1. United States and Spanish/Mexican frontier experiences: The respective societies and their distinct approaches to settlement of frontier zones

2. Frontier Contrasts  David Weber discusses the contrasting frontier conditions and experiences of the United States and Spanish/Mexican societies.  This summary includes this experience from the seventeenth through early nineteenth centuries,  And includes five important distinctions that indicate the ways in which the respective societies conducted and perceived of frontier settlements.

3. Attitude and Treatment of the Indigenous People:  United States: indigenous as obstacles, to be segregated, isolated from white society. Utilized segregationist policies: reservations, genocide, 19 th century Indian Removal Acts.  Spanish/Mexican policies: viewed the indigenous as valuable assets as labor and for conversion,  Integrative approach, inclusion through Spanish policies such as: Ordinances of 1573, Luis de Velasco, mestizaje  Creates the “heterogeneous society” through vast racial miscegenation.

4. The Role of Established Religion  United States: church plays minor or insignificant role in the initial phases of settlement, operated unofficially  Spanish/Mexican society: prominent involvement as a co- partner in expansion and settlement due to its responsibilities to integrate and convert indigenous people.  Examples: Luis de Velasco, Portola expedition, Kino, Serra, Reglamento Provisional.

5. Method of Settlement  United States: generally chaotic, individual, and without institutional order or support.  Spanish/Mexican: organized, planned, regulated, institutional patterns.  Examples: Pino, Velasco, Ordinances of 1573, Echeveste Regulations, Arizpe/Ortiz.

6. Motive for Settlement  United States: lure of free land, cheap lands, population pressures.  Spanish/Mexican: strategic, buffer zone, religious and defensive motives,  Examples: Pedro Bautista Pino, Texas, California

7. Environmental Conditions  United States: Lands of abundance,  Spanish/Mexican: lands of scarcity, deserts, encomienda, communal lands, Baeza, Marquis/Ortiz.