The Mexican War of Independence

REVOLUTIONS IN LATIN AMERICA HIST 1301 | History The Mexican War of Independence Napoleon's attack on the Bourbons during the Napoleonic Wars changed European politics right away, but the Spanish colonies didn't feel the effects right once. The bulk of the junta members, both in Spain and the Americas, first swore allegiance to the absent Spanish king while the Spanish American colonial elites took their time assessing the hazards. Following preliminary talks with the viceroy of New Spain in 1808, a conservative junta including creoles and peninsulares was established in Mexico City in 1808. This group was committed to preserving their allegiance to Spain. New Spain representatives appeared to adjust to the junta system, despite being by far the wealthiest Spanish territory. Nonetheless, the removal of the viceroy by the peninsular judges in 1810 and the installation of their own leader in the role encouraged the creole royalists to seize complete power. Native American peasants and creole farmers in Mexico had suffered from a cycle of poor harvests and starvation between 1808 and 1810. Mestizo silver miners experienced substantial unemployment as a result of a simultaneous economic downturn. The Act of Consolidation, enacted by the Spanish government in 1804, which required the Catholic Church to deposit its money with the government, made the impacts of these downturns worse. In order to comply, the Catholic Church had to demand full repayment of the loans it had made to individuals who had founded enterprises or purchased property. Many Creole landowners and businessmen were harmed by this. Thus, it should come as no surprise that the first rebellion for independence in New Spain was a bloody, multiethnic uprising spearheaded by parish priests in largely mestizo areas and originating from the lowest strata of the social order. Priests, professionals, small-time politicians, and Creole shopkeepers all held the viceroyalty's administration accountable for their woes. Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a highly-educated creole priest, took the initiative to launch an independence movement because he was concerned about the state of the underprivileged and exploited as well as about recent political changes. Despite his call for bold action and intention to strike a blow to the existing quo, Hidalgo claimed the most conservative of motivations. The greatest representation of Mexican Catholic piety, the Virgin of Guadalupe, and Fernando VII were the namesakes of the revolution. On September 16, 1810, in the municipality of Dolores, Hidalgo published a statement after learning of his plans from conservative political officials in Mexico City. He urged peasants and jobless miners to topple the viceroyalty's administration in this Grito de Dolores (grito = "cry"). He called for the restoration of land to the Indigenous people, the elimination of slavery and tribute, and the redistribution of wealth. Respect for the Virgin of Guadalupe, who would subsequently become Mexico's patron saint, was another essential condition. The Grito de Dolores declared independence to be its purpose, but it did not specify how it would get there. Hidalgo's proposal, which lacked a programme and strong leadership, aimed to halt abuses by the elite and create a more bearable type of governance that benefited the people. The story of the Virgin of Guadalupe is a powerful illustration of how the Virgin Mary, a symbol of Christian devotion, was altered and made into the national emblem of Mexico. The Virgin of the Desert is said to have appeared to Juan Diego, an Aztec peasant, in 1531 and conversed with him in his own tongue. Diego made many claims that the Spanish clergy would not accept, and it appears that the majority of the early devotees of the Virgin of Guadalupe were Native Americans. Hidalgo declared the Virgin to be the protector and defender of the insurrection. Her persona inspired casta peasants from lower social classes to join the revolution and fight under her leadership. Later on, she was hijacked as a distinctively Mexican saint by creole nationalists to further their nineteenth-century autonomy movement. The region's impoverished and desperate castas soon learned about Hidalgo's uprising, providing them with a new outlet for expressing their complaints against the colonial government. The priest recruited thousands of individuals in a matter of days, and at its peak, his army numbered about 60,000 members, of whom 20% were mixed-race and 55% were Indigenous. Thus, Hidalgo's soldiers comprised over one-third of the population of New Spain's capital. (In 1811, the population of Mexico metropolis, the biggest metropolis in North America, numbered close to 170,000.) The Guanajuato aristocracy, who had taken refuge in the public granary, was slaughtered in a mob attack carried out by Hidalgo's supporters, who also looted many towns and wrecked considerable damage. Even those Spanish and creole elites who had first backed Hidalgo put aside their differences to defend their privileged positions—and their lives—against this deadly turn of events. By doing thus, they bore a resemblance to the Peruvian peninsulares and creoles who had united to put down Túpac Amaru's insurrection in the 1780s. Royalist soldiers seized and killed Hidalgo in March 1811. Nevertheless, his army continued to advance, and he is now regarded as Mexico's greatest national hero and the father of freedom. Mexico celebrates its independence on September 16, also known as the Grito de Dolores day. José María Morelos y Pavón, a country priest from a humble mestizo family in southern Mexico, assumed leadership of the independence movement in 1812. He raised an uprising of artisans and peasants and organised his army. Morelos, who was closer to Indigenous people than Hidalgo was, set out specific sociopolitical goals, including the abolition of Indigenous tribute, the elimination of slavery and the casta system, and the establishment of land reform. At the height of his military career, at the town of Chilpancingo, Morelos called a congress during a conflict that resulted in the declaration of Mexico's independence from Spain in 1813. Sentiments of the Nation, a manifesto that outlined proposals for social changes (including the introduction of an income tax), was written by Morelos to direct the work of the congress, which was also tasked with writing a constitution. Morelos's attempts eventually failed, even though the assembly created a constitution for the country that its members formally dubbed Mexico. He was unable to increase the size of his base of support, but he did manage to bring some order to a dedicated but essentially unruly insurrectionary group. He was unable to win over moderate Creoles to his cause, and the bulk of his supporters remained Mestizos. His capture and execution by royalist soldiers in December 1815 marked the end of the first stage of the Mexican independence movement. The government of the viceroyalty, not the Spanish Crown, put down the uprisings in New Spain led by Hidalgo and Morelos. In other words, 95% of the royalist army who faced the revolutionary forces were Mexican, with the majority being mixed-race and creole. Therefore, the uprisings symbolised conflicts in which the participants' allegiances were divided and the result was not predetermined; Mexico was engulfed in a revolutionary civil war. Following Morelos's demise, his adherent, Vicente Ramón Guerrero Saldaña, whose uncle was a member of the Spanish militia and whose father backed the Spanish Crown, carried on guerilla warfare against the Spanish government for a number of more years. Spain's control over its colony was further undermined, even if the patriots had not yet been able to win over enough people. The Viceroyalty of New Spain was quite peaceful by 1820. But because of what was happening in Spain, rebellion was going to start up again.