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Mexican Revolution of 1910 – Background Information
http://www.pbs.org/kpbs/theborder/history/interactive-timeline.html
1910
Mexican Revolution begins. Thousands of Mexicans flee across the border for safety. In 1910,
the Mexican Revolution began. It was the 20th Century’s first modern social revolution, destined to
change Mexico’s society and economy. It would result in a flood of Mexican immigrants into the United
States. The choices were simple for Mexicans who opposed the fighting: hideaway or leave the country.
Many of the Mexican citizens chose to head north, immigrating to the United States. The turmoil of the
war, the danger, the economic catastrophe and social chaos surrounding the revolution pushed Mexican
natives north. Some revolutionaries and federals fled to the United States in order to plot further
incursions into Mexico.
More than 890,000 legal Mexican immigrants came to the United States for refuge between 1910 and
1920. The Revolution had created a state of turmoil to the south, and Mexicans sought the peace of the
north. The railroads hired a bulk of the Mexicans for construction and maintenance.
U.S. immigration officials noted that the poor and the sick constituted most of the Mexicans fleeing north.
In 1914, during the strongest flurry of fighting in the revolution, the upper class of Mexico began to
immigrate in big numbers as well.
1911
In Mexico, Porfirio Díaz is forced to dissolve his government because of a successful revolt
led by Francisco Madero. To protect its citizens and property, the U.S. sends troops to the
border, where fighting in the Mexican Revolution is so close that U.S. citizens gather to
watch.
1914
The Tampico Affair and the Speech from Woodrow Wilson to the
American People
Trying to protect Mexican landowners known as hacendados and old army officers from Mexican
President Francisco I. Madero’s reforms, and fearing that Madero would seize all land held by foreign
business, General Victoriano Huerta led a coup that seized power and murdered Madero. The American
capitalists supported Huerta, but President Woodrow Wilson did not. In April 1914, nine American soldiers
were arrested for allegedly entering a prohibited zone in Tampico. With this action, Wilson had an excuse
to invade Mexico.
Wilson sent marines to Veracruz, a Mexican port, and the force overthrew Huerta. Mexicans responded
with anti-American riots, and the European press denounced the American intervention.
But before sending his troops to Mexico, Wilson gave a speech to his countrymen to justify his actions.
He explained that sailors from the crew of the U.S.S. Dolphin had been detained without reason by the
members of the Mexican army under Huerta. He said the sailors had been set free a while later and that
Huerta’s government had issued an apology.
However, Wilson said, "The incident cannot be regarded as a trivial one, especially as two of the men
arrested were taken from the boat itself -- that is to say, from the territory of the United States...."
Mexican Revolution of 1910 – Background Information
http://www.pbs.org/kpbs/theborder/history/interactive-timeline.html
This, he continued, "might have been attributed to the ignorance or arrogance of a single officer (the one
who ordered the sailors detained). Unfortunately, it was not an isolated case." Wilson then talked about a
similar incident that took place just a few days before the Tampico incident, adding: "The manifest danger
of such a situation (is) that such offenses might grow from bad to worse until something happened of so
gross and intolerable a sort as to lead directly and inevitably to armed conflict."
Wilson insisted that his anger was not directed at the Mexican people, for whom, he said, the Americans
felt "...deep and genuine friendship," but at Huerta "and those who adhere to him." Huerta, he said,
refuses to conduct a ceremony to salute the American flag, as an official apology, refusal which could be
attributed to the fact his administration did not have the support of the U.S. government.
Finally, Wilson said, " I, therefore, come to ask your approval that I should use the armed forces of the
United States... to obtain from General Huerta and his adherents the fullest recognition of the rights and
dignity of the United States..." Soon thereafter, Huerta fled from the Mexican capital, but the scandal
brought about by the presence of American troops in Veracruz hurt the relations between the two
countries.
1914
U.S. Marines are held by Mexican authorities at Tampico, Mexico. Despite Mexico’s apology,
President Wilson orders the U.S. fleet to attack and occupy Veracruz, Mexico to assert the
rights of Americans.
1916
General John J. Pershing leads 10,000 American soldiers into Mexican territory in retaliation
for a raid on Columbus, New Mexico by General Francisco "Pancho" Villa. After 11 months,
Pershing is forced to return to the U.S. without ever catching sight of Villa. U.S.-Mexican
relations suffer because of the action.
1917
A secret telegram from Germany to Mexico— proposing an armed alliance between the two
countries—is published and causes the U.S. to enter World War I.
1921
The Immigration Act of 1921 restricts the immigration of Southern and Eastern Europeans.
Agriculture lobbyists rally to block the movement to include Mexicans in the proposition.