Chronology xiii
execute over a dozen northern New Mexicans for their participation in
the uprising.
1848 A peace treaty between Mexico and the United States, the Treaty of
Guadalupe Hidalgo, ends the Mexican-American War. According to
the provisions of the treaty, the Rio Grande, not the Nueces River,
becomes the new border between the two countries. In addition, large
portions of northern Mexico are placed under U.S. rule, and Mexico
receives $15 million from the United States. The treaty also includes a
provision stating that Mexicans who decide to stay in formerly Mexi-
can, now U.S., territories would be guaranteed protection of their
property rights. A critical provision of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
is the promise that Mexicans remaining in the United States will
receive the rights of U.S. citizenship.
1854 The newspaper El Mulato is published by Cuban exiles in New York
City. While many exile leaders seek the support of the United States,
including slave-owning sections of the country, El Mulatto strongly
opposes slavery and calls for a recognition of the important role of
Afro-Cubans in the country’s history and culture.
1858 A group of exiled Cuban poets in New Orleans publishes El laúd del
destierro (The Exile’s Lute). The first Spanish-language collection of
poetry in the United States, the anthology attempts to fuse artistic pro-
duction with calls for revolution and Cuban independence.
1867 Ramón Betances, a Puerto Rican physician of mixed African and Euro-
pean descent, and members of the Sociedad Republicana de Cuba y
Puerto Rico issue from New York City Betances’s “Ten Command-
ments of Free Men” (“Los Diez Mandamientos de Hombres Libres”).
The proclamation will become one of the key documents of the Puerto
Rican independence movement. The first of the 10 demands calls for
the abolition of slavery, and the list includes claims of freedom of
speech, of worship, of the press, of the right to bear arms, and of the
right to elect one’s own government officials.
1868 Puerto Rican rebels, based in the mountain town of Lares, take up
arms against both slavery and continued Spanish rule on the island in
the Lares Revolt.
Cuban independence leaders lead an armed rebellion against Spanish
authorities. The ensuing Ten Years’ War will last until 1878.
1876 The Southern Pacific Railroad links Los Angeles with San Francisco,
and the city’s population soon begins to rise, especially its Anglo pop-
ulation. The 1870 population of Los Angeles of 5,700 will almost dou-
ble in 1880 to 11,000 and will be over 100,000 in 1900.
1885 María Ruiz de Burton publishes her most famous novel, The Squatter
and the Don. In the book, a romance between a Mexican woman and
an Anglo man, Ruiz de Burton criticizes U.S. politics and big business,
