Importance of Younger Generations for 19th century U.S. Hispanics
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El Clamor Público
“A la Juventud” (“To Youth”) is a text originally published on the editorial page of El Clamor Público (Los Angeles, California, October 4, 1856). It was most likely authored by one of the paper’s editors (or by Francisco P. Ramírez himself) or taken from another publication and reproduced. Either way, this text is significant because it reflects the clarity of ideas that characterized our U.S. Hispanic ancestors in the 19th century.
One might expect that given the strong sense of tradition that existed in these lands so far from Spain and Mexico, Hispanics would tend to recreate and yearn for a bucolic and nostalgic past, especially when faced with a new life and uncertain future. But this was not the case, no matter how much historians such as H.H. Bancroft, J.F. Bannon, H. E. Bolton, John E. Englekirk, Leonard Pitt, David Weber and Donald C. Cutter insisted it was.
Historians have traditionally portrayed U.S. Hispanics as anchored in the past and unable to adapt to the new and advanced U.S. society. The impression was that U.S. Hispanics had been steamrolled by U.S. society and culture and found it very difficult to face the future challenges that they would inevitably encounter. The reality seemed to be quite different.
By looking to youth as a key to the future (just as the author of this article did), we can see that 19th century U.S. Hispanic intellectuals believed that future generations would be able to lead society out of the crisis in which it was mired. The article shows no hint of defeatism or complacency, but rather just the opposite.
While recognizing that there was indeed a political crisis and a lack of strong values, the author of the article fully believes that things would improve through hard work, determination and education of future generations. “To Youth” shows an honest portrayal of a society that is well aware of U.S. Hispanic culture and of the young nation in which it existed. The author shows strong expectations for U.S. Hispanics together with the real possibility of controlling and forging their own destiny.
This article has all of the characteristics of political and humanistic Romanticism. It urges youth to fight for their country and to defend freedom and civilization through hard work and active involvement in the community. These ideals are universal and are still valid today. They were the centerpiece of the vision and praxis of those U.S. Hispanic men and women during the crucial period of change in both their public and private lives during the second half of the 19th century. They understood that they had to confront their own destiny and take up the important role they were to play in the history of the United Sates.
It is exactly this period of time, the 19th century and especially its second half, that merits our attention today as we study the history of Hispanics in the United States. A new historical approach is needed to understand the many contributions of U.S. Hispanics to what is today is the United States so that this historical period does not continue to be seen simply as a distant backdrop but rather a vibrant precedent to our contemporary reality in our nation. Here is the full translated text published in El Clamor Público, Los Angeles, CA October 4, 1856:
“To Youth”
If under normal conditions, young people can indulge fully in the pleasures and innocence of that most vibrant and restless period of life which is youth, today, in this era of crisis in which society, after 18 centuries of slow and laborious movement towards the summit of civilization, finds itself at the point of rolling precipitously back down into the depths of barbarism, this does not hold true. If we are to stop society from tumbling backwards, it will not be thanks to the white-haired or the weakened and battleworn. Heroic action is needed … the vigor, faith, and enthusiasm that only the young are capable of experiencing.
Work, study, think, debate. Our ailing humanity, our long-suffering and expectant society, our civilization, awed by the great abyss it must forge to continue its providential march across the land, all need your strong arms, your spellbinding words, the miracles of your science.
Prove it untrue when you are accused of being morally and physically worn, of having the egotism of the old, the indifference of desperation and the trustworthiness of the cynic or atheist. And if there comes a time when our country and our freedom, still under attack by the Holy Alliance, require the sacrifice of a Leonidas, give one hundred fold. If hemlock is offered, assist one hundred Socrates in lifting the cup to their lips, for every Caesar, find his Brutus, and thus will you show that from weakness comes strength, from the claws of death springs life, from the depths of doubt, ignorance and disbelief come science, faith and hope.
Oh fateful youth! What will become of you if you are not up to your destiny? The curse of a hundred generations that will live in misery and be oppressed due to your impotence and selfishness will weigh on your soul for all eternity!
And so that you are well aware of your power, just look around you and you will see those who have been selfish and are writhing in pain and agony, asking timidly for your help even after having scorned you in the past.
Do not compromise with them. Do not for even one day of triumph and glory, sell your future. Throw off these old flags once and for all. They are stained with the blood of your forefathers and even with your own. The older generations have completed their mission, and yours is just beginning. It will be more glorious and more fruitful.
Your forefathers brought down the old edifices of privilege and injustice with their blood, their beliefs and their treasures. Have no doubt that those old vestiges that still stand remain because society has not yet produced the architects of the palace where the concepts OF THE PEOPLE AND FOR THE PEOPLE and LIBERTY FOR HAPPINESS reign. Be that architect. The remains of this old prison in which we are all at times victims and at times executioners, are destined to fall. It is not the old and white-haired who should be consumed with enthusiasm, nor the arm weary with age the one to lead tomorrow’s battle. The young are charged with our salvation. From their rank and file will come our heroes, those who stand out in battle, the orators who dominate our public pulpits, the philosophers that bring morality to our daily life, the wise men who shape our opinions. They will be the pillars that support our democratic institutions, the defenders of republican principals, the foundation, when all is said and done, of our society in the future.
