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Lucas Alamán Pioneer of Mexican Historiography: An Interpretative Essay

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Luis Martin
Luis Martin*
Affiliation:
Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas
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Extract

At the end of the eighteenth century, Guanajuato was one of the richest and most cultured provincial cities in New Spain. Mining had for years been a source of wealth, and the provincial aristocracy of Guanajuato could easily compete both in culture and in gracious living with the upper classes of viceregal Mexico. The Alamán family belonged to that upper circle of Guanajuato. They were wealthy and, on their maternal side, their ancestry sprang from the better houses of Castile. When, in 1792, the first male child was born to the family, he was christened in the best aristocratic tradition, for he was baptized Lucas Ignacio José Joaquín Pedro de Alcantara Juan Bautista Francisco de Paula Alamán.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 32 , Issue 2 , October 1975 , pp. 239 - 256
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1975

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References

1 Navarro, Moises González, El Pensamiento Político de Lucas Alamán, (México, D.F.: El Colegio de México, 1952), p. 11.Google Scholar

2 Ibid., pp. 11–22; Noticias Biográficas del Exmo. Sr. D. Lucas Alomán. Secretario de Estado ν del Despacho de Relaciones Exteriores. (México: Tipografía de Rafael, 1853).

3 Alamán, Lucas ed., Diccionario de Historia y Georgrafía. (México: Tipografia de Rafael, 1853–1856), vol. 1, p. 775.Google Scholar

4 Alamán, Lucas. Historia de Méjico, desde los primeros movimientos que prepararon su independencia en el año 1808 hasta la época presente. (Mexico: Imprenta J. M. Lara, 1849–1852). Vol 1. p. xii.Google Scholar

5 Alamán, Lucas, Disertaciones sobre la Historia de Méjico. (México: Imprenta Agüero, 1899), vol. 1, p. 18.Google Scholar

8 Alamán, Historia de Méjico… vol. I, p. xi; Disertaciones… vol. I. p. 14.

7 Alamán. Historia de Méjico… vol. I, p. 345; vol. V, pp. 355,955.

8 Ibid., vol. I, p. xii; vol. V, p. 922.

9 Ibid., vol. I, pp. iv-v.

10 A great deal of these primary sources are kept today in the library of the University of Texas. See Ynsfran, Pablo Max. “Catálogo del Archivo de D. Lucas Alamán que se conserva en la Universidad de Texas, Austin,” Historia Mexicana, 4:281–316; 431 476; (1954-1955).Google Scholar

11 de Bustamante, Carlos María. Cuadro Histórico de la Revolución de la America Mexicana. (México: Imprenta del Aguila, 1823–1832), 6 volsGoogle Scholar. A new edition to this work began to appear in Mexico in 1961. See Hispanic American Historical Review, XLIII, (February, 1963), 122–123.

12 Alamán, , Historia de Méjico…;, vol. I, pp. 351, 352, 378Google Scholar; vol. II, pp. 88,103,110,151.

13 Ibid., vol. I, pp. 377ff., 447; vol. II, pp. 14,26.

14 Ibid., vol. I, pp. 432ff.

15 Ibid., vol. I, pp. 378–379; vol. IV, p. 722.

16 Ibid., vol. V, 351–353, 803–804.

17 Ibid., vol. I, pp. 187–190. Alamán refutes Bustamante's interpretation in vol. III, p. 561; vol. V,pp. 190,211,374,522.

18 Ibid., vol. I, p. 190; “…promovianla [la independenica] los descendientes de los conquistadores, que no tenian otros derechos que los que les habia dado esa misma conquista….”

19 Ibid., vol. V, p. ix.

20 Ibid., vol. II, p. 222ff; vol. III, p. 391-392; vol. IV, pp. 208–217,713–717.

21 Ibid., vol. II, pp. 351,438, 463; vol. III, p. 166,313; vol. IV, pp. 609–610.

22 Ibid., vol. IV, p. 334.

23 “… su expedición forma un episodio corto, pero el mas brillante de la historia de la revolución mejicana…” Alamán, , Historia de Méjico…, vol. 4, p. 628.Google Scholar

24 Ibid., vol. IV, p. vi.

25 See as an example of Alamán’s literary virtuosity vol. I, pp. 410ff, where he describes Hidalgo's attack on Guanajuato.

26 Ibid., vol. V, p. 955.

27 Cuevas, Mariano, Historia de la Iglesia en México. (El Paso, Texas: Revista Católica, 1928), vol. V, p. 370 Google Scholar. See also Bancroft, Hubert H., History of México, 1804–1824, vol. 4, 821–824.Google Scholar

28 Navarro, Moises González, “Alamán e Hidalgo,” Historia Mexicana, 3:2 (1953), pp. 217–240 Google Scholar; Arnaig, Arthuro y Freg, , “Alamán en la Historia y en la Política,” Historia Mexicana, (1953), pp. 241–260.Google Scholar

29 Lanuza, Augustín, Historia del Colegio del Estado de Guanajuato. (México: M. Leon Sanchez, 1924), p. 182.Google Scholar

30 The closing paragraphs of vol. V are a good example of this “biblical” tone.

31 Alamán rejects a miracle which occurred, according to popular rumors, during Calleja's attack on Zitacuaro.

32 Simpson, Lesley Byrd, Many Mexicos. (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1960), p. 186.Google Scholar

33 Alamán, , Historia de Méjico…, vol. 2, p. 458ffGoogle Scholar. Don Lucas seems to justify the total destruction of Zitacuaro by Calleja.

34 Simpson, , Many Mexicos, p. 198.Google Scholar

35 Ibid., p. 199.