Avenida Ninos Heroes

“Avenida Ninos Heroes” and “Halls of Montezuma” both pay tribute to the US – Mexico War. Provide a context for each and what they commemorate. During the battle aimed to capture the fortress in Chapultepec Castle, six brave cadets effused to surrender upon the retreat order of General Bravo against the US Forces. These were Juan de la Barrera (lieutenant), Agustin Melgar, Juan Escutia, Vicente Suarez, Francisco Marquez and Fernando Montes de Oca.

After the fall his five comrades, Cadet Juan Ecuita wrapped himself with the Mexican flag and jumped off the castle. The US commander in charge paid an honorable salute to the bravery and patriotism portrayed by the soldier. Now, a mural was decorated on the ceiling of the castle showing the patriotism of the six soldiers particularly Ecuita and the Mexican flag, there is also a monument in Chapultepec Park honoring their valor. These cadets are more popularly known in the Mexican history as the as the Los Ninos Heroes or Heroic Cadets.

In September 1847, under the command of Army General Winfield Scott, Army Brig. Gen. John Quitman led a pack of 120 handpicked Marines in a historical battle to subdue the Hill of Chapultepec. The Hill of Chapultepec, more popularly referred to as the Halls of Montezuma stood 200 feet high surrounded by a 12-foot wall. The fortress was defended by a total of 400 men, 300 of which were from the Batallon de San Blas under Lieutenant Colonel Felipe Xicotencatl, and roughly 100 more garrison soldiers and the cadets.

It took one hour and a half, to suppress the resistance and the American flag fund it way waving up the hill as a sign of victory. Ninety percent of the Marines died in this conquest. And to pay tribute to this distinct heroism, the opening lyrics of the official US Marine’s Hymn, “…. the Halls of Montezuma” was referred her as the Chapultepec Castle. Moreover, the corps included a blood stripe in their blue dress uniform. 2. What is chattel slavery and how was it institutionalized in the British North American colonies?

Chattel slavery is the most common type of slavery in the American history. It is characterized by the master’s provision of property and money towards the slave in exchange for service like all sorts of labor and oftentimes sexual servitude. Basically, this social status is inherited to the next cohort, that is, the later generations are expected to do the same, either sold to another master or to serve under the same owner. The history of slavery in America started in 1619 upon the arrival of the Dutch ship, the White Lion in Virginia.

It transported African slaves to several British colonies in America. Aside from that it also brought with it indentured servants. Indentured servitude is a form of debt bondage, in this case, in exchange fro the transport of these people across the Atlantic to America, food, clothing, food and other basic necessities; they are to serve a certain employer after a period of time usually after 4 to 7 years. The first law enacted towards slavery and established the legality of English slavery in the Caribbean was the Barbadian Slave Code of 1661.

Almost 20 years later, South Carolina instituted that a slave is a property, meaning a slave being owned by an individual or group of individual therefore cannot sold from the estate. In 1696t the Barbadian Code was adapted in South Carolina, hence defining the basic guideline for slavery in North America. During this adaptation, the African became chattel slaves from being indentured slaves, giving the enslaver complete ownership of a person.

Moreover, in Virginia, government made its own laws against the growing indentured slaves, since some slaves became wealthy farm owners after they are released from servitude. The Virginian Laws, provided that Africans are to be slaves for life and the same status are to be applied to their future progeny. 3. The embryonic federal republic of North America was quickly forced to grapple with issues related to citizenship and immigration. Analyze the 1790 Naturalization Act. Naturalization is the procedure wherein people become a citizen of a country they were not born in.

On March 26, 1790, the Naturalization Act took affect and it provided several guiding rules on granting natural citizenship for immigrants. Several important highlight of this act was that, citizenship was not to be granted to people who were indentured slaves and to the Indians, in addition to that Blacks are not supposed to be granted citizenship in America. This translates to the notion that every Black who enters American territory was expected to become slaves. This Naturalization Act offered vague definition and translation of the Law.

As stated in this Act, every immigrant is required a certain period of time of residence in America before being called a citizen in order to appreciate and evaluate the concept of American Democracy. But this Act itself, prevented anyone who they termed “colored” from becoming a citizen adding up to their concept of racial discrimination. This Act therefore became a living example of the racial difference and the wall Law created between the whites and the blacks of African decent. 4.

Describe the impact of the invention of the cotton gin on the expansion of American slavery. The cotton gin was devised by Eli Whitney a graduate from Yale University. In his pursuit to pay his debt, he went to Georgia and acquired a job as a private tutor. There, he realized that the southern farmers and farm owners were frantic to find ways to increase their yield and profit in cotton production. The issue on cotton production involved the difficulty to separate the fluffy cotton balls and the seeds which sticks to it much.

Catherine Greene, Whitney’s employer persuaded him to find a solution to this problem. Greene provided all possible support needed especially in the financial aspect. The development of the cotton gin doubled the yield for raw cotton every decade after 1800. It also opened the doors for more machinery demands, such as the machines to weave or to spin the cotton, and also for the invention of the steamboat to transport it at an ease. There was a production bloom and massive exportation of cotton occurred between America to England and to New England.

Immense cotton production truly brought solution to farmer’s problems and greatly uplifted American economy though trade at that era. But like any other inventions meant to discover resolutions to problems, this also carried changes that worsen the American society. And the most historic is the propagation of slavery. Although the cotton gin, decrease the time and amount of labor needed to separate the cotton and the seed, it extremely increased the need of manpower in the form of slaves t grow and harvest the cotton, especially with the expansion of the area of farmlands.

In 1808, approximately 80,000 Africans were imported as slaves and the slave population in the South reached up to an estimated 1/3 of the populace. The invention of the cotton gin therefore required more slaves to work under a more tireless and strict regimen, wherein abuse and mistreatment were hence more common as compared before the rise of production pressures brought about by the cotton gin.