This Small City Will be a Mexican Paradise

Exploring the Origins of Mexican Culture in Los Angeles, 1821-1846

• Author(s): Michael J. González,
• Publisher: UNM Press
• Pages: 254
• ISBN_10: 0826336078
  ISBN_13: 9780826336071
  
• Language: en
• Categories: History / Latin America / Mexico , History / United States / 19th Century , History / United States / State & Local / West (AK, CA, CO, HI, ID, MT, NV, UT, WY) , History / Social History , Psychology / Social Psychology , Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural & Social , Social Science / Ethnic Studies / American / Native American Studies , Social Science / Sociology / General , Social Science / Sociology / Urban , Social Science / Discrimination , Social Science / Ethnic Studies / American / Hispanic American Studies , Social Science / Social Classes & Economic Disparity , Social Science / Race & Ethnic Relations ,

Description:...

Using archival materials that have largely escaped study, Michael J. González presents a bold new interpretation about life in Los Angeles between 1821 and 1846, the years that Mexico governed California. González goes beyond descriptions of cattle, ranchos, and aristocratic landowners who disdained Mexico--all the elements central to the romance of the "California Pastoral"--and introduces an alternative view. He argues that the people of Los Angeles, the angeleños, feared Indians. To ease their minds and find reassurance that they did not stand alone against the Indian menace, the angeleños imitated the life and ways of their compatriots in the Mexican interior.

González makes his case by focusing on a petition composed in 1846 and selects particular words to trace the progress of angeleño thinking. He begins by explaining why the angeleños felt threatened by Indians. He then shows that one of the qualities the angeleños admired most about Mexican life was liberal thought. To remove the Indians, and adopt the liberal principles they coveted, the angeleños used war and violence. When they had killed or subdued the Indians, González concludes, the angeleños fashioned the identity they had long cherished and believed, as one man proclaimed, that they were now "Mexican to the four sides" of their heart.