The Plan of San Diego can trace its roots to the Mexican revolution that occurred in the north region of Mexico in 1910. The bordering American region had a significantly greater population of Mexicans and Americans of Mexican origin than the Anglo-American population. There were, therefore, fears by Americans concerning the Mexican border that Germany could instigate an uprising in which Mexico reclaimed the Southwest region by inciting Mexican revolutionaries and disgruntled Americans.
Some of the radical people saw the revolution in Mexico as an opportunity to bring about changes in the Texas region as well. Various movements were formed to achieve this. The Plan de San Diego was a manifesto that called for an uprising against the United States government on the 20th of February, 1915.
The manifesto called for the formation of an Army of the People. These people were mostly the minority races in American, i.e. Mexican Americans and Black Americans. Their goal was to free the northern states of Texas and New Mexico from the Federal US government’s control. To execute these plans, the revolt called for a violent uprising, which would be characterized by radical changes.
Some of the most violent aspects of the plot were the proposed killing of North Americans over the age of sixteen to free the Black and Hispanic population from “Yankee tyranny.” However, the planned revolution did not go as planned owing to the confiscation of a copy of the manifesto by state officials on arresting one of the core leaders of the plot. Owing to this, the material day of the revolution had to be postponed and February 20, 1915, went by without any major disturbance in the Border States.
However, the plan did bring along violence along the border from July to October. Gangs carried out guerrilla styled warfare over the region. The gangs carrying out these raids engaged in disrupting communication lines along the border area and killing Anglo-Americans. While the human cost of these raids was not as high, the economic cost was significant. In time, the federal government deployed military personnel to contain the insurgence, which threatened the stability of the region.
By late 1916, the Plan de San Diego plan was all but subdued. Despite the failure of the plan to achieve its objectives of purging the region of Anglo-Americans and annexing the region from the United States government control, the plan did lead to a drastic decline in the relations between the Anglo-American and Mexican-American people in the affected region.