1776-1861 Natives, African, Mestizos

1. Jackson's Indian Removal

1.1. Commanded US forces that defeated a faction of the Creek nation.

1.2. Refused to enforce supreme court ruling that the Cherokee had a right to self-govern

1.3. Believed the Indians should move West of the Mississippi because he did not believe the US would expand there.

2. Manifest Destiny

2.1. The belief that the US was destined to expand over North America

2.1.1. Justified the removal of Indians from their homelands

2.2. Includes expanding into Mexico

2.2.1. Mexico had won independence from Spain but was not prepared to defend and coloze it's northern borders.

3. Mexican American War

3.1. The war was about territory, continental expansion, access to the ports of the Pacific, and access to and ownership of all of the wonderful minerals and riches that were in the subsoil.

3.1.1. After the war many people including the mestizos, californianos, tejones lost their homeland and were not considered US citizens. They were also lost to Mexico. Essentially making them second class citizens on their own lands.

3.2. Mexico developed a massive inferiority complex as a result of that war, wondering where they had gone wrong as a nation.

3.3. American laws were not extended equally to Mexican citizens. Many also lost their right to own land.