Mexico Gains Independence
1810 - 1821
Spanish Empire

Red River
and
Sabine
River
officially
become
New
Spain’s
borders
Inspiration for Revolution:


American Revolution 1776 - The U.S.
fights Great Britain for their independence
French Revolution 1789 - The French
rise up against their king and create a new
government
Reasons for Revolution:
Tired of Spanish Rule
•
•
King enforced royal laws that
colonist found unfair
Jobs
•
•
best jobs in New Spain were saved
for the Spaniards (not Criollos,
Mestizos, Native Americans or
Blacks).
Taxes
•
•
Spanish were taxing Mexicans to
pay for their wars overseas.
UNREST IN MEXICO
•In 1809 Napoleon would invade Spain and put his
brother in charge of the country.
•Mexicans didn’t trust the new Napoleon controlled
Spain.
•Mexicans also began to embrace the ideas of this
period known as the “Enlightenment” that kings did not
have a God given right to rule and that people have
natural rights
Spain
Government’s Role in
Enlightenment


Support the people’s natural rights and interests
If government failed to do this, it should then be
replaced.
People of the Spanish
Empire






Spaniards (Peninsulares) = people who came
directly from Spain to live in the New World
Criollos = people of pure Spanish blood but born
in New Spain (New World)
Mestizos = people of mixed Native American and
Spanish blood
Mulattos = people of mixed African and Spanish
blood
Blacks
Native Americans
Leader of the Mexican
Revolution

Father Miguel Hidalgo 

Catholic Priest & “Father of the Country”
September 16, 1810 - he called Mexicans to
fight Spain for their freedom
Battle of Medina


Republican forces of the Gutierrez-Magee
Expedition vs Spanish Royalist Army
August 18, 1813
 Along the Medina River south of San Antonio
 Republican army lost, but encouraged others
to participate in revolution
Disagreements and Defeat



Americans wanted a republic, but the
Mexicans wanted a government with
appointed officials.
Americans wanted independence from
Mexico, and Mexicans did not.
The Spanish defeated the Republican Army
in 1813.
End of the Mexican Revolution


Agustin de Iturbide
( E Tour BE Day) was a
General who switched to
the Mexican Revolutionary
side and eventually drove
the Spanish Army out of
Mexico.
The 1821 Treaty of
Córdoba would give Mexico
its independence and make
Iturebide its Emperor
Agustin de Iturbide
Outcome of the War




11 year war
1821 – Mexico independence from
Spain
1824 – Mexican Constitution of 1824
Texas became a province (state) of Mexico
called Coahuila y Tejas.

The land of Texas was combined with Coahuila
to form the Mexican state of Coahuila y Tejas
Mexican Constitution of 1824



Mexico’s lawmakers elect the president
No freedom of religion
Roman Catholicism – official religion