United States and Spanish/Mexican frontier experiences:

The respective societies and their distinct approaches to settlement of frontier zones

Frontier Contrasts David Weber discusses the contrasting frontier

conditions and experiences of the United States and Spanish/Mexican societies.

This summary includes this experience from the seventeenth through early nineteenth centuries,

And includes five important distinctions that indicate the ways in which the respective societies conducted and perceived of frontier settlements.

Attitude and Treatment of the Indigenous People:

United States: indigenous as obstacles, to be segregated, isolated from white society. Utilized segregationist policies: reservations, genocide, 19th century Indian Removal Acts.

Spanish/Mexican policies: viewed the indigenous as valuable assets as labor and for conversion,

Integrative approach, inclusion through Spanish policies such as: Ordinances of 1573, Luis de Velasco, mestizaje

Creates the “heterogeneous society” through vast racial miscegenation.

The Role of Established Religion United States: church plays minor or insignificant role in

the initial phases of settlement, operated unofficially Spanish/Mexican society: prominent involvement as a co-

partner in expansion and settlement due to its responsibilities to integrate and convert indigenous people.

Examples: Luis de Velasco, Portola expedition, Kino, Serra, Reglamento Provisional.

Method of Settlement

United States: generally chaotic, individual, and without institutional order or support.

Spanish/Mexican: organized, planned, regulated, institutional patterns.

Examples: Pino, Velasco, Ordinances of 1573, Echeveste Regulations, Arizpe/Ortiz.

Motive for Settlement

United States: lure of free land, cheap lands, population pressures.

Spanish/Mexican: strategic, buffer zone, religious and defensive motives,

Examples: Pedro Bautista Pino, Texas, California

Environmental Conditions

United States: Lands of abundance,

Spanish/Mexican: lands of scarcity, deserts, encomienda, communal lands, Baeza, Marquis/Ortiz.