19th Century Mexico

Most of the largest events in modern Mexican history occurred during the 19th century. With Independence in 1821, to the Reforms that happened in the 1850’s, the people of Mexico experienced a great amount of instability and hardship. The turmoil of this century hindered the nations ability to development from a colonial entity of the Spanish crown into an independent nation that held its own autonomy. After the native people of Mexico were subject to Spanish rule for about 300 years, systems were implemented and new ideas were introduced. Native Mexican life drastically changed when the Spanish began to rule over their newest colony “New Spain”, with natives switching from a more indigenous way of life to a more European one. Here is a quote
If Spanish colonization taught the people of Mexico anything, its that you must do anything you can to ensure the health and safety of you and your family. According to Mark Wasserman, Author of Everyday Life and Politics in Nineteenth Century Mexico, “The most important task of the average Mexican was, as it was for anyone in the nineteenth century wold, to manage survival for himself and his family. Hard as life was, Mexicans endured, if not with elegance and grace, then with simplicity and dignity”(Wasserman, 8). Life was dangerous everyday, during the colonial period you had to always be on the lookout for the Spanish, and post-independence most lands in between cities were lawless and hard to travel. Robbers and highwaymen roamed these areas after long periods of war, making travel difficult for average Mexicans, while some like Fanny Calderón de la Barca, a wife of a diplomat, had the privilege of having an escort. Here is a quote from her first-hand accounts of this travel “A government escort of four soldiers with a corporal, renewed four times, accompanied us as far as Cuernavaca,... These are supposed sufficient to frighten away three times the number of robbers”(Society, Culture, and Politics in Late Colonial New Spain, Canvas). The people of Mexico learned during their colonial heritage that you must keep an eye out at all times, and this sentiment stuck throughout the early years of independence. Some native groups even allied themselves with the rival Spanish in order to maintain a sense of autonomy, which was very important to the native people of Mexico. According to Professor Haskett in the Canvas document “Indigenous Support for King Ferdinand VII” The Tlaxcalan people allied themselves with colonial powers and embraced their teachings in order to maintain their own safety and autonomy. This document shows King Ferdinand