Читать книгу The History of Texas - Robert A. Calvert - Страница 45

The social structure of Texas, therefore, did not mirror the stratified order of New Spain’s interior, which placed the peninsulares (European‐born Spaniards who dominated the higher political offices) at the top, ranked the criollos (American‐born Spaniards who ordinarily inherited their European‐born parents’ possessions) next, and relegated the mestizos, Indians, and Africans to the bottom. In Texas, as in other frontier regions, the routine mixing of races mitigated ethnic divisions.

Degrees of wealth nonetheless separated some Tejanos from the majority. Government officials and military commandants enjoyed more secure incomes, although they hardly earned enough to claim prosperity. Entrepreneurs in towns and rancheros and farmers working peons or slaves constituted part of the emerging capitalist sector in colonial society. This group owned the nicer homes, and they had the capacity to derive a better standard of living from their tracts of land. But this upper stratum represented no corporate interest or any attempt to perpetuate and protect specific privileges of a social order. Moreover, their distinction from other Tejanos remained tenuous. In education, racial makeup, cultural heritage, speech, and dress, the “upper class” largely resembled the rest of society. Their status hinged mainly on their material holdings and not on deference owed them because of their skin color, place of birth, or noble family background. These qualifications applied equally to the Canary Islanders, who eventually became part of the overall Texas population, although some of them did manage to remain at the top of the social hierarchy.

Beneath the small upper crust representing the well‐to‐do in Tejano society lay the remainder of the Tejano population, comprising common laborers, semiskilled workers, and Hispanicized Indians. Once again, their social categorization had less to do with their ethnic makeup than their lack of material assets.