The Mexican War for

Independence

Charles III enacted the

Bourbon Reforms

(r. 1759-1788)

Jose de Galvez carried out the

Bourbon Reforms in New Spain

Napoleon as Romantic Hero: David’s

Napoleon Crossing the Alps (1800)

Joseph “Botillas” Bonaparte:

Ruler of Spain (1808-1813)

Don Miguel Hidalgo: Began

Mexico’s Struggle for

Independence, Sept. 16, 1810

Hidalgo’s followers fused

nationalism with religion

Father Jose Maria Morelos

(1765-1815)

Vicente Guerrero bridges mestizo/

criollo division in Independence

Movement

Agustin de Iturbide: First

Emperor of Mexico

(r. 1821-22)

Plan de Iguala “Plan of

the Three Guarantees”

1. Independence

2. Equality of all citizens

3. Catholicism as official religion

-Mexico will be a constitutional

monarchy—crown offered to Spanish

royal family!

-No distinctions based on race/

ethnicity

-All government jobs open to merit

-Church will be protected

Causes of the Mexican

War for Independence

• Bourbon Reforms (1760-1800)

– Alcabala (sales tax)

– Royal Monopolies on liquor, stamps,

salt, mercury

– Increasing numbers of Peninsulare

administrators

– Greater presence of royal military

• Social/Ethnic hierarchy stifled

advancement of mestizoes, Native

Americans and enslaved persons

• Unequal relationship between

mother country and colony

Agents of War for

Independence

• Napoleon Bonaparte

• Father Miguel Hidalgo—Grito

de Dolores

– Father Jose Maria Morelos

– Mestizo followers

– Virgine de Guadalupe?

• Vicente Guerrero

• Agustin de Iturbide

– Criollo followers

Results

• Violent oppression of Hidalgo’s revolt by criollo military

• Iturbide’s “top down” revolution in 1821

• “Age of Caudillos” (1822-1870s)

• La Riforma tries to break power of caudillos

• Emperor Maximilien I

• Porfirio Diaz “El Presidente” (1876-1910)

Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna:

President of Mexico (off and on)

1833-1855

Benito Juarez: President in

1861 and leader of the Liberal

Reforma

Porfirio Diaz: “Effective Suffrage,

no re-election!” ruled Mexico

1876-1910

Francisco Madero: Coahuila

Intellectual turned Revolutionary

Pres. William Howard Taft, a

Progressive Republican,

threw US support to Madero

Pancho Villa: Populist

Gaucho Rebel from

Chihuahua

Emiliano Zapata: Populist Rebel

from the South (Morelos)

Victoriano Huerta: Former Diaz

Military Leader turned Madero

strongman

Venustiano Carranza: Norteno

Revolutionary from Coahuila

Pres. Woodrow Wilson, a

Progressive Democrat, threw

US support to Carranza

Alvaro Obregon: Former Carranza

General turned Presidente in

1920--brought peace to Mexico

Jose Vasconcelos: Mexico’s First

Minister of Public Education

Causes of Mexican

Revolution 1910-1920

• Persistence of Colonial

Inequalities

• Caudillos—Santa Anna

– Loses Texas

– Loses ‘Far North’=US Southwest

• La Riforma —Benito Juarez

• Foreign Invasion-Maximilien I

• Porfirio Diaz, pres. 1876-1910

• Creelman Interview, 1908

Agents of the Mexican

Revolution

• Creelman Interview

• Porfirio Diaz

• Francisco Madero

• Huerta

• Pancho Villa

• Emiliano Zapata

• Venustiano Carranza

• peones

Outcomes of Mexican

Revolution

• Chaos and disorder

• V. Carranza becomes president

• Mexican Constitution of 1917

• Land reform but not until 1930s

• Further conflicts over religion

• Later on ejidos are privatized in

1980s—repeal of reform?