Mexican War of Independence

* * * * * * * * * * * The Mexican Wars for Independence: Failed Ambitions * Pablo A. L. Briger * * * * * US and Modern World I * Mr. Segiel * February 15, 2013 * * * September 16 is a day of celebration all through Mexico. Even the president emerges from the royal palace, decorated with a sash to represent Mexico, rings a bell three times just as Miguel Hidalgo did on that same day in 1810 to commemorate the beginning of the revolution and to unite Mexico behind the ideals of equality and freedom that Miguel Hidalgo fought for. All Mexico celebrates on that day as one united country regardless of class or the color of one’s skin. Yet, the wars of independence from 1810 – 1821, according to Timothy J. Henderson in his historical account, The Mexican Wars of Independence, failed to realize the original ideals envisioned by its leaders. In the end, the compromise, ultimately reached in 1821, resulting in independence from Spain, deepened the already existing divisions of race, ethnicity, class, and regions. The revolution that was to ignite social, economic, and political change was doomed to fail not just because of military mistakes, class divisions and misunderstandings, but more importantly because of the deeply rooted social divisions created by 300 years of Spanish colonial rule, which were too difficult to change in a matter of years by the first leaders of the effort. Such change would take generations. Henderson’s argument is so well researched and written in a gripping style that it is impossible to attribute mythic status to the revolutionary heroes that Mexico values and praises to this day. Mexico still remains a society of divisions that were never addressed through Mexico’s independence because the final leader of the war of independence avoided it. * In the 300 years of Spanish reign, they instilled a social hierarchy and economic ideal, which

Bibliography: Timothy J. Henderson, The Mexican Wars of Independence. New York: Hill and Wang, 2009