Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T10:26:10.621Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Constitution of Cádiz and the Independence of Yucatán

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Paul Joseph Reid
Paul Joseph Reid*
Affiliation:
Springfield, Virginia
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

ONE of the principal reasons for the promulgation of the Constitution of Cádiz was the desire of Spanish liberals to answer the complaints of dissenters in overseas colonies and thereby suppress the budding independence movements. This policy met with more success in Yucatán than in most other Spanish colonies. The Yucatecans took advantage of the constitutional reforms to implement a number of economic changes. As long as these changes were in operation, Yucatán was safe from the fervor of the independence movement. To be sure, Yucatán was not completely immune to the appeal of revolutionary propaganda. There was a hard core minority which agitated to disrupt the constitutional system in order to win independence, but this group never gained much popular support. Events outside Yucatán, coupled with the potential threat of crown interference in the economic structure which the Yucatecans were striving to build, led a group of moderates in the Provincial Deputation, an administrative body provided for by the constitution, to declare Yucatán's independence from Spain. Moreover, the motivation for this declaration foreshadowed the factional strife which beset Mexico throughout the nineteenth century.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 36 , Issue 1 , July 1979 , pp. 22 - 38
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1979

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1 Estep, Raymond, Lorenzo de Zavala, trans. Trujillo, Carlos Echánove (México, 1952), pp. 33–34 Google Scholar; de Zavala, Lorenzo in his Ensayo crítico de las revoluciones de México desde 1808 hasta 1830 (reprinted in his Obras, I, Manuel González Ramírez, , ed., Mexico, 1969), p. 81,Google Scholar says that by 1819 there were no Mexicans who were not convinced of the necessity for independence.

2 O’Reilly, Justo Sierra, Los Indios de Yucatán, Menéndez, Carlos, ed. (Mérida, 1957), 2, 170.Google Scholar

3 Solis, Juan Francisco Molina, Historia de Yucatán durante la dominación española (Merida, 1913), 3, 413–414.Google Scholar

4 OReilly, Sierra, Los Indios, 2, 170–171.Google Scholar

5 Ibid., 178, 195–202; Ancora, Eligió, Historia de Yucatán (Mérida, 1917), 3, 108 ff.Google Scholar

6 Bancroft, Hubert Howe, History of Mexico (San Francisco, 1889), 4, 700 ff.Google Scholar Zavala revealed his skepticism about Spanish intentions in his reported statement, “If the king protects our rights we will obey him; if not we will secure our independence,” Estep, , Zavala, p. 36.Google Scholar

7 O’Reilly, Sierra, Los Indios, 2, 170 Google Scholar; Ancona, , Yucatán, 3, 106 Google Scholar; Estap, , Zavala, p. 36.Google Scholar

8 O’Reilly, Sierra, Los Indios, 2, 148,Google Scholar 199, says he was energetic, intelligent, and well-respected. In 1833 Argaiz became the interim governor of Yucantán and he continued to be an influential figure in Yucatecan public affairs, Solis, Molina, Historia de Yucatán desde la independencia de España hasta la época actual (Merida, 1921),1, 105.Google Scholar

9 O’Reilly, Sierra, Los Indios, 2, 209.Google Scholar Rivas Vertiz was one of the first members of the Masonic lodge in Yucatán, Solis, Molina, Yucatán durante la dominación, 3 443–444.Google Scholar Later he served in the state legislature of Yucatán.

10 Juan Rivas Vertiz to Secretario de Estado y de la Gobernación de Ultramar, September 27, 1820 in Archivo General de Indias (hereafter cited as AGI), Estante 99-Cajon 2-Legajo 5.

11 Yucatán, Provincial Deputation, “Libro de Sesiones,” Ms. in the Yucatán Collection on Microfilm in the University of Alabama Libraries (hereafter cited as YCUAL), II Sesión 13, June 27, 1820; Sesión 19, July 20, 1820; III, Sesión 17, November 6, 1820.

12 Zavala, , Ensayo, 1, 94 Google Scholar; Estep, , Zavala, p. 32.Google Scholar

13 Yucatán, Provincial Deputation, “Sesiones,” II, Sesión 8, June 18, 1820, YCUAL. The Franciscans had reason to fear the winds of change as an anticlerical spirit, not present in the Americas to any important degree, was beginning to manifest itself in the proceedings of the Cortes. Rodriguez, Mario, The Cádiz Experiment in Central America, 1808 to 1826 (Berkeley, 1978), p. 143.Google Scholar

14 Ruiz Madueño voluntarily became a secular priest when the Franciscan province in Yucatán was ordered disbanded by the government, Fray Santiago Rodriguez to Minister of Justice, July 2, 1822, Archivo General de la Nación (hereafter cited as AGN), Justicia Eclesiastica, tomo 9, 263.

15 Session of October 24, 1820, of the Provincial Deputation, annex of letter of Juan Maria Echeverrí to Secretario de Estado y de la Gobernación de Ultramar, July 12,1821, AGI, 99–2–5. García Sosa was a member of the ayuntamiento of Mérida in 1814 and had been briefly jailed for his defiance of Ferdinand’s proclamation of the abolition of the constitution; “Cinco expedientes.” Ms. in YCUAL.

16 Fray Lanuza came to Yucatán from Guatemala where he had become acquainted with the works of the Encyclopedists. In 1814 he had the honor of reading Ferninand' s proclamation of the abolition of the constitution at the official church ceremony announcing the fact. Later he became a member of the Society of San Juan, O’Reilly, Sierra, Los Indios, 2, 134, 170Google Scholar; “Cinco expedientes,” YCUAL.

17 Zavala, , “Pruebas de la extensión del depositismo,” in Obras, 2, pp. 665–673.Google Scholar

18 Carrillo, Manuel y Albornoz, , Contestación de la Miscelanea de Madrid No. 331 (Mérida).Google Scholar

19 Miscelanea (Mérida), November 23, 25, 1820, printed Carrillo’s version which was adjudged libelous. Significantly Vincente Velásquez and José Marías Quintana, two colleagues of Zavala, were members of the board; “Cinco expedientes,” YCUAL.

20 O’Reilly, Sierra, Los Indios, 2, 168–172 Google Scholar; Estep, , Zavala, pp. 33–35 Google Scholar; Ancona, , Yucatán, 3, 85–90.Google Scholar Zavala, Even, Ensayo, 1, 81,Google Scholar intimates this.

21 Yucatán, Provincial Deputation, “Copia del Acta de la Diputación Provincial de Yucatánsobre separación de Lorenzo de Zavala y sobre las reuniones de la Confederación Patriótica,” AGI, 99–2–5.

22 Yucatán, Provincial Deputation, “Sesiones,” II, Sesión 9, October 5?, 1820, YCUAL.

23 Solis, Molina, Yucatán durante la dominación, 3, 457 ff.,Google Scholar describes Echeverrí as a “Jacobin.” He was imprisoned for his support of the constitution and rewarded in 1820 with the command of Yucatán.

24 Echeverrí to Secretario de Estado y de la Gobernación de Ultramar, Sept. 11, 1821, AGI, 99-2-5. Among those who testified were José Matías Quintana, Vincente Velásquez, Simón Vargas, Pedro Tarrazo, and Tiburcio López Constante.

25 José Matías Quintana was a merchant from Mérida who inherited a seat on the ayuntamiento from his father. He was elected to the constitutional ayuntamiento in 1813, went to prison with Zavala in 1814, served in the Provincial Deputation in 1820, and was later elected to the Mexican constitutional convention which formed the constitution of 1824. Velásquez was responsible for the spread of social reformist ideas through his Society of San Juan. He also served in the Provincial Deputation in 1820 but he retired from public life a short time later because of his age; Ancona, , Yucatán, 3, 15–30.Google Scholar

26 Echeverrí to Secretario de Estado y de la Governación de Ultramar, August 18, 1821, AGI 91-2-13. Echeverrí thought López Gavilán the most subversive and insulting of all. In 1814 he had funded the celebrations for the return of Ferdinand and the abolition of the constitution and in 1820 he was the auditor de guerra; Solis, Molina, Yucatán durante la dominación, 3, 408.Google Scholar

27 Echeverrí to Secretario de Estado y de la Governación de Ultramar, August 18, 1821, AGI, 91-2-13; ibid., Sept. 11, 1821, AGI, 99-2-5.

28 Hann, John H., “The Role of the Mexican Deputies in the Proposal and Enactment of Measures of Economic Reform Applicable to Mexico,” in Benson, Nettie Lee, ed., Mexico and the Spanish Cortes (August, 1966), p. 158 f.Google Scholar; Noticias interesantes (Mérida, 1813).

29 Yucatán, Provincial Deputation, “Sesiones,” III, Sesión 2, May 21, 1821, Sesión 18, November 9, 1820, YCUAL; Hann, , “Economic Reform,” p. 159.Google Scholar

30 Regil, wrote Memoria instructiva sobre el comercio general de la Provincia de Yucatán y particular del puerto de Campeche (Madrid, 1814),Google Scholar a lassaiz faire analysis of the economic problems of Yucatán for the Cortes in 1811. He was elected to the state legislature later and served in a variety of different capacities in the state government. He ended his career as a diplomatic counsel for the United States in Yucatán and died in 1855; Solis, Molina, Yucatán durante la dominación, 3, 582 Google Scholar; Acereto, Albino, “Historia política desde el descubrimiento europeo hasta 1920,” in Enciclopedia yucatanense, 3 (México, 1944), 179 ff.Google Scholar

31 Yucatán, Provincial Deputation, “Sesiones,” III, Sesión 18, November 9, 1820, YCUAL.

32 ibid., Sesión 19, November 13, 1820.

33 Ibid., Sesión 1, January 4, 1821.

34 Ibid., II, Sesión 59, March 28, 1814; Fernando Palma Camara, “Historia de la legislación

35 Ancona, , Yucatán, 3, 165–166.Google Scholar

36 This financial crisis was not limited to Yucatan, the Kingdom of Guatemala was in the same economic distress. In fact Mario Rodriguez has pointed out that this problem was an important factor in the move for independence in the Kingdom and its subsequent balkanization. Rodriguez, Cádiz, passim.

36 Ancona, , Yucatan, 3, 165–166.Google Scholar

37 Yucatán, Provincial Deputation, “Sesiones,” III, Sesión 18, May 4, 1821, YCUAL.

38 Ibid., Sesión 32, July 23, 1821.

39 Ibid., Sesión 38, August 17, 1821.

40 Ibid., Sesión 26, June 29,1821; published in El Fenix (Campeche), no. 30-32 (March 25-April 5, 1849).

41 Yucatán, Provincial Deputation, “Sesiones,” III, Sesión 36, August 9, 1821.

42 Ibid.

43 Echeverrí to Secretario de Estado y de la Gobernación de Ultramar, Sept. 11, 1821, AGI, 99-2-5.

44 Yucatán, Provincial Deputation, “Proclama a los Yucatecos,” Ms. copy, AGI, 99-2-5.

45 Hilario Artacho to Echeverrí, Sept. 11, 1821. AGI, 99-2-5.

46 Miguel Duque de Estrada, et al., to Echeverrí, Sept. 11, 1821, AGI, 99-2-5; Ancona, , Yacatán, 3, 139–140.Google Scholar

47 The events in Yucatan closely paralled those in the Kingdom of Guatemala during this period; the constitutional, royal, and clerical figures in Guatemala City met on the same day, September 15, to discuss the matter of independence and came to similar conclusions as those arrived at in Yucatan, an observer from Yucatan was present in Guatemala City, Rodriguez, , Cádiz, pp. 146ff.Google ScholarPubMed

48 Acereto, , “Historia política,” pxp. 172–173.Google Scholar

49 Echeverrí to Secretario de Estado y de la Governación de Ultramar, October 17, 1821, AGI, 99-2-5.

50 Echeverrí eventually returned to Spain to receive the censure of the Spanish authorities for his conduct in Yucatán; addendum of February 3, 1822 to correspondence of Echeverrí to Secretario de Estado y de la Governación de Ultramar, Sept. 29, 1821, AGI, 99-2-5. Carrillo returned to Spain where he continued his work in engineering, publishing a text entitled, Tratado de Topografia y Agrimensura (Madrid, 1838); Sierra, O’Reilly , Los Indios, 2, 235.Google Scholar

51 Benson, Nettie Lee, “The Plan of Casa Mata,” Hispanic American Historical Review, 25 Google Scholar