It’s complicated. In modern times, Mexico and the United States have had almost a love-hate relationship. “On the one hand, the two countries are close. But on the other hand, they’re also distant because there are big, big differences,” said Richard Miles. He’s a former diplomat at the Center for Strategic & International Studies in Washington, D.C. Here’s a look back and ahead.
Looking Back
Even before the U.S. Border Patrol officially began in 1924, immigration officials patrolled the southern U.S. border. In 1904, officials worried about Chinese people coming into the United States that way. Meanwhile, up to 16,000 Mexicans were working on U.S. railroads during the first decade of the 20th century. Hundreds of thousands more people moved north after a revolution broke out in Mexico in 1910.
Tensions grew between the two countries as political upheaval continued in Mexico. U.S. president Woodrow Wilson sent U.S. Marines to Veracruz in 1914. Mexico had wrongfully detained several U.S. soldiers. Wilson again sent troops in 1916 after Francisco “Pancho” Villa attacked Columbus, New Mexico. Things settled down a bit once Mexico adopted a new Constitution in 1917.
Mexicans were largely exempt from U.S. immigration quotas in the 1920s. Then the Great Depression began in 1929 and attitudes shifted. President Herbert Hoover announced a program of “American jobs for real Americans.” The government deported up to 1.8 million people. Most of the deportees may have come from Mexico, but a number of the deportees were American citizens.
Esta historia es de la edición January 2020 de Cobblestone American History Magazine for Kids.
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Esta historia es de la edición January 2020 de Cobblestone American History Magazine for Kids.
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Eye in the Sky
An interview with Joe Piotrowski
Airborne Animals
Humans have taken to the skies in balloons, gliders, and airplanes-but we're not alone among the clouds. Animals of all sorts have evolved to harness wind power.
TAKING OFF
The Wright brothers expected airplanes to “take off,” but even they might be amazed at the way the airline industry has become big business. In the past, it was expensive to send something by plane.
GROWTH OF AN INDUSTRY
After their historic flight at Kitty Hawk in 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright returned to Dayton, Ohio. They spent the next few years making adjustments and building additional versions of their powered aircraft in their bicycle shop.
WHY KITTY HAWK?
The Wright brothers searched carefully for the best place to test their gliders and flying machines. Their main concern was for good, steady winds. But they also hoped to find a remote location to allow them to perform tests away from the public eye.
Two Brothers From Ohio
Most people do not realize that the Wright brothers—Wilbur, born in 1867, and Orville, born in 1871—performed various scientific experiments before inventing their aircraft. For as long as anyone in their hometown of Dayton, Ohio, could remember, the Wright boys had worked on mechanical projects.
A Helping Hand
May 6, 1896. A group of people who had gathered beside the Potomac River, just south of the U.S. capital, grew quiet. Then, it erupted in cheers as a small, unmanned aircraft took to the skies and flew for more than half a mile. The flight came seven years before the Wright brothers’ first manned, powered flight. The inventor of the aircraft was Dr. Samuel Pierpont Langley.
THE IDEA MEN
People dreamed of flying thousands of years before the Wright brothers found success near Kitty Hawk, North Carolina. These dreamers, such as Leonardo da Vinci, studied birds flying and imagined how humans might do the same—if only they had wings. Other men developed a more hands-on approach to the topic. Early inventors made wings of cloth, glue, and feathers and tied these creations to their arms in an attempt to imitate nature.
Da Vinci's 4 Designs
Have you ever wondered how a bird flies? Leonardo da Vinci (1452–1519) did. He thought that understanding how a bird flies would provide the key to human flight. So, what did da Vinci learn from birds?
Silken Wings
Seven hundred years before the Wright brothers began experimenting with human flight, the Chinese had already mastered its secrets—with kites.
