“Mexicans don’t celebrate or acknowledge Iturbide as the father of independence,” Albarrán says. Military leaders jostled and vied for power, and, finally, a democratic republic was set up, led by an independence-era fighter- Guadalupe Victoria-who became Mexico’s first president. Iturbide became emperor of the new nation, setting up a monarchy-style system and spending much of the new country’s budget on lavish clothes that resembled Austrian royal court fashions at the time. His following political promise, called the Plan of Iguala or the Plan of Three Guarantees, sought to free Mexico from Spanish control, solidify the country as Roman Catholic, and ensure that all citizens were equal. Then, in 1821, Agustín de Iturbide, a Spanish-supporting soldier who flipped to become a leader in the Mexican independence movement, led troops into Mexico City, decisively seizing control of the city and declaring the country’s independence. Beezley says this tighter version of the army was more effective, but Morelos was also eventually taken before the Inquisition and beheaded-and the struggle for independence sunk into a period of chaos as Mexico continued to fight a weakening Spanish rule. He was later beheaded by the civil government as punishment for revolting, and his head was displayed in Guanajuato, where he and his army were charged with causing a massacre.Īnother priest, José María Morelos, took up the mantle of revolution, sending home anyone from the first army without a weapon and horse. Hidalgo was defrocked as a priest by the Spanish Inquisition, says William Beezley, professor of history at the University of Arizona. Untrained and difficult to control, it was eventually defeated, with many of its members going back home to harvest their fields. Albarrán says they amassed a large, unruly, hodgepodge army that included women, children, grandparents, and livestock. “In this case, you celebrate the moment of insurgency, the possibility, and the hope.” A decade-long struggleĪs Hidalgo took up the banner of Guadalupe, the patron saint of Mexico, many people were inspired to follow him. “Independence commemorates the beginning ,” says Elena Albarrán, associate professor of history and global and intercultural studies at Miami University in Ohio. After a moving speech in the Mexican town of Dolores, Hidalgo took up the banner of the Virgin of Guadalupe, a Roman Catholic image of the Virgin Mary as she appears to Juan Diego, an indigenous Mexican believer who was later sainted by the church. Often confused with Cinco de Mayo by people living in the United States, Mexico’s independence day actually marks the moment in 1810 when Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a Catholic priest known as Father Hidalgo, made the first cry for independence. The day is marked by a national holiday in Mexico, a reenactment of a historic moment from the revolution’s leader, and an array of performances from fireworks to dance routines. On September 16, Mexicans around the globe will celebrate the anniversary of the country’s independence from Spain.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |