1st DRAFT! of our script

Beyond the Border Script

Rachel:
Stretching 2,000 miles and surrounded by four United States and six Mexican states, the US-Mexican border has long been a subject of controversy and conflict. Facing issues such as immigration, whether considered “legal” or “illegal”, free trade, and labor rights; the idea of the border itself has changed drastically over the years.


Brianna:
America, to some, it paints a portrait of hope, a landscape to a new life, through immigration and naturalization. And yet to others, it is an area in need of excessive security, with closed walls and a dividing line. It is native land to generations of indigenous North American tribes and home to the Latin American born Spanish- who with the help of the Indians and the rest of the populace won their independence from Spain in 1821.

Melissa:
But, how did this all begin? How did the border develop into what it is today and why? How did it evolve from a community of Native American groups, including the Aztecs into such a symbol of debate; drawing the line between the United States and Mexico?

Rachel:
From April 25, 1846 to September 14, 1847, the United States and Mexico went to war. It was a major event for both nations, changing a continent and forming a new identity for its peoples. During the war, the United States and Mexico would get into dozens of conflicts, which then ended up to losing up to 38,000 soldiers, and only about 1,700 U.S. deaths were directly battle-related, then the rest came from disease which they caught in the U.S. camps.

Brianna:
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the U.S.-Mexican War. The treaty was signed on 2 February 1848, even though it’s the oldest treaty, it’s still in power between the United States and Mexico. As a result of the treaty, the United States acquired more than 500,000 square miles of territory.



Melissa:
This treaty not only separated the U.S. from Mexico, but it was very important in shaping the worldwide and family histories of Mexico and the United States. Since 1848 Native Americans and Mexican Americans have struggled to complete political and social fairness in the United States, The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo as a document that promised civil and property rights. Although the treaty promised U.S. citizenship to former Mexican citizens, the Native Americans in their land, who in fact were Mexican citizens, were not given full U.S. citizenship until the 1930s.