Your U.S. History:Chapter 5

For this unit you will read Chapter 5 from the Zinn book. In the assignments below there are specific pages assigned to the readings so please look for what you need to read with each article. The topics covered in this section include: war, mutiny, the struggle of minorities and women in the revolutions. The Mexican War of Independence and voting rights will also be covered.

READ pgs. 67-75, War and Mutiny & Indians and Blacks in
the Revolution

-Black Loyalists: Our History, Our People: read 
'Proclamation', 'Escape', and 'Ethiopian'

In 1775 Lord Dunmore, the Royal Governor of Virginia, was
in a desperate position. Several hundred armed rebels
controlled the streets and fields of Virginia. Dunmore had
been forced to flee the capital of Williamsburg for the
safety of the naval town of Norfolk. Williamsburg was a
nest of Patriots and Dunmore felt that it was no longer
safe for him to stay there. His loyal forces had been
reduced by desertion and harassment to about 300 troops.
By this time, many of his soldiers were blacks of
uncertain origin who claimed to be free. Although nobody
had stepped forward to claim them as a slave, it seems
likely that Loyalist officials tacitly accepted runaways
on the grounds that most slaveholders in Virginia were
rebels. At least one early soldier in Dunmore's militia
was an escaped slave from New Jersey who went on to later
fame in the war.

In desperation, Dunmore issued a proclamation calling on
all able bodied men to assist him in the defense of the
colony, including the slaves of rebels. These blacks were
promised their freedom in exchange for service in the
Army. This was controversial at the time, especially among
Loyalist slave holders who had feared a mass slave
rebellion. Some thought Dunmore had gone mad. Still, this
strategy was extremely successful. Within a month Dunmore
had raised 800 soldiers.

The Virginia Congress replied immediately to Dunmore’s
Proclamation with the Virginia Declaration, which
denounced his offer of freedom as striking at the
foundations of Virginia’s society. After decrying Dunmore
for filling slaves with false hope and causing them
greater suffering, it proceeded to threaten the death
penalty to escaping slaves.

Lord Dunmore’s Proclamation was the first mass
emancipation of slaves in American history, and as such it
deserves to be remembered as an important moment in
history.
	  	
Lord Dunmore's Proclamation
In order for slaves to become British soldiers they had to
find a way to escape their owners. It was not an easy task
or an easy decision to attempt escape. But at least in the
era of the Revolution an escaping slave could find a safe
haven with the British. At any other time they could never
relax for fear they would be recaptured by their master's
agents.

Slave owners knew that this offer of freedom would attract
many slaves. Slave owners already had an effective
deterrent for runaways; publicly beating them until their
blood ran on the ground. After the beating, slaves would
have their wounds washed with salt and would be forced to
go directly back to work.

Shortly after the proclamation a letter was printed in a
newspaper attempting to scare slaves away from the
British. It claimed that the British planned to sell the
slaves to plantations in the sugar islands (in truth, this
did happen to many Black Loyalists at the end of the war).
The Virginia Assembly also published a declaration at the
time decreeing that the penalty for runaway slaves would
be death without the benefit of clergy. They added that if
the runaways turned themselves in they would be pardoned.
They also called for all 'benevolent' souls to turn in any
runaway slaves they came in contact with.

Two slaves who braved all of these threats and dangers in
hope of freedom were David George and Boston King. Both of
them escaped slavery more than once, as recapture was a
constant threat.

David George was a slave to a particularly cruel master.
This treatment of him and his family provoked his decision
to run away. He left his plantation late at night and
walked until morning. After some adventures he became the
slave of a native chief. He was almost bought back by his
former master but managed to escape before the deal was
concluded. He worked for a man named Mr. Gaulfin until the
beginning of the American War when Mr. Gaulfin deserted
his slaves. From there he and his family traveled to New
York and finally to Nova Scotia.

Boston King's escape was unplanned. He went to visit his
parents and so borrowed a horse from a friend of his
master. The horse was borrowed by another servant and not
returned for several days. King knew that if he escaped to
Charleston, he could escape the terrible beating he was
sure would be inflicted on him. He managed to make it
there safely and was accepted into the army. King worked
as an officer's servant for a while, traveling with a
white regiment. Once, after being separated from the
regiment, a militia sergeant asked King how he would like
him being his master and commenting that he was tired of
serving the British. He clearly planned to take King as a
prize of war. King was less than enthusiastic but bided
his time until a good opportunity to escape came. He made
it back to British lines and told them his story. Angered
at the desertion, they traveled to the man's home and
burned it to the ground.

King then entered into the British navy, and not much
later was captured by an American privateer. King said
that they treated him relatively well, but that kind
treatment could no longer satisfy him. He was kept in New
Jersey, and King eventually escaped to British lines by
wading across the Hudson to the British forces in New York
under the cover of darkness.

Most slaves ran away at night hoping their absence would
not be noticed until they were far away from their
masters. Others stole boats and escaped to the sea.
Thirteen slaves were given the death penalty after they
seized a schooner in an attempt to escape their masters.
Even though there were many dangers and torments
associated with running away, such as execution or having
their family punished on their behalf, thousands of slaves
did so regardless. For them, freedom was more important
than anything else in life.

Within a week of Dunmore's proclamation, over 300 escaped
slaves had flocked to his troops in Norfolk. Every week
hundreds more arrived, desperate for freedom. Dunmore's
desperate ploy had nearly doubled his army in a couple of
weeks, and the Patriots were both terrified and incensed
by the steady stream of escapees. By any measure, it was a
success. Some of these black troops fought in the early
battle at Kemp's landing, where unprepared Patriots were
surprised by Dunmore's men and fled quickly. Dunmore was
convinced of the value and effectiveness of blacks as
soldiers.

Dunmore hurried to have the blacks trained in the basics
of musket shooting and formation marching, and had special
uniforms made for them with the provocative insignia
'Liberty to Slaves' embroidered on their breasts. Some of
those first recruits fought in the fall of the south side
of Norfolk and worked extensively preparing the
fortifications at Great Bridge.

The rebels were encamped on the south side of the Norfolk
river, and both sides set to building fortifications
against an attack on their side of the river. Every
morning they would fire a few shots at one another, and
scurry back into their camp.

Dunmore, made overconfident by the easy victory at Kemp's
Landing, was convinced that the Patriots were basically
cowards. He decided to order an attack based on the
deception of a Patriot double agent who told him that most
of the patriots had left for other parts of Virginia.
Early on the morning of December 10th, the Ethiopian
Regiment marched across the bridge with the other British
troops. The Patriots revealed themselves and fired many
times, decimating the ranks - and the attack quickly
turned into a panicked retreat. Soldiers of every colour,
scrambled to get out of the line of fire. Another attack
was ordered, but by this time the fight was basically
over.

Within days, Dunmore gave up Norfolk and had his troops
loaded onto the British fleet. There, he hoped to train
his recruits to become proper marksmen and soldiers, but
it seemed fate had another agenda. In the cramped and damp
quarters filled with wounded and hungry soldiers, disease
soon took hold. Smallpox spread through the British
troops. Already miserable from such trials, French and
American privateers soon began harassing the British
fleet. Dunmore made the decision to retreat to New York.
By this time, of the original 800 black soldiers, only
about 300 were still alive. Most went on to serve in the
Black Pioneers.

Two members of the Ethiopian Regiment went on to later
fame: Thomas Peters and Titus or Colonel Tye. 	  	
Escaped slaves had to run as far and as fast as they
could. 		

Deborah Sampson

Robert Shirtliffe enlisted in the 4th Massachusetts
Regiment in 1778. Except, his name wasn't Robert and he
wasn't a man.

Deborah Sampson cut her hair and wrapped a cloth firmly
around her chest. Thus, disguised as a man, she enlisted
in the Revolutionary Army using her brother's name.
Deborah fought for her country for years. She was wounded
in battle, although sources differ as to where. Some say
her shoulder; others her thigh. Coming down with a fever
did her in - not in the mortal sense, but in her disguise.
A kindly doctor treating her discovered her secret. He
helped her keep her secret until the war ended, taking her
to his house to recover in private. At the end of the war,
Deborah was given an honorable discharge.
Trivia note: Deborah's husband was the only man to receive
a widower's pension from the Revolutionary War.

Phillis Wheatley

 NAME: Phillis Wheatley
 DATE OF BIRTH:  c. 1753-5
 PLACE OF BIRTH:  Gambia, Africa
 DATE OF DEATH:  December, 1784
 PLACE OF DEATH:  Boston, Massachusetts as a result of
childbirth
 FAMILY BACKGROUND:  Phillis Wheatley was a slave child
of seven or eight and sold to John and Susanna Wheatley in
Boston on July 11, 1761.  Her first name was apparently
derived from the ship that carried her to America, The
Phillis.
 ACCOMPLISHMENTS: During her life, while it was not
common for American women to be published, it was
especially uncommon for children of slaves to be educated
at all.  Her gift of writing poetry was encouraged by her
owners and their daughter, Mary;  they taught Phillis to
read and write, with her first poem being published at the
age of twelve, "On Messrs. Hussey and Coffin." The
countess of Huntingdon, Selina Hastings, was a friend of
the Wheatley's who greatly encouraged and financed the
publication of her book of poetry, Poems.  Obour Tanner, a
former slave who made the journey through the middle
passage with Phillis also was one of the chief influences
and supporters of Phillis' craft.

She was especially fond of writing in the elegiac poetry
style, perhaps mirroring the genre of oration taught to
her through the women in her African American tribal
group.  Her elegy on a popular evangelical Methodist
minister, George Whitefield, brought her instant success
upon his death.  She also was well versed in Latin which
allowed her to write in the epyllion (short epic) style
with the publication of "Niobe in Distress."

Phillis' popularity as a poet both in the United States
and England ultimately brought her freedom from slavery on
October 18, 1773.   She even appeared before General
Washington in March, 1776 for her poetry and  was a strong
supporter of independence during the Revolutionary War.
She felt slavery to be the issue which separated whites
from true heroism: whites can not "hope to find/Deivine
acceptance with th' Almighty mind" when "they disgrace/And
hold in bondage Afric's blameless race."

Phyllis is remembered for many first time accomplishments
from a woman of her day:
•	First African American to publish a book
•	An accomplished African American woman of letters
•	First African American woman to earn a living from her
writing
•	First woman writer encouraged and financed by a group of
women (Mrs. Wheatley, Mary Wheatly, and Selina Hastings.)


Catherine Moore Barry

Cowpens. Ever heard of it? Well, it's in South Carolina. A
battle there helped bring about the end of the
Revolutionary War. It was l781. The British, under command
of General Cornwallis was out to crush a group of Patriots
commanded by a General Morgan. General Morgan, realizing
how out-manned he was, appealed to Catherine Moore Barry
for help. She knew every inch of the land she lived in.
She knew all the short cuts, the trail, where Patriots
lived, and how to contact them. Single-handedly, Catherine
rounded up the necessary local Patriots to join General
Morgan's troops. With Catherine's help, General Morgan
laid a trap for General Corwallis and his men. The plan
worked. General Cornwallis was defeated, retreating into
the hands of General Washington at Yorktown, Virginia.
With his surrender there, the colonies won their
independence from Britain.

James Forten
 
James Forten was born into a free black community in
Philadelphia in 1766. His grandfather was a slave during
the William Penn founding era and somehow purchased or
acquired his freedom. At the time, Pennsylvania law said
that 30 English pounds must be posted at the time of a
slave's manumission. James Forten's mother, Sarah, did not
start having children until she was 42 years old. It is
suggested that she waited until she was free until having
children. James's father, Thomas, died when James was only
7 years old. Free blacks could be re-enslaved by
Pennsylvania Law and their children taken from them, if
they were found to be destitute and a burden to society.
James was too young to start an apprenticeship. The Forten
family must have struggled to stay above the poverty
level. James attended a Quaker "African school" and
learned to read, write and enough mathematics to be able
to do quality bookkeeping in his own business in later
years. Most likely, in 1775, the free black community in
Philadelphia would have heard of Lord Dunmore's
proclamation that slaves who could fight would be set free
in Virginia but James was already free. When George
Washington and the Continental army passed through
Philadelphia on their way to the Battle of Brandywine,
Forten, if he watched the parade, would have seen black
and brown faces among the Patriot troops as they marched
though the city that day. Forten and his family stayed in
Philadelphia when Sir William Howe and 20,000 British
troops captured and occupied the city.

After the Patriots returned, the Pennsylvania Legislature
in March 1780, abolished slavery by law, which was really
a gradual emancipation to slave children once they turned
28 years old. (Like Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation,
the law did not free a single slave.) In 1781, at age 14,
James Forten enlisted on a Privateer ship, the Royal
Louis, named after the King of France and commanded by
Steven Decatur, who would become famous as a naval hero
during the war of 1812. (The Continental and State navies
and especially the privateers did not restrict blacks from
enlisting.) Forten became a powder-boy, running and
fetching gunpowder for the cannons but he also would have
gone aloft to let out the sails, worked the capstan to
raise the anchor, swabbed the decks and helped in the
galley. During his first voyage, the Royal Louis and the
Holker worked together and took four vessels as prizes. As
a boy under 16, James Forten's share would only be 1/2 of
a share. Between voyages, Forten recalls seeing
Washington's troops march through Philadelphia on their
way to Yorktown and wrote later in life that in the New
England Regiments, "there were several companies of
colored people, as brave men as ever fought."

His second voyage came on the heels of the great naval
Battle of the Chesapeake between the French and British
fleets outside Yorktown. One day out of the Delaware River
and into the ocean, the Royal Louis came upon an English
Frigate, Amphion. After a grueling seven-hour chase, the
Amphion fired a broadside on the Royal Louis and Decatur
had no choice but to strike his colors. Forten knew that
very rarely were persons of his color exchanged in a
prisoner of war swap. Blacks, whether free or slave, would
be sent to the West Indies and re-enslaved. Luckily for
Forten, the Captain of the Amphion spotted him among the
POW's. The Captain needed someone he could trust to watch
over his 12 year old son who was accompanying his father
on his first voyage. The Amphion sent most of the POW's
and her prizes back to New York and went south to strike a
second time at the French fleet but soon discovered that
Lord Cornwallis had surrendered. Returning to New York,
the British Captain offered James Forten the chance "to go
home to England with his son" — who was the heir of a
handsome estate. James Forten is said to reply, "I have
been taken prisoner for the liberties of my country and
never will prove a traitor to her interest." Captain
Bazely kept his eye on Forten until the last minute,
hoping he would change his mind and then, sent a note to
the commander of the prison ship, "Jersey" in New York
harbor to watch over young Forten. Forten writes in his
later years, "Thus... a game of marbles (with the British
Captain's son) saved him from a life of West Indian
servitude." Hundreds of prisoners died aboard the "Jersey"
and hundreds more escaped by volunteering for duty on
board English vessels. But James Forten stayed for seven
months until he was exchanged. He is said to have walked
from New York to Trenton after his exchange and finally
made it back to Philadelphia.

After the war, James Forten went to work for Robert
Bridges, a sail-maker on the docks of Philadelphia. Forten
became a foreman in 1786 and before Bridges died in 1798,
he helped Forten acquire a loan to buy his sail loft. At
age 32, James Forten had a workforce of 38 men, 19 of whom
were white. Forten ran a prosperous business for many
years in Philadelphia. He built a three-story townhouse on
Lombard Street. He amassed a fortune of over $100,000. He
helped in the founding of the Mother Bethel AME church. He
got involved in the abolitionist movement and the
underground railroad. When he died, white merchants, white
Sea Captains and hundreds of others attended his funeral.

Soon after being named parish priest in the small town of
Dolores, Hidalgo began to promote the establishment of
various small manufacturing concerns. He realized the need
for diversification of industrial activities in an area
that had the mines of Guanajuato as its major business. At
the same time, during his seven years at Dolores, Hidalgo
promoted discussion groups at his house, where Indians,
mestizos, criollos, and peninsulares were welcomed. The
themes of these discussions were current events, to which
Hidalgo added his own input of social and economic
concerns. The independence movement was born out of these
informal discussions and was directed against Spanish
domination of political and economic life in New Spain.
December 8, 1810, was set for the beginning of the
uprising.

The plans were disclosed to the central government, and
the conspirators were alerted that orders had been sent
for their arrest. Pressed by this new development, on
September 16, 1810, Hidalgo decided to strike out for
independence without delay (this date is celebrated as
Mexico's independence day). The church bells summoned the
people, and Hidalgo asked them to join him against the
Spanish government and the peninsulares in the famous
Grito de Dolores (Cry of Dolores): "Long live Our Lady of
Guadalupe! Death to bad government! Death to the
gachupines !" The crowd responded enthusiastically, and
soon an angry mob was marching toward the regional capital
of Guanajuato. The miners of Guanajuato joined with the
native workers of Dolores in the massacre of all
peninsulares who resisted them, including the local
intendente .

From Guanajuato, the independence forces marched on to
Mexico City after having captured Zacatecas, San Luis
Potosí, and Valladolid. On October 30, 1810, they
encountered resistance at Monte de las Cruces and, despite
a rebel victory, lost momentum and did not take Mexico
City. After a few more victories, the revolutionary forces
moved north toward Texas. In March of the following year,
the insurgents were ambushed and taken prisoner in
Monclova (in the present-day state of Coahuila). Hidalgo
was tried as a priest by the Holy Office of the
Inquisition and found guilty of heresy and treason. He was
later condemned to death. On July 31, 1811, Hidalgo was
executed by firing squad. His body was mutilated, and his
head was displayed in Guanajuato as a warning to other
would- be insurgents.

After the death of Hidalgo, José María Morelos Pavón
assumed the leadership of the revolutionary movement.
Morelos took charge of the political and military aspects
of the insurrection and further planned a strategic move
to encircle Mexico City and to cut communications to the
coastal areas. In June 1813, Morelos convoked a national
congress of representatives from all of the provinces,
which met at Chilpancingo in the present-day state of
Guerrero to discuss the future of Mexico as an independent
nation. The major points included in the document prepared
by the congress were popular sovereignty, universal male
suffrage, the adoption of Roman Catholicism as the
official religion, abolition of slavery and forced labor,
an end to government monopolies, and an end to corporal
punishment. Despite initial successes by Morelos's forces,
however, the colonial authorities broke the siege of
Mexico City after six months, captured positions in the
surrounding areas, and finally invaded Chilpancingo. In
1815 Morelos was captured and met the same fate as
Hidalgo.

From 1815 to 1821, most of the fighting by those seeking
independence from Spain was done by isolated guerrilla
bands. Out of these bands rose two men, Guadalupe Victoria
(whose real name was Manuel Félix Fernández) in Puebla and
Vicente Guerrero in Oaxaca, both of whom were able to
command allegiance and respect from their followers. The
Spanish viceroy, however, felt the situation was under
control and issued a general pardon to every rebel who
would lay down his arms.

After ten years of civil war and the death of two of its
founders, by early 1820 the independence movement was
stalemated and close to collapse. The rebels faced stiff
Spanish military resistance and the apathy of many of the
most influential criollos. The violent excesses and
populist zeal of Hidalgo's and Morelos's irregular armies
had reinforced many criollos' fears of race and class
warfare, ensuring their grudging acquiescence to
conservative Spanish rule until a less bloody path to
independence could be found. It was at this juncture that
the machinations of a conservative military caudillo
coinciding with a successful liberal rebellion in Spain,
made possible a radical realignment of the proindependence
forces.

In what was supposed to be the final government campaign
against the insurgents, in December 1820, Viceroy Juan
Ruiz de Apodaca sent a force led by a royalist criollo
officer, Augustín de Iturbide, to defeat Guerrero's army
in Oaxaca. Iturbide, a native of Valladolid, had gained
renown for the zeal with which he persecuted Hidalgo's and
Morelos's rebels during the early independence struggle. A
favorite of the Mexican church hierarchy, Iturbide was the
personification of conservative criollo values, devoutly
religious, and committed to the defense of property rights
and social privileges; he was also disgruntled at his lack
of promotion and wealth.

Iturbide's assignment to the Oaxaca expedition coincided
with a successful military coup in Spain against the new
monarchy of Ferdinand VII. The coup leaders, who had been
assembled as an expeditionary force to suppress the
American independence movements, compelled a reluctant
Ferdinand to sign the liberal Spanish constitution of
1812. When news of the liberal charter reached Mexico,
Iturbide saw in it both a threat to the status quo and an
opportunity for the criollos to gain control of Mexico.
Ironically, independence was finally achieved when
conservative forces in the colonies chose to rise up
against a temporarily liberal regime in the mother
country. After an initial clash with Guerrero's forces,
Iturbide switched allegiances and invited the rebel leader
to meet and discuss principles of a renewed independence
struggle.

While stationed in the town of Iguala, Iturbide proclaimed
three principles, or "guarantees," for Mexican
independence from Spain: Mexico would be an independent
monarchy governed by a transplanted King Ferdinand or some
other conservative European prince, criollos and
peninsulares would henceforth enjoy equal rights and
privileges, and the Roman Catholic Church would retain its
privileges and religious monopoly. After convincing his
troops to accept the principles, which were promulgated on
February 24, 1821, as the Plan of Iguala, Iturbide
persuaded Guerrero to join his forces in support of the
new conservative manifestation of the independence
movement. A new army, the Army of the Three Guarantees,
was then placed under Iturbide's command to enforce the
Plan of Iguala. The plan was so broadly based that it
pleased both patriots and loyalists. The goal of
independence and the protection of Roman Catholicism
brought together all factions.

Iturbide's army was joined by rebel forces from all over
Mexico. When the rebels' victory became certain, the
viceroy resigned. On September 27, 1821, representatives
of the Spanish crown and Iturbide signed the Treaty of
Córdoba, which recognized Mexican independence under the
terms of the Plan of Iguala. Iturbide, a former royalist
who had become the paladin for Mexican independence,
included a special clause in the treaty that left open the
possibility for a criollo monarch to be appointed by a
Mexican congress if no suitable member of the European
royalty would accept the Mexican crown.

  The struggle for Mexican Independence has only recently
been rediscovered as a struggle to end slavery and to
promote the rights of Indigenous peoples. The
revolutionary dimension of the War was the uniting of
Blacks and Indians in the armies of liberation. They
fought for the abolition of slavery, the end to caste
distinction, and the removal of Spanish tyranny. They also
struggled to overcome the “divide and conquer” tactics
that the European racial system had imposed on them.

September 
16, 1810
   
“El Grito de Delores”

Calling the poor people including Indians, Africans, and
Mestizos around the town of Dolores (near Guanajuato) to
Sunday mass, Father Miguel Hidalgo reportedly issued the
following proclamation:

"I ask you to join my Reconquísta, to fight at the side of
our legitimate ruler, King Ferdinand VII of Spain! I
cannot speak longer, for all is being done in great haste
and I must go! Death to the Gauchupines! [the Spanish]
Long live the Virgin of Guadalupe! Down with bad
government! Now let us go and seize the Gauchupines!"


                                                        
           *******

   September 13, 1813
   
”Los Sentimientos de la Nación”


General José Morelos y Pavón presented Los Sentimientos de
la Nación (Sentiments of the Nation) to the Revolutionary
National Constituent Congress on September 13, 1813. His
call to end slavery and caste discrimination represented
Morelos’s commitment to freeing African, Indian and
Mestizo peoples from centuries of oppression that they had
suffered. His armies were largely composed of these
individuals.



Los Sentimientos de la Nación:

1. "America is free and independent of Spain and all other
nations, governments, or monarchies."
2. The Catholic faith is the sole religion, and no others
will be tolerated.
3. Ministers of religion to survive on tithes and first
fruits, with the people owing only devotion and offerings.
4. Dogma as established by Church hierarchy: Pope,
bishops, and priests.
5.  Sovereignty emanates from the people and is placed in
a Supreme National American Congress, made up of
representatives from the provinces in equal numbers.
6.  Division of powers into appropriate executive,
legislative, and judicial branches.
7.  Representatives to serve rotating four year terms.
8.  Adequate remuneration for representatives, not
exceeding 8000 pesos.
9. Jobs to be reserved for Americans only.
10. No foreigners to be admitted, unless they are artisans
capable of sharing their skills and free of all suspicion.
11. Liberal government to replace tyranny, with the
expulsion of the Spaniards.
12.  Laws should promote patriotism and industry, moderate
opulence and idleness, and improve the lot and the
education of the poor.
13.  Laws should apply to all, with no privileges.
14. Laws to be drafted and discussed by as many wise men
as possible.
15.  An end to slavery and discrimination based on castes.
16.  Some of the nation's ports to be open to friendly
foreign ships, subject to a 10% levy.
17.  Homes and property to be inviolable.
18.  Torture shall not be permitted.
19.  12 December to be dedicated to the Virgin of
Guadalupe, and celebrated.

                                                        
           ******

PLAN de 
Iguala
   
    24 Feb 1821


The Plan de Iguala was a compromise plan to establish the
new nation crafted between the Afro-Indian General Vicente
Guerrero, and the aristocratic Gen. Augustin Iturbe. While
it abolished caste distinctions it did not abolish
slavery. However, the Plan helped to set Mexico on the
path of ending slavery.



Josefa Ortiz De Domínguez was the heroine of the Mexican
Independence. She was born in México City, and was raised
by her sister after becoming an orphan at an early age.
She attended Vizcainas College and graduated in 1791. She
married Don Miguel Dominguez, a prominent government
official. They moved to the beautiful and industrial city
of Queretaro where he became “El Corregidor” or mayor.
Thus, she is also known as “La Corregidora”.
She participated actively in the Independence movement
that began in the city of Queretaro. Her participation in
this movement was crucial in its early stages since she
provided financial support. One of her most important
contributions to the Independence movement was when she
alerted Father Miguel Hidalgo that the conspiracy had been
discovered by the Spanish. Thus, Hidalgo, prompted “EL
GRITO DE INDEPENDENCIA” on September 16, 1810, instead of
October as it had been previously planned.
Doña Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez, who risked her life and
freedom on behalf of the Mexican Independence, died in
1829 in Mexico City. She later was laid to rest in the
City of Queretaro, her contribution to the history of
Mexican Independence has impacted today’s women by her
courage and loyalty to her country.

Don Miguel Hidalgo Father of Mexico's Independence

     Late one September evening the name of Miguel Hidalgo
y Costilla became forever engraved in Mexico's history.
Since that night, his life as well as that of Mexico,
changed radically. Before that historic moment when his
voice cried out to demand Mexico’s independence from the
Spanish crown El Cura Hidalgo, Father Hidalgo, as he was
called, was exactly that -- an old priest from a parish in
the small town of Dolores, Guanajuato.  It was there that
he organized meetings with the townspeople and taught the
farmers to work the land.
He was an enthusiastic and hard-working man, always worrying about the well-being of
his community.  To help the indigenous, he built an estate
where he established a pottery shop, a tanning shop, a
blacksmith stable, a carpentry store, and a looming shop.
In addition, he sent for bees from La Habana and
introduced apiculture to the inhabitants of Dolores.

Up until that famous night, Hidalgo was a Creole
priest, born in a hacienda in Pénjamo, Guanajuato in 1753,
and Mexico continued as a Spanish colony, one of the most
prosperous ones though full of social injustice.

Hidalgo’s liberal ideas led him to join forces with a group of people who opposed the Spanish dominance.
Together with this group of liberals, among them Ignacio
Allende, Aldama and Abasolo, they reached an agreement in
Queretaro to begin a revolution in October of 1810.
However, they were discovered and forced to move up the
date to September 16, 1810.

Hidalgo took the banner with the image of the Virgin Guadalupe and, ringing the
church bell, he gathered many faithful Catholics from his
parish to listen attentively to Hidalgo’s speech.  He
talked to them about Spanish oppression and about the
impending need to free themselves from Spain. 		The angry
people shouted: “Long live independence!  Long live
America!  Away with bad government!”  With that, the armed
battle began which would give birth to a new nation, free
and sovereign. 	

In 1811 Father Hidalgo fell in an ambush staged by Félix María Calleja and, after
being relieved of his duties as a priest, he was sentenced
and shot to death.

His fight was not in vain, as Mexico gained its independence September 21, 1821.  Mexico
would never have gained independence had it not been for
Hidalgo’s calling on the people of Dolores. His grito
brought about the birth of Mexico.

Vincete Guerrero

Born 1782, died in political murder 1831, Guerrero was
Commander in Chief of the Mexican army during the last
three years of the 1810-1821 war for independence, was
member of the three person junta that ruled Mexico for
part of 1823-24, and was President 1829 into early 1830.
Guerrero was raised in a traditionally Indigenous barrio
of Tixtla, state of Guerrero. His ability to speak
Indigenous languages helped him politically to push a
broad "moreno" dark skinned majority rule for his nation.
Guerrero's political philosophy was capsulized in a speech
he made just after assuming the presidency.
He said, in part, "The administration is obliged to
procure the widest possible benefits and apply them from
the palace of the rich to the wooden shack of the humble
laborer. If one can succeed in spreading the guarantees of
the individual, if the equality before the law destroys
the efforts of power and of gold, if the highest title
between us is that of citizen, if the rewards we bestow
are exclusively for talent and virtue, we have a republic,
and she will be conserved by the universal suffrage of a
people solid, free and happy."

Equality in class as well as race was a goal of Guerrero.
Two years after independence he declared it was time to
build upon the victory over caste discrimination.
"We have defeated the colossus and we bath in the glow of
new found happiness... (We now know) the way to genuine
freedom... which is to live with a knowledge that no one
is above anyone else, that there is no title more honored
than that of the citizen, and that applies be the person
in the military, a private worker, a government official,
a cleric, a land owner, a laborer, a craftsman, or a
writer... because the sacred belief in equality has
leveled us before the law."

ASSIGNMENT: Break out into small groups and discuss:
-What are the similarities differences between the
American Revolution and the Mexican War for
Independence?-i.e. reasons for the two wars, outcomes,
participants and heroes. In what ways do you think the two
wars may have shaped their respective countries? On a
piece of paper write three of these influences for each
country. Also, choose what your group thinks is the most
significant similarity and difference between the two wars
and write a short paragraph for each about why this
similarity/difference is so significant. Only one paper
per group.

READ: pgs. 76-84, Farmers in Revolt & The Constitution-
Business as Usual from the Zinn book. The links below
correspsond with these readings.

ASSIGNMENT: Shay's rebellion protested the denial of
voting rights to poor white farmers; the struggle for
suffrage (voting rights) among various groups has been a
persistent theme in the History of the United States.
Choose one of the above sources to begin  research on one
of these movements. Use at least two sources (beyond what
is provided here) to write a 2-3 page essay on the
suffrage movement of your choice. You may discuss
whichever aspects of the movement are most interesting to
you, but be sure to include the importance of the movement
both to the group it addresses and the US as a whole. Be
prepared to give a short summary of your findings to the
class or in small groups. The sources can be current or
historical, but do not use Wikipedia!