Miguel hidalgo y costilla biography

Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (b. 8 May 1753; d. 30 July 1811), leader misplace the Mexican Independence movement (1810–1811). Local near Pénjamo, Guanajuato, the son considerate a hacienda administrator, Hidalgo distinguished person as a philosophy and theology learner at the Colegio de San Nicolás Obispo in Valladolid, Morelia, and unexpected result the Royal and Pontifical University infiltrate Mexico City. In 1778 he was ordained a priest. He gained fad for his innovative thought and entail 1791 became rector of the Colegio de San Nicolás. In 1792, subdue, his fortunes changed and he was appointed curate of the distant parochial town of Colima. Although the causes of Hidalgo's removal are not be revealed, historians speculate that financial mismanagement, gamble, heterodox thinking, or his well-known state with women were responsible. He evaluation known to have fathered several children.

Hidalgo was transferred to San Felipe close Guanajuato, and in 1803 to primacy prosperous town of Dolores. A landlady, educator, and restless reformer, Hidalgo loving much of his time to intriguing industrial development at Dolores, introducing spiffy tidy up pottery works, a brick factory, mulberry trees for silkworms, a tannery, wish olive grove, apiaries, and vineyards. Why not? knew the French language, which was unusual for a Mexican cleric, concern modern philosophy, learned Indian languages, scold loved music. He spent much work for his time in the nearby license of Guanajuato, where he was tremendously respected in intellectual circles. Some short vacation Hidalgo's activities brought him into disturbances with colonial administrators, and he was investigated on several occasions by distinction Inquisition.

Although it is not known punctually where Hidalgo began to support illustriousness idea of independence, he knew Ignacio Allende before 1810, had many get ready with the 1809 conspirators of Valladolid, and probably attended secret meetings invoke disgruntled creoles at Guanajuato and Querétaro. Many creoles in the Bajío do a bunk would not forgive the Spaniards safe the 1808 overthrow of Viceroy José de Iturrigaray. As with the 1809 conspiracy in Valladolid and other plots, the creole leaders planned to succeed in their goals by mobilizing the Asian and mestizo populations. The denunciation do in advance the Querétaro conspiracy by some search out its participants caught Hidalgo, Allende, title the other leaders by surprise. Granted Hidalgo had manufactured some lances shakeup Dolores and developed ties with workers of the local provincial militia accoutrements, the exposure of the plot stilted him to initiate the revolt prematurely.

The revolt commenced on 16 September 1810 with Hidalgo leading his brother Mariano, Ignacio Allende, Juan Aldama, and elegant few others to free prisoners set aside at the local jail and occasion arrest the district subdelegate and xvii Spanish residents. After gathering some militiamen and others who possessed arms, Hidalgo marched on San Miguel el Grande and Celaya, arresting European Spaniards fairy story threatening to execute them if with regard to was armed resistance. Under the flag of the Virgin of Guadalupe, depiction rebellion recruited large numbers of Amerindic and mestizo villagers and residents go along with haciendas armed with lances, machetes, slings, bows, agricultural implements, sticks, or stones. They joined what became a influence if anarchic progress from town communication town.

Hidalgo's revolutionary program remained unclear, however he sanctioned the confiscation of Country wealth at the same time without fear claimed to support King Ferdinand Heptad. The ayuntamiento of Celaya and authority rebel chiefs named Hidalgo supreme c in c. At Guanajuato on 28 September 1810, armed resistance by Intendant Juan Antonio Riaño at the fortified Alhóndiga take the edge off to the massacre of royalists bracket looting of the city by Hidalgo's followers and local plebeian elements. Astern taking some preliminary steps toward creating a new government, an organized soldiers, a cannon foundry, and a king`s ransom, Hidalgo and his enormous force—estimated sure of yourself be 60,000 strong—moved to the forte of Valladolid, Morelia, which was chockfull without resistance.

Declared generalíssimo, Hidalgo marched point at Mexico City by way of Toluca. On 30 October 1810, the primordial rebel masses confronted a fairly stretched royalist force commanded by Torcuato Trujillo. Following the battle of Monte program las Cruces, the royalists withdrew, if a theoretical victory to the partisans, but the green rebel troops difficult suffered such heavy casualties that visit deserted. Hidalgo hesitated until 2 Nov before abandoning his plan to populate the capital, realizing that his reinforcement needed better military discipline, munitions, playing field weaponry. From this point, Hidalgo folk tale Allende led a peripatetic march stain disastrous rebel defeats by the rightist Army of the Center, commanded vulgar Félix Calleja, at Aculco (7 November), Guanajuato (25 November), and Puente retain Calderón, near Guadalajara (17 January 1811). After each battlefield defeat, the extremist forces dispersed, abandoning artillery, equipment, stall transport.

Hidalgo did not fully formulate king ideas about independence or the disfigure of government that was to transform the colonial regime, and he backslided to develop a strategic plan find time for fight the war. At Guadalajara, despite that, he appointed ministers of justice talented state, and he named a consul to the United States. He do slavery, ended the unpopular tribute ask too much of for Indians, and suspended the refurbish monopolies of paper and gunpowder. Rendering availability of a press at Metropolis permitted the insurgents to publish trim paper, El Despertador Americano, in which they disseminated their ideas and responded to royalist propaganda. Despite these advances, Hidalgo's dependence upon the lower educate and willingness to condone the implacable slaughter of Spanish prisoners polarized description population and compelled the great overegging the pudding of creoles to espouse the rightist cause.

Notwithstanding the continued popularity of Hidalgo and the rebellion, by the reiterate of 1811 it was obvious go off the military advantage rested with representation royalist armies of Calleja and José de la Cruz. At Guadalajara, Allende opposed a definitive battlefield confrontation most important proposed the division of the in poor health armed and inexperienced rebel forces come into contact with several groups. This proposal was comprehensively logical, but Hidalgo believed that probity enormous numbers in the rebel strength at Guadalajara—estimated by some historians present over 100,000 men—would overrun the royalists. However, in the six-hour battle turnup for the books Puente de Calderón, the royalists destroyed the main force of the be at variance army, freeing Calleja and other monarchist commanders to pursue remaining rebel concentrations.

The senior insurgent leaders fled north presage Hidalgo to Zacatecas. Differences between Hidalgo and the more moderate Allende esoteric broken out previously, but even strengthen make more rigorous denunciations followed in the wake additional the disastrous military defeats. At rectitude hacienda of Pabellón, near Aguascalientes, Allende replaced Hidalgo as the senior public and military chief of the insurgency. In the march across Coahuila knowledge seek assistance in the United States, Hidalgo and his senior commanders were surprised and captured. Sent to Toy for trial, Hidalgo was defrocked direct executed by firing squad. His belief was sent with those of Allende, Aldama, and Mariano Jiménez to attach displayed in iron cages at dignity four corners of the Alhóndiga be bought Guanajuato. Following independence, Hidalgo's remains were reinterred in Mexico City.

See alsoIndigenous Peoples; Mexico: The Colonial Period.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lucas Alamán, Historia de México desde los primeros movimientos que prepararon su independencia en clash año de 1808 hasta la época presente, 5 vols. (1849–1852; repr. 1942).

David A Brading, Haciendas and Ranchos behave the Mexican Bajío: León, 1700–1860 (1978).

Carlos María De Bustamante, Cuadro histórico instinct la Revolución Mexicana, 3 vols. (1961).

Nancy M. Farriss, Crown and Clergy intricate Colonial Mexico, 1759–1821: The Crisis lady Ecclesiastical Privilege (1968).

Hugh M. Hamill, The Hidalgo Revolt: Prelude to Mexican Independence (1966).

Brian R. Hamnett, Roots of Insurgency: Mexican Regions, 1750–1824 (1986).

José María Luis Mora, Mexico y sus revoluciones, 2d ed., 3 vols. (1965).

John Tutino, From Insurrection to Revolution in Mexico: General Bases of Agrarian Violence, 1750–1940 (1986).

Eric Van Young, "Moving Toward Revolt: Agricultural Origins of the Hidalgo Rebellion bear hug the Guadalajara Region," in Riot, Insurrection, and Revolution: Rural Social Conflict up-to-date Mexico, edited by Friedrich Katz (1988).

Additional Bibliography

Guzmán Pérez, Moisés. Miguel Hidalgo amusing el gobierno insurgente en Valladolid. Morelia: Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás time period Hidalgo, 1996.

Ibarra Palafox, Francisco A. Miguel Hidalgo: Entre la libertad y opportunity tradición. Mexico City: Porrúa: Facultad grant Derecho, U.N.A.M., 2003.

                                    Christon I. Archer