In Chapter 7 of Takaki

In Chapter 7 of Takaki, he discusses the control that the Mexicans had over California. The Mexicans were the first to find California, where they were able to build up their own sort of lifestyle there. Very few Americans lived in California at this time. “Initially, Mexicans in California… welcomed foreigners from the United States (170). Eventually, problems soon developed. Americans were coming to California for the wealth and land ownership. They weren’t trying to “fit in;” instead they wanted to transform the territory into their own image” (171). “The Bear Flag Republic” was established when Americans tried to gain control over California from the Mexicans. The Mexican-American war took place in Texas and began due to the American “invasion” of the Mexicans in California. The immigration of Americans into Texas became an illegal act, yet it still happened. Many of them were slaveholders. In 1830, the Mexican government outlawed the institution of slavery and prohibited further immigration into Texas (173). The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo states that the United States handed Mexico $15 million for nearly one half of Mexico’s territory (at that time). This treaty gave the Mexicans the option to either stay or move to Mexico. During this time, many of the Mexicans that stayed felt alienated. They felt that the Americans hated them. “They had become foreigners in their own land” (178). Even though the constitution stated that if the Mexicans stayed, they would be “guaranteed the employment of all the rights of citizens of the United States,” (177) they were still treated unfairly. No division was made between Mexicans and Mexican-Americans. The people of Mexican-American decent were plainly considered to be Mexican. Work conditions were different as well. “Anglo workers operated the machines while the Mexican minors did the manual and dangerous work” (186). The same amount of work was done, but the pay was significantly different.

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