Society and Culture in the First Half of the Nineteenth Century PDF

Printed by: quinn.smid!@avc:.edu. Printing is for pcil80D8l, privare uso only. No part of1his book may bci npn,dua,d or tnmsmitb:d without pabliahcr'a prior permisaion. VIOl.a1ms will be proeec:uted. CHAPTER 19...

Printed by: quinn.smid!@avc:.edu. Printing is for pcil80D8l, privare uso only. No part of1his book may bci npn,dua,d or tnmsmitb:d without pabliahcr'a prior permisaion. VIOl.a1ms will be proeec:uted. CHAPTER 19 SOCIETY AND CULTURE IN THE FIRST HALF OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY I t is ironic, yet undemandable, that historians seeking to le/lffi how a people lived often rely upon the accounts of foreign trawlers. That which is commonplace to a local inhabit- ant is often colorful or unique to a foreigner. The young Frenchman Alexis de Tocqueville related to the citizens of the United States much tll,lt ihey did not know about themselves, and a series of perceptive visitors to Mexico during the first half of the nineteenth century did the same for its people. While thciranalyses often refteaed their own prejudic , their commen1aries are invaluable. One has only to disregard their chauvinism and nai de about the world to read these accounts to gain insights into the past. POPULATION The Mexican wars for independence. although small in comparison )!ri;h other world conflicts. nevertheless cook their toll. Accurate casualty figures do not exist,, bur re.liable estimates suggest that a halfa million deaths. or about one-twelfth of Mexico's pgpulation. is not an exaggeration. The battles le{t tens of thousands of orphans. widows, disabled, and inlinn. The dislocations occasioned by war were not quickly overmme. ImpenditJ{engagemerus caused civilians 10 flee. shopkeeper.; to dose their doors. mothers to pull their children out of school. and those who oould afford IL 10 hoard supplies. Many who left a town or city did not return. and families were perm_;nently separated. Several yeais after th "1aIS ended. visitora to Veraauz reponro deso- late,, grass-grown streets and a generally ruinous appe.arance. Mexico's rate of population growth, which was rapid priorto 1810, leveled o1-dramatically for the next n.-enry ye_3!$. Although recovery was slow, changjl in the prevailing social structure was even slower. Read- ing the accounts of travelers from the late colonial period and comparing them to accounts in the nineteenth century, one is struck by how little conditions actually changed. To be sure, the gachupines disappeared from the top of the social struaure, but the aiollos simply stepped into the vacuum. The population grew from 4.5 million in 1800 10 over 7.5 miUion fifty years latei; but the social categ0ries of that population remained amazingly static. In spite of the faa that republican government eliminated the racial 011egory indio (Indian) from dvil jurisprudence {as all Mexicans became dtiuns and equal under the law), classifying Indians as different continued to dominate nlneteenth-cemury thinking and practice in religious and civil life. 270 Printed by: [email protected]. Printing is for pmcma1, priva&e me only. No part of'lhis book may be reprodnced or transmitted without publisher's prior permisaii>n. Violatvn will be prosec:utcd.  &cier1 and Cu/JJtt, m rh, nm Half a{ rh, Nin,r,...,J, C.,nnny 27 1 Malcon f>t,pufallon GrowrJ,, 1800-50 Sooru: l lor.anlCint,JJ.aki,. ~ to&Jaoo,i, J,.D-J960 (.Nl"W\'ork. 1936)..336. INDIAN PUEBLOS Mexico was a naral country ,n 1heJitst halfof the nineteenth century. Th,;_lndians, making up over a third of the populadQn, lived for the most pan in thousands c\f°'tlny villages. Although th= pueblos vaned phys;rnly from one dimate 10 another. they p{esemed a unifom, cul- tural pauem. Pueblos 1\li're the most 1radltlo1,.bound unit ,nMexi'can sode1y. In south and central Mexico the hufs were made of split reeds covered 'IUlh thatched roofs. In the nonh adobe was mor common. b ut in both cases dogs. p i6"'and chickens shared the quaners with the fam'.Jltn 1850 Carl Sanorius, a Cerman natural scientist traveling in Mexico, drew a compom~1nterior from the many Indian dwellings he had see.n. t'll'l:te lhe hu~ upon a Ooor of earlh just :IS ~ lure formed l~ bums day and nigh I the sacred pre of the domestic hearth. Nar i1, st.1nds the metaw and m~Lnpiw, n On1 and cylindrical stone for cruslung the maiu. and thc;_l?'lhen po15 arul dishes, a large w.11er pi1d1er, a drink, ing rup and a dipper of goW"d.sh~constitute the whole wealth of the Indian's couage, a few rude o ,rvings. repres;:minll the :1.1ini., 1hc decoration. Nehhe, wble norbcnche, rumi>cr the room within, mat.s of ru,hes or palm leaves answer for both seai and t1ble. Th") serve as beds too for thcic rest at nighl, and for their final rest in !he grave. 1 Only the larger Indian 1ow1is bad churd1es; practicnlly none had schools and Spani~h was rarely spoken. Mooiml can:, as it existed, was en trus1ed to the bands of the local cumndero. The I earl Sanorl1cs, Mmco ""°"' 1850 (Stu1111>n, Cttmany, 1961), 69 Printed by: quinn.smi1h@avc:.ec1n. Printing is for pi,ncmal, privata uae only. No part of1his book may ba n,pmduced or trammitted wilhont pabliahet11 prior permilllion. Vwla1on will be p!'OleCUted.  272 TIU T RIALS OF NATIONHOOD lrufon agriculwralist lived largely ouL,ide the monei.iry economy. I tis own garden provided his daily needs-com, beans, chile. and, occasionally, in some areas. squash and a few other ,,q:c1J1bles and fruns. The mflsman sometimes had monanish panern. The main streets, paved and wel l liithted, led into th~ central plaza surrou nded on four sides by the main cathedral, the stale or municipal office buildin~ and several rows of good shops. generally unde.-a s1one arcade. In addition 10 an impressive selection of native products from many pans of the counuy, the shops stocked foreign merchandise, and a sizable merchant class thrived. Mexican cities boasted a buUring. a theater, traveling sideshows with tightrop,: walkers and jugglm. bookstores, and a wide array of public and religious festivals. Unlike in the pueblo or the rura,J, town, many criollos could be found in the bener residential areas. A few provincial.,~cmis led lives of plenty, b111 they were ex(q)1ions even.1mong the crlollo population. A modest number of schools educated only the wealthy. In 1842, for examJ}le. about thineien hundred schools operated ln all of Mexico. Total enrollment amounted td only siJdictiOM of impending upheav- als by lhe fictitious prophet Madre MatianJ (a colonial visionary allegedly conducted to !NI~ by the Virgin Mary 10 witness seen~ of Cod's future wrath) Iler predictions lasted !11roughou1 the century as a platform Jor debating nationhood. religion. roles of women, and popular cuJmre. Also contributing to the development of shared popular memories were d,e figures of the lorn