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The 16^th of September
Mexican Independence Day

Written by John Trausch, MA

"Libertad", 1991 Artwork by Luis Becerra
(Partial photo of the mural outside El Pueblo Gallery)
Donated by Lawry's Foods, Inc. Mural features Father Hidalgo

In the early morning hours of September 16, 1810, Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla made a momentous decision that dramatically altered the course of Mexico. The priest initiated a revolution against Spain by ordering the arrest of the town’s Spaniards (gachupines). He rang the church bell in his town of Dolores in the state of Guanajuato, as he customarily did to call the locals to church.

"Mexicanos, Viva México!" Hidalgo shouted to the peasants, who were part of the lowest caste of La Nueva España (New Spain). He called for the exploited and embittered Mexicans Indians and mestizos to rise up against the hated gachupines who stole land from their forefathers and "who had been exploiting the wealth of the Mexican people with the greatest injustice for 300 years." Hidalgo and his followers called for nothing less than a holy war, shouting: "¡Mueran los gachupines! Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe!" ("Death to the Spaniards! Long live the Virgin of Guadalupe!").

Months before his clarion call, Hidalgo had been driven to revolution when news spread of the military ambitions of Napoleon Bonaparte of France coupled with the long-time Spanish oppression of Mexico. Life for the peasants of New Spain was uneasy and threatened the little liberty they had left.

Prior to his call for revolution, the 57-year-old Hidalgo had begun plotting for the potential coup of Mexico. But he was targeted for arrest after a priest who had learned of the plot through a confessional tipped off the gachupines. When Hidalgo heard his plans had been discovered and that he was a hunted man, Hidalgo saw he had three options. He could await arrest, flee Dolores, or rally the Indian and mestizo forces.

His decision to call the exploited groups to revolt completely changed the character of the fight. The movement became a bloody class struggle instead of a shrewd political maneuver. By called the Indians to arms, Hidalgo tapped into powerful forces that had been simmering for more than 300 years. With knives, machetes, clubs, slings, axes and intense hatred, the peasants took on the Spanish artillery.

“Combat”, about 1925 - 1927,
Artwork by Jose Clemente Orozco

Within a month, more than 50,000 men, primarily poor Indians, had joined Hidalgo. As the forces advanced toward Mexico City, they acquired a picture of the Virgin of Guadalupe, their patron saint who was indigenous to Mexico; The Virgin of Guadalupe became the banner of the revolutionary forces.

The multitude devastated the cities of San Miguel, Celaya, and Guanajuato and was nearing Mexico City when Hidalgo ordered a retreat. Hidalgo was captured, subjected to the Spanish Inquisition, and executed. Hidalgo’s martyrdom became a rallying cry for the cause, and Father Jose Morales picked up the banner and led a populist revolt led by 400 armed parish priests. But Morales also failed and was executed. These two men today remain symbols of Mexican liberty and patriotism.

After the Mexican-born Spanish and the Catholic Church joined the revolution, Spain was finally defeated in 1821. Mexican Independence Day is celebrated annually on September 16, the date of the start of Hidalgo's revolt.

“School Children on Parade”, 1936
Artwork by Antonio M. Ruiz

Throughout the years, El Grito de Dolores, "Mexicanos, viva México," and "Long live religion! Long live Our Lady of Guadalupe! Long live the Americas and death to the corrupt government!" have persevered. Every year at midnight on September 15, Mexicans from the president at his balcony in the National Place in Mexico and every governor to Mexicans throughout the Americas shout the gritos, honoring Hidalgo’s crucial, impulsive action that was the catalyst for the country's bloody struggle for independence from Spain.