La debatida nacionalidad de los españoles europeos en los nuevos Estados-nación americanos

Abstract

The question of the nationality of Spaniards born in the monarchy’s European territories but living in America was complex and was debated in the States that had gained independence. Opinions oscillated between the universal declaration of citizenship and the equally universal expulsion of the natives of the old metropolis, both at times occurring within the same country. This work offers an analysis of the way in which this was resolved by the various new Nation-States, with particular attention to the Mexican case, on the assumption that it was not only an administrative problem, but that it formed part of the process of national construction in Latin America. A problem of nation rather than State.

Keywords

• national construction
• foreigners
• Latin America
• Mexico
• nation
• 19th century