Mexico had a hard time gaining independence around 1810-1815. The two men leading this struggle were Miguel Hidalgo and Jose Maria Morelos, both parish priests. Hidalgo was more reformed and quirky whereas Morelos was a little lack luster but had more respect from the community. Hidalgo made an insurrection in 1810 that expressed his opposition toward colonial government and the immigrant Spanish elite. Despite it declaring a rush for independence, he was still executed. Morelos took over and tried to lay the pavement however he was killed too. Before he was punished, he had written a declaration of independence of his own called the “Sentiments of the Nation.”
Morelos …show more content…
However, Morelos had a different approach. He wanted Catholic to be the only religion in the land. The freedom was strictly from overriding power not freedom of religion. The sentiments themselves opened with a clear call for national independence from any other sovereign power. A few of the sentiments I believe spoke volumes to what was going on in Mexican and Latin American society. Morelos spoke up on things the average citizen most likely had the same take on. Number 15 in particular stated that slavery should be ended once and for all. No more caste distinctions shall be made and people should only be judged by what’s in their hearts and not what color their skin is. This is a major issue we’ve gone over in colonial Latin America. People were constantly being placed into a racial hierarchy that prevented people from rising up in the community and helped others on their way up. However, the author still believed their needs to be order within a community. There should be elections for particular officials and only those of Spanish decent shall rule. His view was more favoring those that were well made out for the job rather than not selecting someone simply because they’re black. Those are two different things. We have those standards in today’s society as well. There are certain eligibilities that allow certain individuals to be apart of something and prevent others from doing so. Another sentiment was number 4, which depicted religion being upheld by the church hierarchy. We know now that the church rules everything in colonial Latin America. They controlled who married whom, who sat where, and who was able to escape slavery. The authors view is quite the same however pushing for less overall control and just asking that religion itself is taken on by the church. Instead of having the church run everything that goes on in the town they can