of the past and present.

[Jonah · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a Chicano man of Nuevomexicano descent, this book was a fascinating and riveting exploration of cultural identity. I rarely find books that grab my attention from cover to cover; but, this book did just that. Anyone interested in learning more about the interplay of race and class in New Mexico will enjoy this book.

I spent a long time living in the American South where the majority of society is cast in a white-black dichotomy. I’ve always struggled with where Mexican-Americans and Chicanos fit in that spectrum. What about guerros? Family with darker skin? English speakers versus Spanish speakers? As a boy it felt overwhelming and incomprehensible. This book assisted me in scratching the surface of the nuance that is racial identity from the prism of Chicanismo.

Thank you for writing this book, Señorita Gómez!

[M · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent historical overview of the second colonization of the New Mexico territory. This acknowledgment of American colonial brutality and racialization of the Hispano/Genizaro Spanish people is long overdue. Importantly it also acknowledges the violence against both the Mexican and native people in the territory by “Anglo” settlers who slaughtered anyone who got in their way after said Anglos violated the treaties they signed (to anyone who studied the way the United States dealt with Indigenous North American nations this should sound like par for the course). Hugely important, should be required reading in US History classes.

[Nancy Gomez · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to learn more about Mexican American history and this book was recommended to me. It felt very repetitive at times, like the author would say the same thing throughout the book and it wasn’t linear so it was confusing that she would go back in time abruptly and I never really knew what time frame she was writing about. However I found myself getting really into the parts that spoke about the law.

Going into it, I did not realize the focus on New Mexico, and the rich history of Mexicans there. I definitely learned some cool history but tbh I just had to read the “conclusion” section of each chapter and that would have given me a more concise takeaway

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit clunky, but the book offers a good explanation of how applying the USA’s legal system to a newly conquered people caused the first large group of Mexican-Americans to end up “white by law and off-white by custom and social-practice.” The author’s discussion of the development of a “reverse one-drop” rule (one drop of Spanish blood might make you “white/off-white”) is quite interesting.

[Xander Dale]

read for class. tbh should be mandated reading sooooooo interesting. contextualizes "Mexican-ness" in the racial bounds of Blackness, whiteness, and Indigeneity, and the history that constructed such.

[Julissa Arce · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant and necessary.

[Trip · Rating 4 out of 5]

Through extensive legal and historical research, the author highlights the fluid nature of "race" in U.S. history by exploring the shifting legal designations of New Mexico's mostly mixed-race (Spanish-indigenous) population during the first decades of its existence as a U.S. territory. Gomez also highlights the repeated 'racial' arguments made by various congressmen against New Mexico becoming a state -- they decried the 'racial' makeup of New Mexico by which they meant the too-many mixed-race individuals and the too-few Euro-Americans. New Mexico became a territory around 1850, but didn't become a state until 1912. A bonus is Gomez's exploration of the conflict between the Spanish and U.S. legal interpretations of property and how that resulted in the transfer of hundreds of thousands of communally-held acres by Hispanic communities under Spanish and Mexican rule to the U.S. federal government in the 19th and early 20th century. Manifest Destinies is a very informative read.

[Mostly on Storygraph · Rating 3 out of 5]

A somewhat straightforward primer on Mexican American history - some of her terminology ("race" vs "ethnicity" is a big one) is a bit muddled and remains unclear for most of the text but overall it's a good start for anyone interested in this topic specifically (though for very good reasons she sticks only to what was known as the New Mexico territory, outside of California and Texas), or in American race relations history in general. Because she somewhat elides her differentiations between race and ethnicity I'm not sure that her opening claim - setting out to convince us that Mexican = race, and not ethnicity - really holds water until the epilogue when she discusses it in terms of census purposes. Still, she does a good job of showing how race is ultimately performative and how whiteness is as unstable and transitive a category as any other markers of identity.

[Lucrecia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't recommend this book enough. This filled in so many gaps in my understanding of NM history, and the history of the Mexico conquest in general. I highly recommend this book for any native New Mexican who's struggled with their identity. This book makes it so clear why we have. I also recommend this to anyone interested in racial formation in the US--what a fascinating study.

What an essential book.

[Jennifer DeJonghe · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some great and really detailed information about New Mexico, the Mexican American War (ie: the US colonizing Mexico), and the way the US came to define and place Mexican Americans into their existing racial hierarchy. Good material covered.

However, the writing was a bit dry and the author would focus at great length on the details of particular court cases and legal situations.