U.S.–Mexico War Tea Party: “We Take Nothing by Conquest, Thank God”

U.S.–Mexico War Tea Party: “We Take Nothing by Conquest, Thank God” Today’s border with Mexico is the product of war. Grasping some of the motives for that war and some of its immediate effects begins to provide you the kind of historical context that is crucial for thinking intelligently about the line that separates the United States and Mexico. The tea party activity introduces you to a number of the individuals and themes you will encounter in Howard Zinn’s “We Take Nothing by Conquest, Thank God.” Procedure: 1. You are going to do an activity about the U.S. war with Mexico, 1846-1848. Each of you will receive one tea party role. There are only 21, so in some classes, some students will be assigned the same historical character. 2. You are to fill out your nametags; using the name of the individual you are assigned. I would like each of you to attempt to become these people from history. Read your roles and memorize as much of the information as possible. 3. Next, we will review a copy of “The War with Mexico: Questions.” Essentially, you should circulate through the classroom, meeting other individuals from the U.S.-Mexico War. You should use the questions on the sheet as a guide to talk with others about the war and to complete the questions as fully as possible. You must use a different individual to answer each of the eight questions. (This is not the Twilight Zone, so students who have been assigned the same person may not meet themselves.) It is not a race; the aim is for you to spend time hearing each other’s stories, not just hurriedly scribbling down answers to the different questions. After an allotted time, we will share some of our findings. 4. Post Tea-Party Discussion Questions: A. Who found someone with opinions different than your character’s opinions? Discuss… B. What were some of the different points of view you found on why the United States and Mexico went to war? “We Take Nothing by Conquest, Thank God” 5. As follow-up homework, you will read Howard Zinn’s “We Take Nothing by Conquest, Thank God,” (following Day 1) and Milton Meltzer’s chapter focusing on the U.S. soldiers from Ireland who went over to the Mexican side as the San Patricio Battalion, “Traitors—or Martyrs,” from his book Bound for the Rio Grande. (following Day 2) 6. Along with the reading, you will complete a “talk-back” journal with the Zinn reading (and the Meltzer reading). You should locate at least 4 passages from the reading that you found amusing, important, startling, moving, confusing, outrageous, or odd. You should write out each quote and your detailed reaction to it. You might attempt to find material that you can connect with information you learned in the tea party, events that relate somehow to your own lives or things going on today. Day 2 - Zinn Discussion/ Possible Textbook Critique 1. We will begin by discussing the Zinn reading using the discussion questions below: A. What were the pressures on the United States government to push for expansion? B. In his essay “On Civil Disobedience,” Henry David Thoreau writes that what is legal is not necessarily what is right. Do you agree? Can you think of any examples from history or current events? C. Comment on the belief of some Americans: The Mexican War was a good thing, because it gave the blessings of liberty and democracy to more people. 2. If Time(if not done in class, it becomes HW) - We will analyze a selection from Glencoe McGraw-Hill’s American Odyssey, a high school text, p. 21. Although the main focus of this 1,010-page textbook is the 20th century, the book includes 249 pre- 20th century pages. Note that this two-paragraph section is the book’s entire discussion of the U.S.-Mexico War. You will read the textbook excerpt individually (followed by group work) and consider the accompanying questions. Use these questions as a guide, but since I’m interested in whatever insights you generate, you are also to write comments and questions on the excerpt itself—to “talk back” to the textbook. When you begin marking up a passage it affirms your right to have an opinion that differs from that of the “authority.” By this time you WILL know important things that a text may have omitted or distorted. 3. Textbook Analysis Discussion Questions: a. If everything that students knew about the U.S. war with Mexico came from this textbook, do you suppose they’d think the war was right or wrong? Explain. b. How does this account differ from what you learned in the tea party and in Howard Zinn’s account in “We Take Nothing by Conquest, Thank God”? c. Why do you think this textbook leaves out important information? d. In the Glencoe McGraw-Hill text, the entire section on the U.S.-Mexico War consists of two paragraphs. What message might that send to readers? Day 3 - Treason? [The Irish Resistance] (Day 3) To help us spark a discussion of the Irish resistance to the war, we will listen to the song, “San Patricio Brigade,” included on New York Town, a CD by the Irish-American rock group Black 47. We will also watch a video (originally posted on YouTube) by David Rovics’ “Saint Patrick’s Battalion.” Discussion Questions: A. Why did some Irish (led by John Riley) switch sides and form St. Patricio’s Battalion? B. Were their traitorous actions Irish justified? Why or why not? C. Assume you were against a government action (such as, in this case, war) – is it your obligation to resist? Why? Why not? In what ways? Final Assessment: Dialogue Poem - address controversy and differing opinions. These poems can express conflict between people in opposing situations—such as a Hiroshima bomb victim and a U.S. Air Force pilot flying the plane that dropped the bomb. Or dialogue poems can reflect commonalities between people who might not appear to have obvious similarities. A dialogue poem reflects a dialogue between two people who represent different perspectives on a particular theme, issue, or topic. For example, in the sample provided below, Two Women, one representing the peasant or working class [regular font] and one representing the elite [bolded font], discuss their experiences after the election of socialist Salvador Allende as president of Chile and after his murder during the Us supported military coup in 1973. I am a woman. And then, they announced that freedom had been restored! I am a woman. And then they came, young boys really. I am a woman born of a woman whose man owned a factory. They came into my home along with my man. I am a woman born of a woman whose man labored in a factory. They came and found my man. I am a woman whose man wore silk suits, who constantly watched his Those men whose money was almost gone. weight. They found all of the men whose lives were almost their own. I am a woman whose man wore tattered clothing, whose heart was constantly strangled by hunger. And we all had drinks to celebrate. And they shot them all. I am a woman who watched two babies grow into beautiful children. I am a woman who watched two babies die because there was no milk. The most wonderful martinis. They shot my man. I am a woman who watched twins grow into popular college students with summers abroad. And then they asked us to dance. I am a woman who watched three children grow, but with bellies stretched And they came for me. from no food. Me. But then there was a man; For me, the woman. But then there was a man; And my sisters. And he talked about the peasants getting richer by my family getting For my sisters. poorer. And he told me of days that would be better and he made the days better. And then they took us. Then they took us. We had to eat rice. We had rice. They took us to dinner at a small private club. They stripped from us the dignity we had gained. We had to eat beans! We had beans. And they treated us to beef. And then they raped us. My children were no longer given summer visas to Europe. My children no longer cried themselves to sleep. It was one course after another. One after another they came after us. And I felt like a peasant. And I felt like a woman. We nearly burst we were so full. Lunging, plunging—sisters bleeding, sisters dying. A peasant with a dull, hard, unexciting life. Like a woman with a life that sometimes allowed a song. It was magnificent to be free again! It was hardly a relief to have survived. And I saw a man. And I saw a man. The beans have almost disappeared now. The beans have disappeared. And together we began to plot with the hope of the return to freedom. I saw his heart begin to beat with hope of freedom, at last. The rice—I've replaced it with chicken or steak. The rice, I cannot find it. Someday, the return to freedom. Someday freedom. And the parties continue night after night to make up for all the time wasted. And then, And my silent tears are joined once more by the midnight cries of my But then, children One day, One day, *The period of rice and beans for the poor woman in the poem occurs after the election of the socialist, Salvador Allende, as president of Chile.

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