"Who today is willing to say that Texas and California and the remainder of the Southwest would be better off if they were governed by Mexico?"
About this Quote
Ambrose’s question is posed like a dare, but it’s really a trap: it smuggles a conclusion under the cover of “common sense.” By asking who would be “willing” to say the Southwest would be better off under Mexican governance, he casts dissent as not just wrong but socially unutterable. The rhetorical move is less about evidence than about enforcing a boundary of acceptable opinion, a neat historian’s version of the barroom challenge: go ahead, contradict me, if you’re brave.
The intent sits in the late-20th-century argument over how Americans should remember expansion. Ambrose, often writing celebratory national narratives, is pushing back against critiques that frame U.S. conquest as theft pure and simple. His phrasing shifts the terrain from morality to managerial competence: not “Was it just?” but “Would it have been better run?” That pivot matters. It suggests that legitimacy follows from outcomes, from prosperity and stability, rather than from consent or law. In other words, history as a scoreboard.
The subtext also relies on a simplified Mexico: a stand-in for corruption, instability, and “underdevelopment,” with no need to specify eras, regions, or the real entanglements of the borderlands. It compresses messy 19th-century realities into a contemporary stereotype, then uses that stereotype to retroactively validate U.S. sovereignty. The line works because it leverages audience assumptions and patriot reflexes; it’s persuasive precisely where it’s least curious.
The intent sits in the late-20th-century argument over how Americans should remember expansion. Ambrose, often writing celebratory national narratives, is pushing back against critiques that frame U.S. conquest as theft pure and simple. His phrasing shifts the terrain from morality to managerial competence: not “Was it just?” but “Would it have been better run?” That pivot matters. It suggests that legitimacy follows from outcomes, from prosperity and stability, rather than from consent or law. In other words, history as a scoreboard.
The subtext also relies on a simplified Mexico: a stand-in for corruption, instability, and “underdevelopment,” with no need to specify eras, regions, or the real entanglements of the borderlands. It compresses messy 19th-century realities into a contemporary stereotype, then uses that stereotype to retroactively validate U.S. sovereignty. The line works because it leverages audience assumptions and patriot reflexes; it’s persuasive precisely where it’s least curious.
Quote Details
| Topic | Freedom |
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