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Traditional research has confronted only Mexican and United States interpretations of Mexican-American culture.Now we must also examine the culture as we Mexican Americans have experienced it, passing from a sovereign people to compatriots with newly arriving settlers to, finally, a conquered people—a charter minority on our own land.
When the Spanish first came to Mexico, they intermarried with and absorbed the culture of the indigenous Indians. This policy of colonization through acculturation was continued when Mexico acquired Texas in the early 1800's and brought the indigenous Indians into Mexican life and government. In the 1820's, United States citizens migrated to Texas, attracted by land suitable for cotton. As their numbers became more substantial, their policy of acquiring land by subduing native populations began to dominate. The two ideologies clashed repeatedly, culminating in a military conflict that led to victory for the United States. Thus, suddenly deprived of our parent culture, we had to evolve uniquely Mexican-American modes of thought and action in order to survive.
The author's purpose in writing this passage is primarily to
A.suggest the motives behind Mexican and United States intervention in Texas
B.document certain early objectives of Mexican-American society
C.provide a historical perspective for a new analysis of Mexican-American culture
D.appeal to both Mexican and United States scholars to give greater consider- ation to economic interpretations of history
E.bring to light previously overlooked research on Mexican Americans
The author most probably uses the phrase "charter minority" (line 9) to reinforce the idea that Mexican Americans
A.are a native rather than an immigrant group in the United States
B.played an active political role when Texas first became part of the United States
C.recognized very early in the nineteenth century the need for official confirmation of their rights of citizenship
D.have been misunderstood by scholars trying to interpret their culture
E.identify more closely with their Indian heritage than with their Spanish heritage
According to the passage, a major difference between the colonization policy of the United States and that of Mexico in Texas in the 1800's was the
A.degree to which policies were based on tradition
B.from of economic interdependency between different cultural groups
C.number of people who came to settle new areas
D.treatment of the native inhabitants
E.relationship between the military and the settlers
Which of the following statements most clearly contradicts the information in this passage?
A.In the early 1800's, the Spanish committed more resources to settling California than to developing Texas.
B.While Texas was under Mexican control, the population of Texas quadrupled, in spite of the fact that Mexico discouraged immigration from the United States.
C.By the time Mexico acquired Texas, many Indians had already married people of Spanish heritage.
D.Many Mexicans living in Texas returned to Mexico after Texas was annexed by the United States.
E.Most Indians living in Texas resisted Spanish acculturation and were either killed or enslaved.
