Week 13-15 9th Information: Enlightenment and Independence PDF

-Do you think that there was inequality in New Spain society or did everyone enjoy the same privileges? Why? \- What do you think was the situation of the indigenous population? \- What do you think were the determining events for the Spanish American colonies to become independent with a short d...

-Do you think that there was inequality in New Spain society or did everyone enjoy the same privileges? Why? \- What do you think was the situation of the indigenous population? \- What do you think were the determining events for the Spanish American colonies to become independent with a short difference of time between them? The Ideology of the Enlightenment in Spanish Possessions in America At the beginning of the eighteenth century, the triumph of rationalist thinking in France led to the Enlightenment. People sought to transform the absolutist regime. To do this, they spread the ideas of freedom and equality and the need to limit the monarch's power. The Enlightenment suggested that reason should be above everything, that it was necessary to have absolute faith in science and to trust in progress. They were looking for the happiness and wellbeing of humanity and promoting education as a form of opposition to superstition and idolatry. The ideas of the enlightened thinkers were smuggled into the colonies of New Spain, where intellectual criollos found a new way of looking at life. The liberal ideas that derived from the Enlightenment were spread in Jesuit schools, which is where the criollos were educated. The development and dissemination of ideas in the Spanish colonies were influenced by the thirteen English colonies. The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution in 1787 showed that it was possible to adopt a republican government system in which individuals had inalienable rights that no one could take away. The ideals of the French Revolution, equality, legality and fraternity, and for political participation, strongly influenced the intellectual criollos. Francisco Javier Clavijero, Jose Antonio Alzate and Fray Servando Teresa Mier proposed autonomy or independence from Spain based on the idea of popular sovereignty. Francisco Javier Clavijero (1731-1787) was a historian and religious man; he wrote Ancient History of Mexico, which was of great importance in its time. The French Invasion of Spain After the French revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte seized power and proclaimed himself emperor in 1804. He began to extend the French territory in Europe and decided to block commerce with England; Portugal refused to participate and Napoleon decided to invade it as punishment. To do this, he came to an agreement with the King of Spain, Charles IV, that his army would pass through his territory in order to get to Portugal. Napoleon's army entered the capital, Lisbon, and the Prince Regent escaped. On his way to Portugal, Napoleon took the opportunity to stay in Spain and the French army set up camp there in 1808. is brought about a mutiny of the Spanish inhabitants who were demanding the resignation of the king, so he was forced to abdicate in favor of his son, Ferdinand VII. e French did not recognize this change and decided to arrest the Royal Spanish family in Paris. Napoleon declared his brother, Joseph Bonaparte, the King of Spain, and remained so from 1808 to 1813. Spanish people were violently opposed to this situation that ended up triggering the war against the French on Spanish territory. In 1812, they gathered at Cadiz to write and enact a Constitution that established a constitutional monarchy as the form of Government. The French invasion of Spain had repercussions in the colonies because their rulers and power groups did not know who they should obey. The criollos, meanwhile, were not willing to be under the French yoke and they swore loyalty to Ferdinand VII. Finally, Napoleon's army was defeated in Russia and Germany. Ferdinand VII, supported by England, returned to Spain in 1814. "Criollismo" and the Desire for Autonomy Criollos were the children of Spaniards who were born in America; they had a different vision than their parents about New Spain, because they had a sense of belonging that took hold, especially among intellectuals , in the eighteenth century. Criollo Nationalists like Juan Jose Eguiara y Eguren and Francisco Javier Clavijero emerged; the first wrote the Mexican library (La Biblioteca Mexicana) in 1775, where he unveiled the scientific and artistic progress of New Spain; and the second was a Jesuit who praised the indigenous past in his work Ancient History of Mexico (Historia Antigua de Mexico). Criollismo, from a cultural point of view, exalted the indigenous past, which was reflected in painting, sculpture, architecture and literature. In political terms they sought to encourage those who were born in America. In the social framework, they provoked a religious sense related to believing in the Virgin of Guadalupe. A nationalist feeling developed in the criollos. They felt relegated as second-rate citizens after the Bourbon Reforms and the problems of the Spanish invasion led to hopes of autonomy. The Seizure of Power of the Peninsular Napoleon Bonaparte's invasion of Spain and the imposition of Joseph Bonaparte as ruler caused many people in New Spain to wonder who they should obey since their king had abdicated in favor of an invader. So, groups with different opinions about what needed to be done were formed. One group, represented by the City Council of Mexico City, proposed to create a provisional government that would rule without obeying orders from Spain and France. is group was made up of enlightened criollos, such as Francisco Primo de Verdad, Juan Francisco Azcarate, e Count of Regla and several more. e other group, represented by the Royal Audience of Mexico and comprised of Peninsular Spaniards, thought that it was necessary to obey the orders of Spain and to comply with the orders of France. Facing the attempts of the City Council for autonomy, the Audience group staged a coup d' etat in 1808, supported by traders of the Mexican Consulate. They imprisoned the autonomist criollos and Viceroy Iturrigaray, to whom they had previously offered the Government of New Spain. Criollismo: A movement integrated by the children of Spaniards who were born in America and sought their own identity, based on the indigenous past and on the exaltation of the American. The Virgin of Guadalupe became a symbol of national identity and her cult was one of the causes that brought the criollos together. 1810 Conspiracies and Insurrection In addition to the separatist movement of the City Council of Mexico City, several more emerged throughout the territory of New Spain. Some movements held secret meetings that were masqueraded as literary gatherings. One of them, held in Valladolid (today Morelia, Michoacan) was discovered in 1809 and its participants were imprisoned. The meetings that convened in Queretaro included criollos Doña Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez, wife of the Corregidor Miguel Dominguez, from the military, Ignacio Allende and Juan Aldama, and the priest Miguel Hidalgo, who was influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment and who supported the autonomy movement in New Spain. At these meetings they planned to begin the insurrection in DDecember of 1810. However, when their plans were discovered, they had to begin the uprising ahead of time. Once the conspiracy was discovered, the government tried to arrest the conspirators. For this reason, Miguel Hidalgo accelerated the insurrection inviting the people to join them and fight for King Ferdinand VII against the colonial government on the night of September 15th, 1810 in the town of Dolores, Guanajuato, where he was a parish priest. Insurgents and Royalists in the Independence Movement Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla initiated the armed movement along with Aldama and Allende to the cry of "Death to bad government!" Hidalgo offered to eliminate the tributes and went to San Miguel el Grande and Celaya, followed by a disorganized troop formed by people from the villages. In Atotonilco, he took an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe and used it as a banner. Hidalgo's group, called the Insurgents, faced the Royalists, who were fighting for the colonial government. During his campaign, Hidalgo increased the number of his allies and that is how peasants and laborers joined the insurgents. Townspeople were impelled because they had experienced economic problems and had grievances against the upper classes for a long time. The movement soon became massive. The insurgent army was improvised; however, the Royalists attacked and plundered the cities. In addition, news of the uprising reached other regions of New Spain where there were other groups of Insurgents who also rose in arms. After taking San Miguel el Grande and Celaya, Hidalgo's troops marched to Guanajuato. Mayor Antonio Riaño refused to surrender and refuge at the Alhondiga de Granaditas with the city principals, leaving the the town unprotected. Hidalgo tried to control the crowd who accompanied him and he tried to prevent the massacre that took place. Unfortunately, he failed. The troops accompanying him went into the Alhondiga and carried out a massacre of Spaniards and Royalists and invaded and plundered the city. This event made many criollos, who supported the insurgent movement, withdraw as a consequence of the slaughter that was perpetrated. After that campaign, Hidalgo went to Valladolid and from there to Mexico City. At that time, in October 1810, he met with the priest, Jose Maria Morelos y Pavon, and named him General of the Southern Armies and commissioned him to take the port of Acapulco. Hidalgo, without having taken Mexico City, retreated to Valladolid, where he abolished slavery; then he moved to Guadalajara, where he was persecuted by the Royalists. So he fled to Zacatecas, however, he did not arrive there and drifted northward. On March 21, 1811 Miguel Hidalgo, Ignacio Allende, Juan Aldama, Mariano Abasolo and other leaders were taken prisoners in Acatitla de Bajan and sent to Chihuahua to be tried and executed. Their heads were placed at the four corners of the Alhondiga de Granaditas, in Guanajuato, as a warning to rebels who were among the population. Upon the death of Hidalgo, Jose Maria Morelos y Pavon became the leader of the movement. He controlled the trade route that went from Acapulco to Veracruz (through Mexico City) and was supported by traders and businessmen. Morelos expressed his ideals in the document Feelings of the Nation (Sentimientos de la Nacion), which he read at the Congress of Chilpancingo on September 14, 1813, and on which the Constitution of Apatzingan is based. The Royalist Army persecuted the members of Congress. Some managed to escape, but Morelos was captured and sentenced to death in 1815. The consummation of Independence would not be achieved until 1821. The Social Thinking of the Insurgents e insurgent movement began as a political struggle in which the criollos wanted to change the form of government. However, when those who were destituted by society (indigenous people, blacks and castes) joined the revolt the fight became social. e inhabitants of New Spain who belonged to the lower classes listened to Hidalgo's ideas. He decreed the abolition of slavery, proposed a society in which there would be social equality, repealed the tributes paid by the castes and the indigenous people, and ordered the division of land. Given the turn taken by the movement, many criollos withdrew from it. There were groups that were organized and formed the liberal faction of the fight. When Morelos became the leader of the movement, he showed a desire for not only autonomy, but also for complete independence from Spain. Some of the Morelos's proposals were: to moderate opulence and poverty, to increase the wages of the poor, to include all the inhabitants in the laws, to outlaw slavery and the castes distinction, to prohibit torture, and to get rid of the tributes. Enacted in 1814 by Morelos, the Constitution of Apatzingan never came into being, however, his social ideas continue being valid these days. Spanish liberalism and the 1812 Constitution of Cadiz As the independence movement was taking place in New Spain, the ideas of the Enlightenment and economic liberalism that circulated among the Spanish intellectuals were imposed after Napoleon's invasion of Spain. As a result of this, the liberals summoned the Courts of Cadiz. For three years the courts met with representatives from all the kingdoms and provinces participating, including those in America. Americans also participated in the meeting of the Courts of Cadiz which called for equal rights between Peninsular and American, among other things. In March of 1812, the Cadiz Constitution that was liberal and against the absolutist regime and in favor of individual rights, was enacted. This Constitution was very important since it changed the policy of the Spanish Empire by proposing a Constitutional Monarchy; in other words, governed by a king who follows the Constitution. Among the principles proposed by this Supreme Law, the most important were: the king's power is limited to the executive; sovereignty of the nation; freedom of the press; abolition of the Inquisition and control of the Church; representative government with the separation of powers into executive, legislative and judicial. After what was stipulated in the Constitution of Cadiz, the subjects became free citizens and acquired a citizenship, with the exception of slaves. Kingdoms disappeared and provinces were created. In 1814, Ferdinand VII returned to Spain to occupy the throne and he abolished the Constitution of Cadiz and dissolved the courts since he wanted to return to absolutism. This caused disagreement and uprising of the Spanish people against the monarch's decisions, which ended with his accepting the Constitution and Spain becoming a Constitutional Monarchy in March 1820. Resistance and Guerrilla Warfare In 1817, the insurgent movement in New Spain was virtually dissolved. e territory was in trouble due to the ravages of the war, the fields were neglected or abandoned, which caused food shortages. An attempt to revive the movement came from Francisco Xavier Mina and Fray Servando Teresa de Mier, but they could not succeed. By 1820 there were still some groups led by Guadalupe Victoria in Veracruz and Vicente Guerrero in the southern mountains. Both insurgent leaders commanded the guerrilla war, since they did not have sources to formally interfere in battles. The Consummation of Independence After the reinstatement of the Constitution of Cadiz in 1820, a group of New Spain royalists conspired at La Profesa, wondering if it would be better to become independent and establish a monarchy that would be supported by Agustin de Iturbide. The Royalist Army instructed Agustin de Iturbide to attack Vicente Guerrero. However, after several battles, Iturbide decided to negotiate with Guerrero instead of fighting him. So, on February 10, 1821 while they were in Acatempan, they sealed the pact with a hug and agreed to end the war and to form the Trigarante Army. Soon thereafter, Agustin de Iturbide wrote the Plan of Iguala. This restored the Constitution of 1812, proposed a monarchy limited to New Spain and invited Ferdinand VII to lead it. The privileges of the army and the Church would be maintained. Iit established equality between the inhabitants without distinction as to race. Iturbide integrated the Mexican Congress and proclaimed the Independence, but it was not until August 24 that the Viceroy Juan O' Donoju signed the Cordoba Treaties with him, accepting the independence of the Spanish Colony. Command:To be in charge of an army or a squad. Trigarante: Related to the three guarantees.