Today ,it is also unfortunate that the day has been called "Cinco de Drink-o" by all kinds of people from many diverse ethnic backgrounds. Historically, it is very important for a myriad of reasons. The American Civil War was the conflict in the United States to end Slavery. For Californios, new citizens of the United States, this was an idea that they had hated being the first to be enslaved group by the Conquistadores. But many citizens in California supported the war effort to end slavery, they agreed spreading slavery was wrong and unjust. It was the culture of Gente de Razón that knew slavery was wrong. About 30,000 Californios lived in California after the Mexican-American War. We learned what happened to Mariano Vallejo, and the changes of our part of the country after the Mexican-American War. We even studied some famous paintings, Old 76, Young 48 and News from Mexico. The Junta raised funds for the United States War effort against the Confederate States.
The original California Constitution was published in English and Spanish because so many groups, that identified themselves as mestizos, ponchos, latinos, and will later take part in patriotic assemblies to raise money for the cause. [Article XI California Constitution]. From the California Secretary of State website, "W.E.P. Hartnell was the official translator for the Convention. Section 21, Article XI of the 1849 Constitution decreed that all laws must be published in Spanish and English. Thus, for its first 30 years, California was a bilingual state. This provision was not included in the 1879 Constitution. The Spanish translation was written on 45 pages of heavy white paper, measuring 7 1/2" x 12". [http://www.sos.ca.gov/archives/collections/constitutions/1849-constitution-facts/www.sos.ca.gov/archives/collections/constitutions/1849-constitution-facts/] Remember the Junta, or assemblies, raised funds for the United States War effort against the Confederate States.
Below is the interview with he author of a book on Cinco De Mayo. I was lucky to see him speak at a UCLA/The Huntington Library Seminar on the West and the Civil War in the summer of 2014. The stories were amazing and connected to so much of American history. The video "Published on Jun 14, 2012 (Visit: http://www.uctv.tv/) Why is Cinco de Mayo, a holiday commemorating a Mexican victory over the French at Puebla in 1862, so widely celebrated in California and across the United States, when it is scarcely observed in Mexico? David E. Hayes-Bautista, Professor of Medicine and Director of the Center for the Study of Latino Health and Culture at UCLA, explains the holiday is not Mexican at all, but rather an American one, created by Latinos in California during the mid-nineteenth century". [UC TV] Please add these ideas to our chapter 15 notebook.