Defining American Culture: The Original Colonists from France and Spain

Democracy over Social Mobility

In 1803, the United States government purchased New Orleans and all of the settlements along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers from France. The French and Spanish colonial people living in those distant quarters of the French Empire were now, whether they liked it or not, American citizens. Surely, they pondered their future as US troops occupied their government buildings to take formal possession. Would they, the French colonials, have to change their language and their culture to match that of the English and Dutch colonists back east? Would they be distrusted and socially alienated for being Roman Catholics? And what on earth was this thing called “English Common Law”? Over the decades, the US Government would acquire additional colonies in the Gulf Coast, including Florida, from Spain. The US president who governed from 1845 to 1849 took all of northern Mexico and its colonies from the Mexican republic. The inhabitants of those towns and villages of the American southwest spoke only Spanish. With the purchase of Oregon Territory, including the ports in Puget Sound, the US gained a mixed bag of European settlers. The purchase of Alaska brought us some new Russian-American citizens. Guam, Puerto Rico, and Samoa entered into our embrace quietly, while the Philippines put up a fierce resistance. It seems as though our destiny has always been one to acquire lands and expand our empire; first at home, then abroad. After losing Canada and Haiti, the French lost their taste for North America and were eager to sell their last swath of prarie between the Rocky Mountains and the Mississippi River. The treasury of the Spanish government was already stretched too thin to expand further north into the harsh American steppes and face certain war against the natives. For the time being, some scattered Catholic missions and Indian buffer-nations would have to suffice. The US government capitalized on the apparent indifference of the Europeans toward North America. The Anglo-Dutch Americans all benefited from the acquisition of any new territory.

A striking aspect of these regions is that they were never heavily populated before the Anglo Americans took them over. The French had some colonies around the Great Lakes, the Missouri River, and of course the Mississippi River. But these were towns and, with the exception of some trading posts, the French did not permanently settle deep in the wilderness. Instead of establishing trading posts, the Spanish put missions in their farthest frontiers. But with the exception of San Antonio, Natchitoches, Goliad, El Paso, Laredo, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Tuscon, and the coastal towns in California, the Spanish did not settle their vast lands. Today, the cities once governed by Spain and France still hold their cultural heritage very close. This contrasts with immigrants who voluntarily came the US, who mostly assimilated.

The annexed or conquered people, though lacking the entrepreneurial spirit of seeking wealth, power, and social mobility; fell in love with the concept of democracy right away. Even today, New Orleans produces record voter turnout in local elections. Cajuns and Creoles culture dominates the old French city. Even the Anglo-Dutch Americans enjoy the town’s heritage as youths drop in once a year to use it as tourist brothel. New Mexico is surrounded by states with crypto-fascist governments. Nevertheless, the citizens of New Mexico have upheld their cultural traditions with the Spanish language and their more liberal advocacies of drugs and immigration. Texas prides itslef on its liberal (called "conservative" for some reason) gun laws. Yet gun laws in New Mexico are less restrictive than in Texas, where you cannot openly carry a firearm. The New Mexicans love their personal freedoms.

In each area of each French or Spanish town, the people seem more static. Rarely will they feel the urge to pick up stakes and chase jobs from one end of the country to the other. The so-called American attitude of working hard and attaining wealth is somewhat lost on our these Americans, who seem more accepting of their place in society. There is no conspicuous consumption. They use democracy as their tool to gain benefits for their communities, but do not care to dream of climbing the social ladder. Since their true power is localized at the community or municipal level, their tough democratic contests rarely hit national attention. Nevertheless, their stranglehold over grassroots elections makes them formidable advocates of government reform. This group of Americans should be recognized and their cultural ideals should fully embraced by the Anglo-Dutch ruling class.

To date, there has not yet been an American president that represents the Franco-Spanish quarters that we conquered in the 19th Century. If we include the Dutch Americans of Pennsylvania and New York as a pseudo-group of Annexed Colonials (they were conquered by the English colonies in the 17th Century), we can say that there have been at least three: Martin Van Buren and the two Roosevelt presidents. All three men were intensely ambitious and clever politicians.