L
to Mexican nation that was born with Independence was the product of the identity built from the ethnic and cultural fusion between the indigenous, African and Spanish populations, as well as the religious syncretism that took place during the colony. The conquest and colony were characterized, from the point of view of the majority popular, indigenous, mestizo, Afro -descendant sectors and the so -called castes, by a constant struggle to improve their living conditions, have a more just and equitable society and defend their dignity and preserve their customs, their forms of organization, their lands and instruments of work, their traditions and customs and to end a regime that end Oppressed and exploited, based on injustice, inequality and exclusion.
On September 16, 1810, a social revolution broke out from which Mexico would be born. The War of Independence was a massive popular revolution, in which tens of thousands of indigenous people, Afro -descendants, mulattos, mestizos, men and women, swelled the insurgent ranks following the call of the priest Miguel Hidalgo. These groups formed a popular army of tens of thousands of combatants who, in a few months, wounded the colonial regime, to the economy of silver that largely supported the exchange of products in the modern world system that was born, and that began to dismantle an oppressive and exclusive social system.
The fight headed by Hidalgo and continued by Morelos was a libertarian and righteous movement; A movement not only for independence and freedom, but also to end slavery and taxes, with a society divided into castes, in which a few concentrated power and wealth, while the vast majority lived in poverty and marginalization. It was a revolution to end hunger and injustice. It was not only a political revolution, to obtain the independence of Spain, but a social revolution, which sought to establish a more fair, free and egalitarian society.
This social and libertarian content was expressed from the first decrees of Hidalgo in October, November and December 1810 abolishing slavery and taxes, as well as the concentration of the earth in a few hands. He also proclaimed that everyone could enjoy their work and end oppression. At the same time, the advance of the insurgent army through the center of New Spain was destroying the foundations of colonial society. In the cities taken, the release of prisoners and the destruction of the archives, eroded the prevailing justice system, which favored the powerful and began to build a justice for the oppressed.
Hidalgo was in charge of a huge army with about 100 thousand combatants. The majority were poor people, armed with spears, sticks, slings, stones and machetes, with very few horses and firearms. They were poorly armed and organized, but their strength was unstoppable. In the weeks following September 16, the insurgent army occupied the main cities and villas of the Bajío and reached the outskirts of Mexico City. However, Hidalgo decided not to take the capital for lack of ammunition and food, for the casualties caused by the artillery of the realistic army, due to the defections that occurred and for the lack of organization of its army. He returned to the Bajío, his base of operations. The libertarian flame lit by Hidalgo extended to other regions. Hidalgo understood better than anyone the feeling of freedom and justice of the people who followed him and knew how to channel him. This is expressed in the abolition side of slavery, given in Guadalajara on November 29, and in the manifesto of December 15, 1810. In the first he expressed: that being against the clamor of nature the selling to men, the laws of slavery are abolished … they must be American or Europeans, give them freedom within the term of 10 days, under penalty of death …
There he ordered the elimination of the tribute, of the swinds and authorized the freedom to sow tobacco, produce gunpowder and reduce the alcabalas. In the manifesto of December 15, he proposed a National Congress and a new type of government in favor of the poorest: let’s establish a congress that is composed of representatives of all cities, villas and places of this kingdom, which with the main object maintaining our holy religion, dictates the soft, beneficial and accommodated laws of the circumstances of each people.
They will then govern with the sweetness of parents, will treat us as their brothers, banish poverty by moderating the devastation of the kingdom and the extraction of their money, will encourage the arts, the industry will be fueled, we will make free use of the delicious productions of our feasible countries and, around a few years, its inhabitants of all the delights that the sovereign author of the nature has shed on this vast continent.
The rise of the insurgent movement stopped. The realistic forces reorganized and defeated him in January 1811, near Guadalajara. The insurgent bosses escaped north, seeking to expand the insurgency, but were captured and executed. The first stage of the insurgency concluded with the capture and death of Hidalgo, Allende, Aldama and other insurgent leaders. But the strength and legitimacy of that movement did not end his death.
*Director of the National Institute for Historical Studies of the Revolutions of Mexico
