Padre Miguel Hidalgo Defeats the Spanish Army: October 30, 1810
This text comes from our book, All Ye Lands.
Like any society, 18th century Spanish America suffered from injustice and social problems. Some of these problems came from the way Spanish American society was divided culturally and socially. We will use the example of New Spain or Mexico to illustrate this.
By 1800, people of mixed Spanish and Indian race, called mestizos, formed the largest social group in Mexico — about 6 million people. The next largest group was the creoles, who were persons of Spanish blood, born in America. There were about 3 million creoles in Mexico in 1800. Besides these social groups and, of course, the pureblooded Indians, there were about 300,000 peninsulares — so-called because they were born on the Iberian Peninsula (Spain) and had come to live in America. Though they were the smallest group in New Spain, the peninsulares held by far the most political offices in New Spain. This made the creoles quite unhappy; for since they too were pure Spaniards, they thought they should at least be able to share power with the peninsulares. They thought they should not be deprived of power just because they were born in America.
These internal problems in New Spain were not, however, bad enough, to cause a revolution. What finally did bring revolution to New Spain were events happening across the Atlantic. Spain, at the opening of the 19th century, was rocked with civil war.
In 1808, the French emperor Napoleon I deposed the Spanish king and his son, Fernando VII. In their place, Napoleon made his own brother, Joseph Bonaparte, king of Spain. This led to an uprising of the Spanish people against the new government in which a group of leaders set up a parliament to represent both Spain and Spanish America. In New Spain, the king’s representative (called the viceroy) tried to make himself the supreme power, but a group of peninsulares removed him from office. Following this, a group of creoles tried and failed to overthrow a new viceroy set up by the peninsulares and the Spanish parliament. This viceroy recognized both the parliament and Fernando VII as the government of both Spain and New Spain.
The two small rebellions in New Spain thus ended by keeping the old government in place. But they inspired others with more radical ideas to think of how they could change the government of New Spain. These ideas led to the first Mexican Revolution — led, oddly enough, by two priests. Their names were Padre Miguel Hidalgo and Padre José Maria Morelos.
Hidalgo’s Rebellion
As the priest for the little village of Dolores in the Guanajuato region, Padre Miguel Hidalgo took great interest in the Indians’ everyday life. While one of his assistant priests cared for the people’s spiritual needs, Hidalgo helped the Indians cultivate grape vines and olive trees. According to Spanish law, however, the Indians were not permitted to engage in these activities.
Hidalgo was part of a group of creoles who had plans to overthrow the government of New Spain and form a new government. When someone told the plans of this group to the government, Hidalgo decided that he would not surrender or flee; he would resist. Gathering five to six hundred men around him, he marched from village to village, calling for rebellion. By September 21, 1810, 50,000 Indians, mestizos, and a few creoles had joined Hidalgo, marching under a picture of Our Lady of Guadalupe. As the mostly peasant army marched toward the city of Guanajuato, it slaughtered any Europeans it found. When, on September 28, Hidalgo’s army took Guanjuato, a bloodbath followed. After this massacre, several Mexican bishops excommunicated Hidalgo and his followers. In this way, it appeared that the Church was the enemy of the poor.
Because of his army’s atrocities, Hidalgo could convince few creoles to join his cause. Instead, they joined the forces of those called “royalists” who defended the government of Mexico.
Hidalgo achieved his greatest victory near Mexico City when, on October 30, 1810, his ragtag army of 80,000 defeated 6,000 Spaniards. Yet, despite this victory, Hidalgo did not try to take Mexico City but decided to retreat toward the city of Guadalajara. This retreat disappointed his followers. Thousands abandoned Hidalgo’s army. Still, in Guadalajara, where more men joined him, Hidalgo set up a government. He promised to grant freedom to slaves and hand over to the Indians the lands they cultivated but did not own. Still, Hidalgo did not declare Mexico an independent country but promised to be faithful to King Fernando VII of Spain.
