Transnational Immigration Politics in Mexico, 1850-1920 Item Type text; Electronic Dissertation Authors Herrera, Ricardo Publisher The University of Arizona. Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author. Download date 25/09/2021 10:23:01 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/311468 TRANSNATIONAL IMMIGRATION POLITICS IN MEXICO, 1850-1920 by Ricardo Herrera __________________________ Copyright © Ricardo Herrera 2013 A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY In the Graduate College THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA 2013 2 THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA GRADUATE COLLEGE As members of the Dissertation Committee, we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Ricardo Herrera, titled Transnational Immigration Politics in Mexico, 1850-1920 and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy. _______________________________________________________________________ Date: November 19, 2013 William H. Beezley _______________________________________________________________________ Date: November 19, 2013 Kevin Gosner _______________________________________________________________________ Date: November 19, 2013 Martha Few _______________________________________________________________________ Date: _______________________________________________________________________ Date: Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate’s submission of the final copies of the dissertation to the Graduate College. I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement. ________________________________________________ Date: November 19, 2013 Dissertation Director: William H. Beezley 3 STATEMENT BY AUTHOR This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for an advanced degree at the University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library. Brief quotations from this dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that an accurate acknowledgement of the source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder. SIGNED: Ricardo Herrera 4 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This academic adventure began for me in 1996, and along this long journey I have received tremendous support from many people, who encouraged me to not give up on my goal of earning a doctorate degree in history; despite coming across faculty that tried to dissuade me from going to graduate school, remarking that it would be too expensive and not worth it. Nonetheless, putting that negativity aside, from the University of California, San Diego, I thank Eric Van Young for believing in me and encouraging me not to listen to people who doubted my potential. At San Diego State University, the many letters of recommendation given to me by Paula De Vos and Elizabeth Colwill allowed me to continue to pursue a Ph.D. At the University of Arizona, I have to begin by first thanking my doctoral committee, Kevin Gosner and Martha Few for not only having to read a 260 page first draft version of this dissertation, but my advisor William H. Beezley, for promptly giving me back valuable feedback and suggestions throughout the summer to make the manuscript even better. During my graduate school experience at Arizona, I learned to have a more open mind and to not hesitate to share my ideas. Prior to going to Tucson, I had read an article in U.S. News and World Report’s annual report on the best graduate schools in America, and it cautioned incoming graduate students not to openly discuss their research ideas, as dissertation topics had been known to be “stolen.” Thus, while in my first research seminar at the university, which happened to be with professor Gosner in the fall of 2006, I explained my research topic to my classmate, Stephen Neufeld, and as a result, only a couple of days later, he informed me that he had come across a U.S. Congressional hearing on a black colonization scheme in Mexico from 1895, saying 5 “Ricardo, I thought you might be interested in that government hearing, here is the link to the database….” Not long after that, walking through the halls of the Department of History, I came across Michael Matthews, another graduate student, who told me, “Stephen told me you are working on black colonies in Mexico, I have access to a pay subscription newspaper archive database that you can use since it includes many nineteenth century Mexican newspapers, so here is my password….” Experiences such as those that I had with Stephen and Michael, among many others, epitomized the positive ambiance I encountered at the University of Arizona’s Department of History. For the research in Mexico City, I am completely indebted to Hugo Gomez and his family for welcoming me into their home. Hugo showed me Mexico City and took me from one archive to another, providing me the luxury of never having to get on a microbus, taxi, or metro, as he became my personal guide. Lastly, I must thank my entire family for their never ending financial support. The cost of a graduate education can easily discourage many people from pursuing their goal; fortunately for me, since the first day I arrived at U.C. San Diego in September of 1996 through the culmination of this endeavor at University of Arizona, my mother, Belen, always encouraged me to study the subject that would make me the happiest, regardless of the cost of tuition or living expenses. Thus, my mother gave me a sense of security and peace of mind that I cannot put into words—so thank you, mom, this work is dedicated to you. 6 CONTENTS Abstract………………………………………………………………………………….7 Introduction………………………………………………………………………….….9 Chapter 1. Finding the Elusive Freedom in the Land of God and Liberty: The Case of the African American Colonies in Northern Mexico……………39 2. An Infant Nation in Search of its First Foreign Immigrants…………………...95 3. The French Intervention and Immigration Politics…………………………….127 4. The Rise of Porfirio Díaz and His Desire to Attract Immigrants to Mexico….164 5. Foreign Colonies in Early Twentieth Century Mexico………………………..200 6. The End of the Porfiriato and the Rise of Strict Immigration Politics………...226 7. A New Century, Same Old Politics……………………………………………258 Concluding Remarks……………………………………………………………...278 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………....287 7 ABSTRACT From the short-lived Mexican Empire of Iturbide to the immediate years following the Mexican Revolution, politicians, from all sides of the political spectrum, tirelessly attempted to recruit foreign immigrants to populate the country’s most desolate areas, as the constant Indian raids and filibuster attempts, had impeded the country from entering the world stage as a modern nation full of tremendous economic potential for anyone willing to come. The desperation manifested by government officials to attract immigrants, which at times border on a xenophilia mentality, I argue, had roots in the fact that several decades after the inception of the country; many Mexicans, but especially the large Indian population, could not comprehend what it meant to be part of a nation—national spirit and cohesiveness had not been cemented. People throughout the country, but especially on the northern frontier, paid allegiance to their local municipio, or in the words of historian Eric Van Young, to their “Patria Chica,”and not necessarily the country as a whole. Under such circumstances, Mexican soldiers during the U.S.—Mexican War tried to get U.S. soldiers to switch sides by offering them a piece of land in exchange for turning on their own government. Black slaves along the Rio Grande River, were offered freedom if they came to Mexico. During the French intervention, President Juárez through several surrogates working in the U.S. attempted to recruit former U.S. Civil War veterans to come to the country and not only assist militarily but to also establish colonies on the northern frontier, so as to prevent another Texas fiasco or another war with the U.S. Matías Romero, the Mexican Minister to the U.S. in the 1860s, received several requests from both American government officials and capitalists about relocating thousands, and in one particular case, one million, recently freed 8 black slaves, to some tropical region of Mexico and help alleviate the country’s desperate need for workers in agriculture and railroad construction while also solving the race issue in the U.S. This dissertation looks at the experience of those foreigners that came to Mexico between 1850 and 1930 seeking a better life; while also understanding the reaction that local, state, and federal officials, as well as the public in general had when they realized the foreign colonies had failed to live up to the promises made. A lot of the physical confrontations between locals and foreigners that garnered the newspaper headlines of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries were not motivated, for the most part, out of racial hostility; on the contrary, I contend