Title: Commentary: What Would America be like Without Hispanics? – Journal of Hispanic Policy
Headings: Commentary: What Would America be like Without Hispanics?
Commentary: What Would America be like Without Hispanics?
Stephen Balkaran

Content: AMERICA. During the American Revolutionary War, Bernardo de Galvez, governor of the Louisiana Territory, sent gunpowder, rifles, bullets, blankets, medicine and other supplies to the armies of General George Washington in support of America’s cause. Once the war began, Galvez, along with support and reinforcements from Spain’s Cuba, Mexico and Puerto Rico, fought valiantly to help defeat British troops. Hispanics continued to play a vital role in every military conflict – in every war, in every battle and on every battlefield. What would our country’s political history be without Hispanics? The Hispanic presence in the election of President James Polk in 1844 and his future policy of annexation of Texas, the stolen land, the creation of the artificial border the Alamo, the great Southwest, and the Compromise of 1850 all help define our American history. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the Mexican War, enabled the United States to gain Texas, New Mexico and Upper California, making way for the vast expansion of American land, but also a cultural history like no other. Some 20,000 Hispanics fought in the Civil War, some serving in the 1st Florida Cavalry, others serving in the Union forces in Connecticut, New York and Massachusetts. From the first battle in Fort Sumter to the last battle in Palmito Ranch, Texas, Hispanics served in the Civil War. Hispanics have always met the challenge of serving America with commitment and admiration in the midst of the great American Split.