Martial borderland: The armed incorporation of New Mexico, 1598--1912

This dissertation seeks to explain how nation-states such as Spain, Mexico, and the United States attempted to incorporate New Mexico from 1598 to 1912. Believing world-systems theory to be too broad in its categorizations to adequately give voice to the often intimate contexts and complexities of conquest and consolidation, an alternative model for studying the relationships between core powers and their peripheries is proposed. This study argues that interactions and exchanges between states, regional elites, and borderland populations form the basis of a conceptual pyramid. At its apex lies a principle mediator of these power relationships. One of the preeminent mediums deployed by core powers to not only conquer but facilitate the political, economic, and social incorporation of a geographic frontier has been military institutions in the form of nationalized, professional armies and localized militias.;The dissertation begins by chronicling early Spanish attempts to translate martial institutions from the Reconquista to New Mexico, most notably in the establishment of the encomienda system. Following natives' successful Pueblo Revolt, Spain employed comprehensive and consequential reforms of military institutions, particularly the presidio in Santa Fe and militia service. The successes and failures of these policies indicate the complexities of entrusting violence or the threat of its use to mediate borderland relationships. The study subsequently transitions to chronicle the military's role in the Spanish loss of New Mexico, Mexican articulations of Spanish policies, and the entrance of Americans into New Mexico. With American trappers and traders establishing the ground rules of American incorporation, their ideas of the region's economic potential and the qualities of its residents would have profound consequences on later events. An impetus and language for conquest and martial incorporation would also be fostered by early attempts to guard Missouri's Santa Fe trade. The Army of the West would pack these preconceived notions of New Mexico and its people with their gear when they embarked from Fort Leavenworth in 1846. The backgrounds and experiences of these professional and volunteer officers and soldiers would inevitably play a significant role in the region's early incorporation with reverberations felt all the way back to Washington D.C. The final chapters will trace some of the major successes and failures of American attempts at martial incorporation. Included will be an examination of the 1847 Taos Rebellion, the Civil War in New Mexico, and the profound political and economic changes accompanying the "reconstruction" of this borderland society following this national conflict. In concluding, this narrative will not only touch on the military's role in the region until statehood would finally be granted in 1912, but the continued importance of the military and military service to New Mexicans throughout the twentieth century.;In presenting a comparative study of the process of "martial incorporation," the dissertation attempts to present a three-fold argument. First, it hopefully details the applicability of this model to the study of borderlands. In examining such processes over the course of three centuries, it should also be apparent that this conceptual framework can be employed irrespective of traditional temporal or geographic barriers. Finally, it will hopefully provide a serious challenge to still lingering concepts of historical exceptionalism pertaining to the American West.