One National Family uncovers a rich and detailed political history in two parts, before and after Texas independence. Part I highlights Anglo Texan migrants whose disenchantment with the political economy of the United States enticed them to cross the border into Mexico. U.S. immigrants believed Mexico’s federalism would allow them to own land in Texas without much federal interference or taxation. Part II details the ways in which the United States and Mexico worked to create unified nations by claiming sovereignty over their full territories. This political project was a tall order, as the Texan settlers exhibited, due to different understandings of state versus federal power. In comparing the United States and Mexico over a half century, Sarah Rodríguez demonstrates how both nations moved toward “federal supremacy, territorial inalienability, and racial equality” to form what she calls a “modern state” (p. 4). Mexico, Rodríguez argues, turned to this national vision...

You do not currently have access to this content.