[Jim McDougall]

Thank you Fernando! as always very interesting responses.
I will say that this treatment on the history of these is wonderfully entertaining and well illustrates the kind of 'lore' that has thoroughly confounded serious research on these weapons to date.
Indeed this is another 'sequel' at trying to get better perspective in the true history of these.

The 'espada ancha' was never designed in Toledo for the 'soldados de cuera' (=leather jacket soldiers) of the presidios of the frontier colonies. The form evolved entirely in the colonies, and while many examples used the broadsword dragoon blades, the heavy forged blades by blacksmiths were most prevalent for horsemen (mostly vaqueros as well as the mounted soldados, leather jackets).

The 'Spanish motto' (draw me not without reason, nor sheath me without honor) was only on the dragoon blades, never on the locally forged machete (espada ancha) ones.

These were essentially tools for brushing trails, not combat weapons (though they could have been used as required) ....the primary weapon of these leather jacket soldiers was the lance. While some firearms were used, they were typically not serviceable, powder was poor, when available. The sword was all but useless in combat against Indians.

While the full size swords remained in use by officers and the caballeros, the espada ancha (machete) was typically at hand , but seldom as a weapon.
As noted, most of the forces and settlers in frontier regions were mestizo (Spanish and Indian ancestry) but were regarded as Spaniards. Regardless of their place of birth, they closely followed Spanish customs and tradition, and were very proud people, and rightfully so. Like any developing colonial situation there were inherent disparities and difficulties, but myself, having grown up in Southern California (Alta California) I always admired the Spanish/Mexican culture.

The 'Bowie' is mentioned, and here I would note that the Bowie knife did become somewhat aligned with the so called espada ancha in the years after the Alamo (post 1836) in that they were both large bladed knives with similar hilts in most cases. I remember years ago when the late Norm Flayderman was writing his book on the Bowie knife, I was researching 'espada anchas' and we crossed paths in some of the resources.
Actually in many cases 'espada anchas' are mistaken for 'Confederate bowies) due to the heft and similarity.

In later years (c. 1840s+) the espada ancha blade had become shorter and was more of a frontier knife (often derisively termed 'frog sticker' by American frontiersmen for the 'uptick' on the blade tip).

Ironically the earlier frontier character of the espada ancha (machete) did remain favored in some later swords of the Republic of Mexico. This example from probably 1850s-60s was deemed a cutlass with a heavy blade which I believe is Solingen made. Note the hilt similarity to the US M1840 dragoon saber.