Between now and now,
Between I am and you are,
The word: Bridge (Octavio Paz)
Traveling between the U.S. and Mexico, you may cross the Lincoln-Juarez bridge. These two names are linked not just in steel and concrete but in also in history, culture, conflict and collaboration, worth remembering on Cinco de Mayo.
Congressman Lincoln from Illinois was one of the few in Washington to oppose the Mexican War of 1848, which was mainly a pretext for extending slavery into Texas and beyond. He voted against the Treaty of Hildago-Guadalupe, which grabbed New Mexico, Arizona, California and parts of Colorado and Wyoming from our southern neighbor at bargain basement prices. Fifteen million dollars for the great American southwest.
About the time of our own Civil War, Mexico was experiencing its own ferocious War of Reform, and Lincoln’s counterpart was Benito Juarez. Both were born to poverty (Juarez was a full blooded Zapotec Indian). Lincoln was log cabin born. Juarez was born in a bamboo hut. But both became attorneys and were inaugurated to the Presidency of their respective nations in January of 1861. Both were known for their complete integrity.
Cinco de Mayo celebrates the victory of Juarez’s forces over a French battalion twice its size in the small town of la Puebla in 1862. The French were trying to impose a monarchy on the Mexican people, who had already elected President Juarez, representing a new popular Constitution that guaranteed freedom of speech, freedom of religion and association, along with an end to debtor’s prison which kept many peons in mortgaged bondage to rich landowners. This affected our own Civil War, here in the United States.
The Confederacy, under Jefferson Davis, wanted French help to end the naval blockade of southern ports, in exchange for raw cotton. The French under Napoleon III hoped to regain the territory they had bartered away under Napoleon I in the Louisiana Purchase, along with access to California’s gold. The Church wanted a Catholic monarch on a restored throne of Mexico to protect its ancient privileges. Maxillian von Habsburg, the proposed would-be monarch of Mexico, would reign in glory and enlightened benevolence over his grateful subjects.
None of it happened. Mexico already had an enlightened and wise leader, legitimate and popular, Benito Juarez. The French withdrew their troops after Appomattox, realizing they were supporting a losing cause, throwing good money after bad. Some Dixie regiments, refusing to accept Lee's surrender, retreated south, offering their support to the Royal Line, who promised to accept their slaves as long as they were called indentured servants or some such. (Nod, nod, wink, wink.) It was futile. Prince Max was eventually hunted down, given a fair trial, and shot.
The battle of la Puebla was a small victory, but important. Had Juarez lost on Cinco de Mayo, New Mexico, Arizona, California and Colorado might today be slave states. History would have been different, and not for the better.
Cinco de Mayo is more celebrated north of the Rio Grande than in Mexico, not only because of advertising from beer companies, but because it helped to win the Civil War. More than the Battle of Glorieta Pass (sometimes called “the Gettysburg of the West”), Juarez’s triumph stopped the spread of slavery and established democratic reforms both in Mexico and the United States.
Like Lincoln, who in his Second Inaugural, extended charity to all and malice to none, seeking to reconcile and heal his nation after the terrible conflict between north and south, Juarez was generous to the vanquished. “Neither in the past nor much less in the hour of total triumph for the Republic, has the government desired--nor should it desire--to be moved by any feeling of passion against those with whom it waged war … Let the people and the government respect the rights of all, because among individuals, as among nations, peace is respect for the rights of others.”
So pop a cerveza today: Corona, Dos Equis or Pacifico. It’s a free country, and you can choose. But know why you’re drinking and to whom. This is a Mexican holiday. It’s an American holiday. It’s a deeply democratic holiday. Happy Cinco de Mayo.
Between I am and you are,
The word: Bridge (Octavio Paz)
Traveling between the U.S. and Mexico, you may cross the Lincoln-Juarez bridge. These two names are linked not just in steel and concrete but in also in history, culture, conflict and collaboration, worth remembering on Cinco de Mayo.
Congressman Lincoln from Illinois was one of the few in Washington to oppose the Mexican War of 1848, which was mainly a pretext for extending slavery into Texas and beyond. He voted against the Treaty of Hildago-Guadalupe, which grabbed New Mexico, Arizona, California and parts of Colorado and Wyoming from our southern neighbor at bargain basement prices. Fifteen million dollars for the great American southwest.
About the time of our own Civil War, Mexico was experiencing its own ferocious War of Reform, and Lincoln’s counterpart was Benito Juarez. Both were born to poverty (Juarez was a full blooded Zapotec Indian). Lincoln was log cabin born. Juarez was born in a bamboo hut. But both became attorneys and were inaugurated to the Presidency of their respective nations in January of 1861. Both were known for their complete integrity.
Cinco de Mayo celebrates the victory of Juarez’s forces over a French battalion twice its size in the small town of la Puebla in 1862. The French were trying to impose a monarchy on the Mexican people, who had already elected President Juarez, representing a new popular Constitution that guaranteed freedom of speech, freedom of religion and association, along with an end to debtor’s prison which kept many peons in mortgaged bondage to rich landowners. This affected our own Civil War, here in the United States.
The Confederacy, under Jefferson Davis, wanted French help to end the naval blockade of southern ports, in exchange for raw cotton. The French under Napoleon III hoped to regain the territory they had bartered away under Napoleon I in the Louisiana Purchase, along with access to California’s gold. The Church wanted a Catholic monarch on a restored throne of Mexico to protect its ancient privileges. Maxillian von Habsburg, the proposed would-be monarch of Mexico, would reign in glory and enlightened benevolence over his grateful subjects.
None of it happened. Mexico already had an enlightened and wise leader, legitimate and popular, Benito Juarez. The French withdrew their troops after Appomattox, realizing they were supporting a losing cause, throwing good money after bad. Some Dixie regiments, refusing to accept Lee's surrender, retreated south, offering their support to the Royal Line, who promised to accept their slaves as long as they were called indentured servants or some such. (Nod, nod, wink, wink.) It was futile. Prince Max was eventually hunted down, given a fair trial, and shot.
The battle of la Puebla was a small victory, but important. Had Juarez lost on Cinco de Mayo, New Mexico, Arizona, California and Colorado might today be slave states. History would have been different, and not for the better.
Cinco de Mayo is more celebrated north of the Rio Grande than in Mexico, not only because of advertising from beer companies, but because it helped to win the Civil War. More than the Battle of Glorieta Pass (sometimes called “the Gettysburg of the West”), Juarez’s triumph stopped the spread of slavery and established democratic reforms both in Mexico and the United States.
Like Lincoln, who in his Second Inaugural, extended charity to all and malice to none, seeking to reconcile and heal his nation after the terrible conflict between north and south, Juarez was generous to the vanquished. “Neither in the past nor much less in the hour of total triumph for the Republic, has the government desired--nor should it desire--to be moved by any feeling of passion against those with whom it waged war … Let the people and the government respect the rights of all, because among individuals, as among nations, peace is respect for the rights of others.”
So pop a cerveza today: Corona, Dos Equis or Pacifico. It’s a free country, and you can choose. But know why you’re drinking and to whom. This is a Mexican holiday. It’s an American holiday. It’s a deeply democratic holiday. Happy Cinco de Mayo.
Posts
