Mexico

E

5

Government

Soon after the conquest, Hernán Cortés established a basic but functional local governmental structure based on the municipality, or city. Municipalities controlled smaller towns and villages. In 1528 the Spanish monarchy established a high court, known as the Audiencia, and by 1530 it was staffed by well-trained judges and had established a degree of royal control. In 1535, nearly 15 years after the fall of the Aztec empire, the Spanish government established the Viceroyalty of New Spain and appointed the first Spanish viceroy, Antonio de Mendoza, who was an accomplished administrator. The viceroy served as the head of the Audiencia, chief executive of New Spain, and military leader of the viceroyalty under the title of captain-general.

Theoretically, the viceroys controlled all of New Spain, which eventually included what is now Mexico, the Philippine Islands, Central America, the islands of the Antilles, California, New Mexico, and uncharted territory along the Gulf Coast. In reality, however, the viceroy exercised direct authority only over the central regions of New Spain. In other areas, distance and poor communications made it necessary to rely upon governors and other officials.

The administration of New Spain also relied on other bodies, including the Consulado (merchant guild), which dealt with commercial matters. A special tribunal, the Juzgado de Indios, was established in 1573 to hear appeals from Native Americans against the actions of district governors. A variety of lesser bodies dealt with the needs of a complex colonial society.

F

Independence

During the late 18th century, after Spain suffered a number of military defeats in Europe, the Spanish monarchy determined to improve the defenses of its empire. To pay for these improvements, it attempted to increase revenues. The Spanish monarchy was also concerned about inefficiency and corruption in the bureaucracy of its colonial governments. Bribery and extortion were common, despite periodic royal investigations. In the late 1700s the monarchy instituted a series of administrative changes, known as the Bourbon Reforms, that aimed to raise money for defense and centralize government authority. Spain sent one of its leading bureaucrats, José de Gálvez, on a visita, or official tour of inspection, of New Spain between 1765 and 1771. Gálvez reorganized tax collection methods and changed the tax structure.

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One of the most significant reforms, decreed in 1778, lifted restrictions on colonial trade. The measure allowed colonists a greater role in commerce and permitted widespread trade between the Viceroyalty of New Spain and other Spanish colonies in the Americas. Another reform, aimed at centralizing the colonial government, created important administrative positions and filled them all with peninsulares. As part of the effort to defend its empire, Spain created colonial armies by enlarging existing militias.

The extensive tax and administrative changes received little sympathy in Mexico, where many had prospered under the old system. Attempts to institute reforms provoked riots and antigovernment protests, which were put down by force, further upsetting many Mexicans. Many colonists disapproved of Spain’s attempt to strengthen its political control. Criollos, in particular, were upset that they had been excluded from the new administrative jobs in the viceroyalty. The colonists’ new-found economic freedom also increased their resentment against Spain—many colonists believed they would benefit even more if they broke away from Spain completely and ran their own economic affairs.

Efforts by the Spanish monarchy to limit the power of the Catholic Church also aroused opposition in New Spain. The church and various religious orders, most notably the Jesuits, had amassed great wealth and held large amounts of land in the colony. The monarchy viewed the church as an economic and political rival and moved to limit its power by curtailing church privileges. In 1767 the monarchy expelled the Jesuits from Spain and its colonies, and confiscated the economic holdings of the religious order. The Spanish monarchy went even further in 1804, seizing additional land and economic assets from the Catholic Church. These actions angered many colonists and priests, and induced many clergy to begin to support the idea of independence.

By the beginning of the 19th century, criollo resentment against the peninsulares and the government of New Spain had seriously weakened the link between the colony and the parent country.

To these internal conditions was added the influence of the Enlightenment, a European intellectual movement that challenged many political and social institutions, such as class distinctions, monarchy, and religion. Many criollos in New Spain read the works of leading Enlightenment writers and began to question the legitimacy of their colonial relationship with Spain. The Mexican colonists were also influenced by the political examples of the American Revolution (1775-1783) and the French Revolution (1789-1799), both of which overthrew a monarchy and established a republican form of government.

F

1

Crisis in Spain

The immediate crisis that moved Mexico to take the final steps toward independence came as a result of the Napoleonic invasion of Spain. In 1808 French troops of Napoleon I flooded into Spain, and the Spanish royal family was lured to France, where it passed the Spanish crown into Napoleon’s hands. He then gave it to his brother. The people of Madrid began a revolt that spread throughout Spain.

With central authority in Spain weakened, the leaders of New Spain began to quarrel among themselves. The viceroy, under pressure from influential criollos, permitted some criollos to participate in the administration. A small group of peninsulares objected to the viceroy allowing the criollos to have more influence. The peninsulares staged a coup d’état and overthrew the viceregal government.

F

2

Hidalgo’s Rebellion

The struggle for power between various political factions eventually set off a rebellion that led to civil war. In 1810 Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a priest who was familiar with the ideas of the Enlightenment, launched a revolt that aimed to free Mexico from the oppression of the Spanish colonial government and the peninsulares. Hidalgo called for the immediate abolition of slavery and an end to taxes imposed upon Native Americans.

The effort to overthrow the colonial government soon turned into a social rebellion as tens of thousands of Native Americans near Mexico City—suffering from the effects of rising food prices and declining wages—joined thousands of mestizos in the uprising. Hidalgo recruited an army of at about 80,000 troops and enjoyed some initial military success. When they encountered armed resistance in the city of Guanajuato, the rebels massacred loyalist forces and looted the city. The extreme violence and destruction of the revolt appalled many criollos, and few of them joined the rebellion; many sided instead with the peninsulares, who offered stability.

The rebels marched south toward Mexico City, fighting royalist forces near the capital on October 30, 1810. The royalists retreated from the battle, opening the way for Hidalgo’s troops to march on the city. Hidalgo’s force had suffered heavy casualties, however, and many of his inexperienced soldiers deserted. Aware that a large royalist force was approaching, and fearing that his army would turn into an unruly mob if it entered the capital, Hidalgo abandoned his plans to occupy the city. As the rebels withdrew to the northwest, many of Hidalgo’s followers drifted away. In January 1811, the remains of Hidalgo’s army were soundly defeated near Guadalajara by a smaller group of Spanish soldiers. Hidalgo fled to the north but was captured in March and executed on July 30, 1811.

F

3

Morelos

The leadership of the popular insurgency next fell to another priest, José María Morelos y Pavón. Like Hidalgo, he called for racial and social equality in Mexico, in addition to independence, but he was a better military leader. Under Morelos, the rebel forces captured considerable territory, including the city of Acapulco, and declared Mexican independence at the Congress of Chilpancingo in 1813. Royalist forces, however, still controlled Mexico City and most of the viceroyalty. Morelos’s army suffered a major defeat in December 1813 at the hands of royalist forces under Agustín de Iturbide, a criollo general. Morelos was captured by royalist forces in 1815 and executed. After Morelos was killed, the revolution continued under Vicente Guerrero, who headed a comparatively small army. The rebels fragmented into small groups, however, often mixing banditry with politics.

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