Devil's in Silicon Valley: Northern Term Paper

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Speculation for land grew wild, as more and more Americans flooded the area, and whites controlled the buying, selling, and ownership of property (39). Despite the treaty, only twenty Mexican men and six Mexican women held property in California by 1860, according to the laws of the United States. The numbers of Mexicans possessing a "personal estate" dropped drastically, even while despised settler groups from the East, such as the Irish, increased their ownership of territory.

The loss of the profits of property ownership in the capitalist American system, which was at its most rapid stage of development during the 19th century in California, reduced non-whites to laborers, not owners. The greater the desire to create a "settler's paradise" the greater the anxiety of the so-called "greasers" in the Anglo's midst. (54) "Hispanics of good character," meant Hispanics willing to toil in the gold, and later when they were driven out, other types of mines -- good Hispanics were not Hispanics who desired to better their lot and fulfill the American dream of becoming property owners.

Pitti's work is grounded in substantial historical documentation, as he provides potent statistical evidence that documents the drain of the Hispanic owning members of the population, and the growing numbers of Hispanic workers. The self-justifying racism of missionaries, homesteaders, miners, and industrialists grounded in the dubious scientific jargon of the day is also scrupulously documented in his account.

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But in addition to his thoroughness, he presents a compelling intellectual portrait of the period as well as a strong historiography.

The one weakness of the book is perhaps the simplicity of its thesis -- that racism justified the subjugation and use of Hispanic and Indian labor, and that this racism was flexible, in that racial categories were easily used to separate Spaniards and Indians, then combine them, when it suited the purposes of the American government and Whites. However, given the pervasiveness of the ideology that the pioneer spirit was always a positive force upon America, this simple thesis is still worth restating. Also, the history of the Mexican-American War from the point-of-view of Mexican inhabitants, not the governments at war, is a noteworthy addition to the existing literature. Finally, the current debate about illegal immigration shows how easy it is for Americans to forget the past. The sense that 'they' -- Mexicans -- are invading 'our' borders becomes more morally complex when faced with the sobering fact that many of these Mexicans were actually 'here' first, when the national border was located in a different latitude and longitude.

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