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Hispanic Representation
The great promise of American democracy is
the guarantee that all Americans are entitled to representation in the
legislative process. The primary means for utilizing this privilege is
to take part in local, state and national elections by choosing
representative leaders who will make decisions based on the will of
their constituency. The Fifteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the
United States, ratified in 1870, guaranteed this right and promised that
"the rights of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be
denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of
race, color, or previous condition of servitude."
However, for most of the last two hundred
years, Hispanic Americans have experienced the same forms of
discrimination and intimidation that were inflicted upon African
Americans and other minorities. The struggle to gain minority
representation in the U.S. Congress has been hard fought and, at times,
bitter. The story of Hispanic representation in Congress is told here:
Joseph Marion Hernández (1822-1823)
The first Hispanic to serve in Congress was
Joseph Marion Hernández (1793-1857). A native of St. Augustine,
Florida, Hernández lived in the Spanish colony from the time of his
birth until Florida was handed over to the United States in 1822. He was
elected as the Whig Delegate for the Territory of Florida to the U.S.
Congress and served in the Seventeenth Congress (September 30, 1822 –
March 3, 1823). Señor Hernández continued to serve Florida and the
United States Army with distinction for many years. However, when he ran
for the U.S. Senate as a Whig candidate in 1845, he was defeated. Soon
after he moved to Cuba, where he managed his family’s sugar estate.
Demographic Influences on the Hispanic
Population
No Latinos would serve in the United States
Congress for the next two decades until the 1853 election of José
Manuel Gallegos as a Democratic delegate from New Mexico. But, during
this interim period, two events would take place that would deeply
affect the history of the United States and its geographic dimensions.
The annexation of Texas (1844) and the Mexican-American War (1846-1848)
led to significant demographic changes for the United States.
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo – signed
on February 2, 1848 – ended all hostilities between Mexico and the
United States. By the provisions of this treaty, Mexico handed over to
the United States 522,568 square miles of land, including the
present-day states of Arizona, California, Colorado, Montana, Nevada,
New Mexico, Texas, Utah, and a small part of Wyoming.
At the time of the Treaty, approximately
82,500 Mexican citizens lived in the annexed territories. Under the
provisions of Articles Eight and Nine, these Spanish-speaking
individuals were granted American Citizenship, property rights, and
given the full protection of the law.
However, for the rest of the Nineteenth Century, the Hispanic population
in the Southwestern states would, for the most part, be unable to
achieve political representation. In some areas, the Anglo-American
population had increased so dramatically in the decade following the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that Latinos had become minorities in many
of their small communities. But, even in New Mexico, southern
California, and the Texas regions south of San Antonio where Hispanics
boasted significant majorities, political representation was hard to
achieve.
The Spanish-speaking population of New
Mexico would succeed in sending several Territorial Delegates to the
U.S. Congress in the second part of the Nineteenth Century. But in
California and Texas, poll taxes, literacy requirements, political
gerrymandering and intimidation would also keep qualified Latinos from
expressing their voices in the voting booth well into the middle of the
Twentieth Century. In these two states, true and fair representation
would not be achieved until the 1960s and 1970s.
José Manuel Gallegos
The first Hispanic delegate to represent
the recently annexed territories in the United States Congress was José
Manuel Gallegos (1815-1875). In 1853 the New Mexico territory elected
the Democrat Gallegos as its Delegate to Congress. The following year
Congress approved the Gadsden Purchase, which added 29 million new acres
to southern Arizona and New Mexico. The New Mexico territory would
continue to send both Democratic and Republican Hispanic Delegates to
Congress throughout the rest of the nineteenth century, all fighting to
achieve statehood for their territory.
José Manuel Gallegos’ term in Congress
lasted through the 33rd and 34th Congresses (March
4, 1853 to March 3, 1857). A native of Rio Arriba County, Gallegos was
ordained as a Roman Catholic priest in 1840 and became very influential
and popular in New Mexico. Powerful in his parish and elsewhere, Father
Gallegos was first elected to the first Territorial Council of New
Mexico in 1851 before becoming the first New Mexican Delegate to
Congress.
Beginning in the summer of 1853, Gallegos
dedicated himself completely to his political career. Although Gallegos
did not speak English fluently, he received support and guidance from
David Merriwether, a Democrat who would later become Governor of New
Mexico. With Merriweather’s help, Gallegos was able to win the
Democratic nomination for U.S. Delegate, despite the opposition from New
Mexican politicians who called themselves the "American
Party." Once elected, Gallegos replaced the previous New Mexico
delegate, Richard Hanson Weightman.
Although Gallegos won election to a second term in office, his political
opponent, Miguel A. Otero made an important speech on the floor of the
House, contesting Gallegos’ election. Otero appealed to the House of
Representatives on the basis of his loyalty to the United States despite
his being a "native citizen" of a territory that was once part
of the Mexican Republic. He explained that he had come to the Congress
of his "adopted fatherland" to address the House "in the
language of its laws and its constitution." Otero claimed that
Gallegos had won the election with the help of Mexican citizens who had
voted illegally. The House seated Otero even though Gallegos, the
incumbent, had received a small majority of the votes in the election.
Despite this setback, Gallegos returned to
New Mexico and continued with his political career. In 1860 he was
elected to the Territorial House of Representatives as the
representative from Santa Fe; he served as Speaker of the House from
1860 to 1862. In 1862 he was defeated in his reelection bid. Gallegos
also served as treasurer of the territory from 1865 to 1866 and
superintendent of Indian affairs for New Mexico in 1868. He returned to
the U.S. House of Representatives as a Delegate from New Mexico in the
42nd Congress, but was unsuccessful in his bid for reelection in 1872.
Miguel Antonio Otero (1856-1860)
Miguel Antonio Otero (1829 - 1882), a
native of Valencia, was the next Hispanic politician to step forward in
New Mexico. His father, Vicente Otero, had held prominent civic
positions as judge and mayor in Valencia County, under the Spanish and
Mexican Governments. Miguel A. Otero as well as other members of his
family continued the tradition of civic service.
Otero was educated in New York and in
Missouri, where he studied law and was admitted to the bar. On March 4,
1856 Otero was seated as a Delegate to the U.S. House of
Representatives, after successfully contesting the election of José
Manuel Gallegos.
Otero was succeeded by a non-Hispanic
representative, John Sebrie Watts, who served from 1861 to 1863.
However, in 1863, Watts was replaced as the New Mexican delegate by
Francisco Perea (1830 - 1913), a native of Las Padillas, who came from a
long line of Mexican politicians.
Francisco Perea (1863-1865)
Francisco Perea served as the Republican
Territorial Delegate to the 38th Congress (March 4, 1863 to
March 3, 1865). During the Civil War, the Jesuit-educated Perea served
as a Union officer and took part in the Union victory at the battle of
Apache Canyon. Perea’s success in both military and commercial
ventures helped him to win election as New Mexico’s delegate to
Congress in 1863. However, in his bid for reelection in 1864, he was
defeated by his first cousin, José Francisco Chaves (1833-1904).
New Mexico Representation (1865-1873)
The next Congressional Delegate from New
Mexico to the U.S. Congress was José Francisco Chaves, who – as a
Lieutenant Colonel in the Union Army – helped to turn back a
Confederate invasion of New Mexico in the Battle of Valverde (1862).
Chaves first took office as Delegate to the Congress during the 39th
Congress (March 4, 1865 – March 3, 1867). Later, he successfully
contested the election of Charles P. Clever (1830- 1874) to the Fortieth
Congress.
Chaves was reelected to the 41st
Congress, serving from February 20, 1869 to March 3, 1871. However, he
failed in his bid for reelection in 1870 to the 42nd
Congress, when the former delegate, José Manuel Gallegos was returned
to the legislative body. Gallegos served from March 4, 1871 to March 3,
1873 and then retired to Santa Fe, where he died two years later.
Gallegos was succeeded by Stephen Benton Elkins (1841-1911), a native of
Ohio who served in this capacity from 1873 to 1877. Elkins later served
as Secretary of War under President Benjamin Harrison.
Romualdo Pacheco
California had become a state in 1850 and,
in its first two decades, had sent several Hispanic representatives to
the State Assembly and Senate. However, not until 1877 did California
send a Mexican-American Representative to Congress. Serving as
Representative from 1877 to 1883, Pacheco was became the first Hispanic
American to chair a Congressional Committee when he was appointed as the
Chairman of the Private Land Claims Committee. Not until the 1962
election of Edward Roybal would another Hispanic Californian represent
his state in Congress. Romualdo served in many governmental positions
and was also California’s first and only native-born Hispanic governor
following statehood.
New Mexico Representation (1877-1901)
Trinidad Romero (1835-1918) was a member of
one of the oldest and most prominent Hispanic families of New Mexico. A
native of Santa Fe County, Romero had become a member of New Mexico’s
Territorial House of Representatives in 1863. After serving as Probate
Judge in San Miguel County, Romero moved on to win election as New
Mexico’s Republican Congressional Delegate to the 45th
Congress (March 4, 1877 – March 3, 1879). Romero was later appointed
United States Marshall by President Harrison, a position that he held
from 1889 to 1893.
Romero’s successor as Congressional
Delegate was Mariano Sabino Otero (1844- 1904), who also belonged to a
very influential New Mexican family. The Otero family had produced
several judges and one governor and held extensive tracks of land in the
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