Silucky

The story of the 19th-century Hispanic-American Members of Congress deriveslargely from the history of the

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nuevomexicano elites and their interactions withU.S. governing officials. Throughout this era, New Mexico’s politics revolvedaround its territorial status and possible statehood, deferred initially becauseof the slavery issue and later because of longstanding prejudice against itsSpanish-speaking, Roman Catholic inhabitants. New Mexico struggled forover 60 years—the longest of any contiguous state—to achieve statehood.

The U.S. military governed New Mexico until a civil territorial governmentwas created under provisions of the Compromise of 1850. The provisions thatSenator Henry Clay of Kentucky envisioned as passing in a single massiveomnibus bill—the admission of California into the Union as a free state; theorganization of New Mexico and Utah into territories, with no reference to theirslavery status; and the resolution of the long-simmering Texas-New Mexico landdisputes—passed both the Senate and the House as a series of separate measures.Part of a larger bill to settle the boundary with Texas, the New Mexico territorialmeasure carried the U.S. House by a tally of 108 to 97 on September 6, 1850,and was signed into law by President Millard Fillmore three days later.⁶⁵

Slot Machines In 1905 New Mexico Territory Bordering

The politics of the New Mexico Territory, which developed over severaldecades, were driven more by local factionalism than by national issues;national political parties did not gain a toehold until after the Civil War.Historian Howard Lamar describes 1850s New Mexican politics as based on“cliques, usually led by one man and generally organized for the specificpurpose of winning an election or controlling patronage.” Neither Democratsnor Whigs existed in a national or regional sense out West in New Mexico,but local parties often defined themselves in relation to the party that was inpower in Washington. For instance, many of the initial occupation politicianswho were loyal Whigs while Millard Fillmore was President took to callingthemselves “National Democrats” when Democrat Franklin Pierce becamePresident in 1853. Their opponents went by several names, including “StatesRights” Democrats and “Regular” Democrats.⁶⁶ Moreover, territorial politicswere shaped by the comings and goings of federal administrators who owedtheir patronage positions to the majority national party in Washington, butin this fluid political environment, party affiliation was fleeting. Indeed, asLamar observes, “Some thirty years after American conquest, New Mexicanlocal politics were still based more on family alliance, cultural ties, anti-party principles.… The mere party labels Republican and Democrat becamecaricatures in this unique situation.”⁶⁷

While New Mexico politics were fractious to an extreme, Delegate elections—which occurred on the first Tuesday of September of odd years from 1853until 1875—caused the territory’s many political factions to unite around “twotemporary parties” in what was then the only territory-wide election.⁶⁸ Usually,the defining issue in each of these contests was the division between the “nativeparty” and a small but powerful pro-American faction. The former group,favoring home rule and the preservation of the social status quo, comprisedsome of the nuevomexicano elites. Their rivals were a group of wealthy Hispanoswho aligned themselves with Anglo businessmen and military officials bent onfacilitating the process of Americanization to modernize the territory and enrichthemselves. The office of Delegate was an extremely important position fromwhich both these groups sought to advance their agendas. Moreover, preciselybecause Delegates were the only federal officials elected popularly, they heldtremendous sway and a legitimacy that was not often enjoyed by the appointedofficials and administrators.⁶⁹

During the Civil War, New Mexico was an important battleground in thefar West.⁷⁰ Although allegiances were divided between the Confederacy andthe Union, many nuevomexicanos remained loyal to the Union; Southernproponents suggested a pro-Confederate Arizona Territory be split from theoriginal New Mexico Territory. Moving westward from Texas, the ConfederateArmy of the West occupied Santa Fe and Albuquerque in 1862, imprisoningthe ardently pro-Union José Manuel Gallegos, who passed secrets to Unionforces from his jail cell. Miguel Otero, though appointed secretary of theNew Mexico Territory by President Abraham Lincoln, failed to receive Senateconfirmation because of that chamber’s long memories of his pro-Southernleanings. Inconclusive evidence suggests that despite his public displays ofsupport for the Union, he supplied invading Confederate forces. Fearing violentreprisals by Unionists and pursuing entrepreneurial opportunities, Otero and hisfamily left the territory and settled in Kansas for the remainder of the decade.José Francisco Chaves served as an officer in the First New Mexico InfantryRegiment, helping to repel the Confederate Army at the Battle of Valverdein 1863. With the Confederate campaign decisively checked at Valverde andGlorieta Pass, Chaves spent the final two years of the war as a lieutenant colonel,as the U.S. Army turned its attention to pacifying Navajo and Apache Indians.

Santa Fe Ring

The Civil War created new opportunities for Anglo lawyers and businessmenwho had moved into the territory to seek their fortunes. A political scene withso much active ferment provided tantalizing opportunities for enterprisingHispanos who were willing to work with U.S. officials and Anglo outsiders toacquire greater political and economic dominance in the territory.

Built on a partnership between these two groups, the Santa Fe Ring wasthe first and perhaps the most notable political machine in New Mexico’shistory.⁷¹ This Republican-oriented group dominated territorial politics in the latter 19th century, counting among its ranks nearly every governor of theterritory and most federal officials from 1865 through the late 1880s. Fromthe mid-1860s to the early 1880s, a string of Hispanos were elected Delegateon the Republican ticket. The Ring recruited lawyers, probate judges, landsurveyors, doctors, and merchants, who combined forces for profit andpolitical power. Through appointments to key territorial offices delivered byRepublicans in Washington, D.C., and the support of the business class anda pliant press, they succeeded brilliantly. “Although located on the frontier,”writes historian Howard Lamar, “the ring reflected the corporative, monopolistic,and multiple enterprise tendencies of all American business after the Civil War.”Its chief means of influence was parlaying land into economic clout by purchasing,inflating, repackaging, and marketing a score of land grants doled out bySpanish rulers, and later by the U.S. government. The Santa Fe Ring’s mostgrandiose venture involved its speculative promotion of the two-million-acreMaxwell Land Grant.⁷²

Slot Machines In 1905 New Mexico Territory History

Slot Machines In 1905 New Mexico Territory Map

Several Hispano Members of Congress were key Ring members or allies;Miguel Otero, Sr.; José Francisco Chaves; Mariano Otero; Francisco Manzanares;and the politically connected Perea family were all aligned with the Santa FeRing at some point in their careers. Miguel Otero, Sr., owned a piece of thesprawling Maxwell Land Grant. Chaves, despite some disagreements with theSanta Fe Ring, was particularly active as president of the territorial councilafter his tenure as Delegate. Mariano Otero proved useful as a longtime probatejudge in Bernalillo County, and Manzanares was a partner with Stephen Elkinsand Thomas Benton Catron in both the Maxwell Land Grant Company andthe First National Bank of Santa Fe. Many of the Hispano Delegates who werenot officially counted in its ranks sympathized with the Ring’s larger desireto corporatize the territory. Only Gallegos, consistently portrayed by Ringcandidates as a throwback to the corrupt, anti-modern rule of the Mexicanregime, remained unaligned with the Ring. By the early 1890s, Elkins had goneback East, New Mexico’s economy had diversified beyond the rampant landspeculation of the early post-Civil War years, and the Santa Fe Ring fadedin importance.