Privileges of Locomotion

Mexico had a border problem during the 1820s. Although it had gained independence from Spain in 1821, Mexico inherited the empire's porous northern boundary with the United States. Mexico's territorial integrity was especially compromised in Texas. Native Americans outnumbered all other inhabitants in Texas during the 1820s. Sizeable populations of Caddos and Cherokees lived on both sides of the border and freely crossed between Mexico and the United States, while the Comanches maintained a powerful, autonomous presence within Texas and well beyond. When one Mexican official touring the border in 1828 asked a high-ranking Caddo in eastern Texas if the native was on Mexican or U.S. territory, the Caddo replied that he was “in his own land, which was nothing else but his.” Citizens of the United States also crossed the border into Texas, some with nefarious motives. James Long's exploits gave Mexican authorities more reasons to fret about northern border security. Long, a planter and physician in Natchez, Mississippi, rejected the terms of the 1819 Adams-Onís Treaty in which the United States recognized Spain's rule over Texas. An angered Long believed that Texas belonged to the United States according to the 1803 Louisiana Purchase. On the eve of Mexican independence, Long mobilized his discontent and transformed Natchez into a staging ground for two, ultimately failed, military ventures to separate Texas from New Spain. Long was murdered in Mexico City in 1822, but Mexico's efforts to secure its border with the United States were just beginning.1

Ethnology · Genealogy · Geography · Independence (probability theory · Political science · Politics · Treaty · Archaeology and Natural History · History · Latin American and Latino Studies · Law · Migration, Health, Geopolitics, Historical Geography

• Aquellos hermanos nuestros… Ciudadanía y exclusión en los territorios conquistados

  Open Access•Erika Pani•Historia Mexicana•2020

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