Between 1836 and 1848, Mexico would lose 55 per cent of its territory to the United States. According to Engels, the entrepreneurial Yankee had struck a blow for civilization and human progress against the “lazy Mexicans.”1 The wealth of California would be developed and the Pacific would finally be opened up to mankind.
While California was liberated by plucky Americans, the remaining 45 per cent of Mexican territory, left under the control of lazy Mexicans, would not enjoy the benefits of progress. However, a decade and a half later, undeterred and eager American “expats” with a “kind of do-it-yourself spirit” are bringing the blessings enjoyed by California to the rest of Mexico.2
1 Engels, “Neue Rheinische Zeitung No. 222,” http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1849/02/15.htm.
2 Rocky Casale, New York Times, “Wanderlust: The Crowds Swell on Mexico’s Pacific Coast,” http://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/04/wanderlust-the-crowds-swell-on-mexicos-pacific-coast.