The Spanish-speaking residents of New Mexico, designated Neomexicanos by scholar Doris Meyer (Meyer, 1996), became Mexican Americans by political default in 1848. The signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in 1848 officially ended the war between Mexico and the United States. Former Mexican citizens still residing in those former Mexican territories now faced an uncertain future and the political and cultural autonomy they enjoyed prior to the American conquest was placed in doubt. While in theory the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo guaranteed protection of their language, culture, and properties, in reality, Neomexicanos would be dispossessed of these things at every turn.

Relying on the guarantees made by the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, Neomexicanos reasoned that while they no longer held any real power in their homeland, the stipulations of the treaty did provide the means to defend their birthright and secure the protection of their language, religion, culture, and properties. The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, in the minds of Neomexicanos, was the supreme authority in their struggle to assert their cultural and civil rights.

However, to be fair, it must be pointed out that in the civic and cultural arena, Neomexicanos did exert a certain degree of influence and power. Anglo Americans entering the territory in the wake of American occupation quickly realized that in New Mexico, Neomexicanos were a force to be reckoned with. Facing the numerical superiority of the Neomexicanos in the region and with an entire cultural complex that set precedent and usage in language, law, religion, property, and custom, they came to understand that the wholesale dispossession of former Mexicans in New Mexico could not be expected to follow that which had occurred in the decade prior in Texas and California. The situation in New Mexico called for adjustment, modification, and compromise with the native peoples in the region. As a result, Anglo Americans tended to curb their desire to exploit the spoils of their conquest and, at least during the early immigration era, Anglo Americans were obliged (due to the disproportionate populations) to acknowledge and to an extent engage in the particular cultural practices of the region.

In the years following the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, the number of presses in New Mexico slowly increased. Anglo-American editors and publishers began to enter the region in greater numbers and established newspapers at Santa Fe, Taos, Las Vegas, and Albuquerque.

The first paper edited by an Anglo-American, the Santa Fe Republican, set the pattern for most of the early papers by dividing its pages between the two languages. Most newspapers after 1848 were either partially or totally printed in Spanish. Newspaper historian Porter Stratton observes that most newspapers after 1848 were either partially or totally printed in Spanish. Although the Anglo-Americans may have viewed this as a "problem," from its inception the "American press" in New Mexico was a quintessential bilingual phenomenon:

Journalism in New Mexico in this era presented the unique problem of a predominantly Anglo-American press serving a population overwhelmingly Spanish-American. The first paper edited by an Anglo-American, the Santa Fe Republican, set the pattern for most of the early papers by dividing its pages between the two languages. Although there were some efforts to break away from this by printing a paper in each language in areas of heavy Spanish-American population, most territorial editors followed the bilingual practice (Stratton 1969, 12).

As a result, Neomexicanos, with their overwhelming percentage of the readership market, shaped much of the scope and nature of early Anglo-American periodical activity.

Working relationships between Neomexicanos and Anglo Americans tended to favor the Anglos, since the Neomexicanos were charged with providing language and translating skills to these newspapers, while Anglos controlled ownership and editorial policy. As Stratton observed,

Despite the heavy usage of the Spanish language in newspapers, only about 12 per cent (ten out of eighty) of the journalists were Spanish-Americans. Apparently other Spanish-Americans were employed only to translate the English-language copy into Spanish (Stratton, 12-13).

However, Neomexicanos used this important work in printing and publication to begin to position themselves to enter the professions themselves.

However, in the time period under scrutiny in this study, virtually all the major publications were owned and operated by Anglo-Americans.

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