This research project examines the creation of the Paraguayan national identity from 1814 to 1870 as a mestizo, Guaraní-speaking people. It explores the language ideology of the Paraguayan government, which placed importance on Guaraní versus Spanish depending on the political situation at the time. This project takes a broad historical view of the reign of Paraguay’s first three rulers that allows it to deconstruct the shifting levels of importance the state placed on Guaraní based on the state’s needs at the time, and the methods the state used to create a sense of nationalism during moments of crisis, particularly during the War of Triple Alliance (1864-1870). It examines the way the state used the language to create a cohesive national identity based on a shared Guaraní language ideology by looking at the changes in demographics, rhetoric, and policy over time. It concludes that, the development of Guaraní language and mestizaje as a part of Paraguayan national identity can be viewed as a multi-faceted process that was constructed through passive factors such as continued duration and (linguistic) demographic majority, as well as active factors such as state policy, blanqueamiento, and state-run symbolic production.