Posted on 03/08/2002 1:24:33 PM PST by sarcasm
Do you think it would still have been better if Robert E Lee had finished off Mexico in 1846 and made it a US state? What would life be like for us if we had done that?
You didn't ask me specifically, but I cannot resist (putting on my ex-grad student history hat).
First off, I believe the treaty was signed early in 1848, and the actual fighting was over by late 1847. Robert E. Lee was just a junior officer; the generals in command were Taylor in the north and Scott in central Mexico.
Short answer: making all of Mexico part of the USA would have been a bloody disaster. Think Quebec; think Yugoslavia. A bad idea.
The way the Constitution works, unless a power is specifically listed as a federal power, it ain't one and unless a power is specifically delegated by the states to the federal government or specifically prohibited to the states by the constitution, then any power claimed by a state in its own constitution is a valid state power. See the 10th amendment.
Federal usurpation of the power of the states to limit or even prohibit immigration is unconstitutional. Section 9 of the Legislative article shows that states have this power regarding immigration because the section is placing a temporary condition upon this state power. BTW, that condition lapsed in 1808.
Your pitiful flailings at the supreme law of the land would embarrass any sober person. Fortunately for you, you're seldom sober or you would be too embarrassed to pretend to be an attorney.
Bush and Fox seem to be working on a plan for merging that doesn't involve the Mexican leaders stepping down from power or the elites releasing their griphold on the wealth. Merging with a separate political entity can't work ---we can't have two presidents and two Congresses. Back in 1846, the merging would have been like it was for Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, California----they came under US rule and were cut off from Mexican rule. This plan now seems to allow both governments jurisdiction.
Online NewsHour: DEATH OF A WARLORD -- August 2, 1996
... When Somali warlord Mohamed Farah Aideed died on Thursday, hopes of a peace in the
fractured country rose again. Steve Scott of ITN reports on the leader and ...
Description: Trascript for the Online NewsHour program.
Category: Society > History > ... > Wars and Conflicts > Somalian Civil War
www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/africa/august96/warlord_8-2.html - 20k - 09 Mar 2002 - Cached - Similar pages
It seems that's what is happening. Fox is calling for completely open borders, Castaneda says he wants the whole enchilada ---which means they get everything they are demanding. At least Lee's way, Mexico would have been placed under US rule, they'd follow the Constitution and there wouldn't be a President Fox today.
Don't be suprised when America becomes unlivable, there isn't a flock to the great white north. Canada, the country we pick on sometimes which has less personal freedom than us as of now, may see a tide of Americans fleeing poverty and chaos. Hard to believe, but it's very possible. And of course the illegals will follow, looking for a better life to work hard, scrub the toilets, and pick the lettuce.
"Your information is antiquated" says I, quoting the dragon Smaug from The Hobbit.
Canada is fast becoming a cesspool of corruption, political correctness, crime, multi-culturalism, and third world immigration - usually under the guise of "asylum" seekers. I used to subscribe to some Canadian immigration reform newsletters - the situation is actually worse in Canada. True, they don't have that big border with Mexico we have, but virtually anyone who can make it to Canada and mutter "I am seeking asylum" through an interpreter ends up living in Canada, at taxpayer expense. And Canada has none of our constitutional protections on free speech, free press, freedom of assemby or association, or any kind of 2nd amendment-style gun rights.
No, you had better forget Canada. Either we fix things here, or we go under. There's nowhere to run to anymore. Time to stop running away.
No problem, glad you joined in. Yes you're right on those points, it was Generals Zachory Taylor and Scott who led the Mexican expedition. But I do remember reading (my history is a little fuzzy at this point) that Lee was pushing the senior officers to take all of Mexico. But he was resisted fortunately. Lee, as he proved in the Civil War was a fighter. Not always right but a good general nonetheless.
I have nothing but admiration for Lee; an excellent general but an even better war leader, capable of instilling nearly worshipful devotion in his troops. And also a fine and honorable man the likes of which we have rarely seen since.
My memory of the Mexican War histories is a little fuzzy too; Lee may very well have made certain suggestions, but he was a junior officer, and his superior officers were constrainted by orders from Washington. Moreover, anything they did would have had to have been ratified by Congress, and there was no way Congress was ever going to agree to annexing all of Mexico, for two reasons: 1) it would make Mexicans into US citizens (bad idea for many reasons), and 2) It would have vastly increased the number of potential slave states, thus upsetting the national balance of power between the North and South. Indeed, many historians see our victory in the Mexican War as a prime cause of the Civil War 12-13 years later.
If there's any large scale amnesty, as some are saying Bush may want after this one, you can kiss America goodbye. With at least 3 or more million Mexican illegals now here, after they bring in their relatives it could easily be 20 million or more. It's going to be a slow death of the country. Communities are not going to be able to assimiliate all these people. And taxes are going to go through the roof to care for them.
I'm not saying Americans are going to run to Canada, but if these get so out of control here many might. Less freedom and all.
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