Miguel Hidalgo y Castillo appeared more interested in bee keeping than bible reading. The fifty year old priest had arrived in Dolores Mexico in 1803 to fill a vacancy at the Catholic Church. But soon he was spending more time outside among the hills than inside among the candles. He was fascinated by the richness of the soil¹ and surprised, perhaps, that the local agriculture took so little advantage of it. One might imagine the quizzical looks of the Indians upon hearing that the new priest would be offering instruction on olive cultivation and wine making, rather than The Lives of the Saints and Heroes of the Old Testament.² There are those that think such activities may be closer to the pastoral spirit of Jesus, than others; but that is another discussion. For now, let’s just say, he was generally considered to be, somewhat, neglectful of the traditional duties of the parish priest. And, it is unlikely that he would have much disputed this.

His eyes were lively and perceptive, and would switch from magisterial to mischievous and back again, in the same glance. His interests were broad, his readings wide, his intellect strong with exercise, and his heart as big as his people. And to the extent that you were one of his people, you were blessed. He was a pastor. He was most definitely not a general.

But he was appalled. The contrast between the richness of the land and the poverty of the people seemed to him an injustice. Here was land so ready to yield abundance, so evidently blessed of God, and yet occupied by people so poor and so ill-prepared to reap its benefits. The new pastor set about to educate his people and to train them in modern industry.

He taught them to grow olives. He taught them to grow grapes and to make wine. He taught them to raise silkworms and to weave the silk into garments in their own creative designs. He trained them to work in leather. He trained them to keep bees, collect the honey and barter it for profit. He established factories for making bricks and spinning pottery. He encouraged every avenue that would cultivate their talents and bring them reward for their labor. And as he taught, the hopes of his people awakened, and so did hatred among some others.

The criollos hated the peninsulares who despised the mestizos, mullatos and indios. With few exceptions, a rigid caste system had evolved under three hundred years of Spanish Rule since the conquistadors first destroyed the indigenous polity.³ At the top were pure blood European born Spaniards, the peninsulares,⁴ so named for their place of birth.⁵ For them were reserved the places of honor at the banquets and the chief places in government. They became wealthy off of Mexico whose entire economy was organized to enrich Spain. The criollos were were born of Spanish parents, but, being born in America and not Europe, they were restricted from advancement in the world of society and politics. Mestizo parentage was mixed European and American; Mulattos mixed African and American, and the Indios were native American. Upon the backs of these people rode the economy of Spain and the wealth of the King. These referred to the peninsulares as gachupines, that is, the ones who wear the spurs.

Spain ordered the restriction of certain industries, like olives and wine, lest they interfere with profitable Spanish exports. Miguel, however, was not overly concerned about royal orders in general, and bad ones in particular. For years he had spoken out against the tyranny of kings and the authority or popes, while hosting theater, dances and literature readings on Church property. He was immersed in the literature of the Enlightenment promoting the restriction of governments and the freedoms of the individual. He was just twenty three old when northern brethren proclaimed, in words immortal, that governments existed to secure the certain unalienable rights of individuals. He followed intently the independence movement of those thirteen colonies from England and their growth as a nation. And then he watched with amazement, and then horror, the French Revolution, and then its destructiveness, and then the rise of Napoleon. He followed Haiti’s struggle for independence from France and watched Napoleon’s betrayal. And now, in his fifties, those early beliefs in the life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness had matured into respect for these rights in every person he encountered as well as good governance. In his analytical mind, the richness of the soil, plus, the potential of the people, plus, his appointment to Dolores, equaled a divine tryst. He ignored the orders and continued to teach the people.

He also continued the literary meetings. The main meeting was hosted by Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez, wife of the local corregidor, the chief political leaderin the region. In her home, they discussed the writings of Rousseau, Jefferson, Madison and Locke, writings which foretold a new political age enshrining the dignity of humanity. “All men are created equal“, they read. All are “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights“, they rejoiced. They explored the ramifications of “Life Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness“. Their minds reveled in the light; conversed deep into the night, and then, in the light of day, they did what they could, to lighten the loads of their brethren.

News came in 1808 that Napoleon Bonaparte had installed his brother Joseph on the throne of Spain after ousting the King of Spain, Ferdinand VII. Throughout Mexico, surprise and then consternation spread. Many feared that Napoleon would conquer the whole of the Iberian peninsula, bring French rule to Mexico and destroy the Church in Mexico, as had happened in France. Some were for outright independence from all of Europe. Some supported the rightful Spanish Crown against the French. Many feared the peninsulares would betray Mexico to France to secure their own positions. The literature reading circle realized that their world had changed, and, by 1810, became a conspiratorial circle. Discussions moved from theories to practicalities, from possibilities to plans, and then to preparations. Associates were recruited, arms collected, and a date set for an uprising; it would be on a Monday, the 10th of December. But before preparations could be completed, three months ahead of the scheduled uprising, a list of the conspirators was handed to the Spanish Viceroy in Mexico City.

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It was September 13, a Thursday, when the arrest order was given. Josefa Ortiz, the hostess of the conspiring circle, was confined to her quarters, but managed to slip a message under the door with the whisper “To Miguel, Hurry!”

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Two day’s hard ride later, the messenger arrived in Dolores. It was Saturday the 15th. One can imagine the priest, on his porch in the heat of that Summer evening, looking up from conversation at the sound of the horse and his rider approaching. Amid swirling dust the horse comes to a halt, glistening with sweat. The rider, dismounting hurriedly and almost stumbling, weary with the journey. Approaching rapidly, the messenger pulled the letter from his breast, ascended the few steps, and presented it to the priest. “For you, Senior Miguel. It’s from Josefa.”

The Pastor looks up to messenger and thanks him. Looking down at the message, he suspects he is looking at his fate. Hesitating just a moment, he received the letter. Unsealing and unfolding it, his eyes fell upon the words and heard Josefa’s voice, “we are betrayed.” Thanking the rider, he put the letter into his breast, and finishes his wine in the firelight.

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The next morning, the bells were ringing at the church in Dolores Mexico. It was Sunday; and the poor of the land gathered to the church; and their pastor stood up before them, and opened his mouth. If a sermon is to be judged by its effects, then perhaps that morning was heard the greatest sermon since the Carpenter from Galilee. For that morning began the changing of the world.

The same afternoon, 600 men gathered with the pastor; and word spread through the countryside that they were marching against the gachupines and bad government. Six days later, 6000 were marching, and towns were overrun. In 16 days, they numbered 60,000. Some thought they were marching for King Ferdinand, some were marching against the French, and very many felt there was a supernatural air to the entire affair. They were 90,000 strong when they approached the gates of Mexico city. In a move ever after debated by historians, Hidalgo turned aside from a military battle which many thought he could have won. But the movement begun could not be quenched. After many ups and downs, in fifteen years not only was Mexico independent but so were numerous countries throughout the Western Hemisphere.

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What was said that Sunday morning, has been variously described; but the truth is, we really don’t know. No record exists.  But all the historians agree that the sermon is properly called, el grito de dolores, that is, The Cry of Dolores. The town’s name, of course, Dolores, comes from the word dolor, which means pain and bitterness. A linguistic coincidence? Perhaps. A divine providence? Who can say? But out of that town named Dolores, on that Sunday morning, came a cry which altered the course of the world. A gritty cry, out of an anguish, so startling that no one thought to write it down, so moving that its meaning was unmistakable.

Historians have discussed reports of a ‘supernatural air‘ about the entire movement, as though a Divine Providence was carrying them forward in their cause. Certainly, feelings, grander than those to which their impoverished lives had been accustomed, animated them. They’d been nothing and now respected, they’d been ignorant and now taught, they’d been taught to barter with their fellow man, as equals. If this was not the Love of God, it was certainly the Love of that pastor in Dolores. And it felt Good. And it felt worth marching for; and it felt worth dying for.

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To me it’s remarkable that so momentous a pivot in world history would would occur in the next few moments. Hidalgo looked up at the rider, received the letter from the outstretched hand, and began to unseal it. At that moment, the Spanish Empire had controlled almost the entire western hemisphere for three centuries as one of history’s largest empires. Miguel unfolded the letter and heard Josefa’s voice, “we are betrayed”. Sitting there with letter in hand, Hidalgo made his decision,⁶ and the world changed. We know that that same evening Hidalgo directed the prison break of several score allied persons; and the very next morning gave, arguably, the most effective sermon since the Carpenter of Galilee. We know that in fifteen years, the western hemisphere was liberated from Spanish rule.

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The bells were ringing in Dolores early Sunday morning as the poor of the land gathered. That morning, their pastor stood before them and said, my children, the time is come.

But it could not have been just the words he said, it was the man who said the words; and it could not have been just the man who said the words, it was the time in which he said them. Bit it was not just the time, it was the era; it was as though the world itself had bent to watch, and said, it is time.

there are those that said the march had a supernatural element to it, as though a divine smile. we know they were marching in the love of the priest from dolores.

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He walked with his people and he walked into history.⁹

by the time they got to asd a wek later, they were 5000 in number, no 6000, no 9000. two months later, 30,000, 40000, no 50000 arrived at th gates of .

“nearly 90,000”¹⁰

Before the gates of Mexico City they were 80,000 ¹¹ here were, 100,000 when they paused momentum. he was not a general but he was a leader a person whom others followed.

they say he was a spiritual leader,¹² that people with him felt that they were smiled upon from above and borne on eagles’ wings. No doubt they felt the love of Manuel Hidalgo the bee keeper.

By Jaime E. Rodriguez O.

Jose Maria Morelos was born of parents mulatto and mestizo,¹ into a society in which one’s future was measured out by blood proportions, ethnic history, and skin tone. 18th century Mexico, or, “New Spain”, as the Spanish peninsulares²preferred, was obsessed with class, caste and classifications based upon blood, birthplace and ethnicity. Among pure breeds, Morelos was a mutt. In other words, he was fcuked,³ more than either of his parents, before he was even born. And yet, the name, Jose Maria Morelos, is carved in the Mount of the Immortals, Beloved Forever, a Hero of Independence in Mexico. The names of others are forgotten.

The little baby was born September 30, 1765, into the world of the poor. To outsiders, the scene may have been, almost, Dickensian⁴, a portrait of poverty; mother, father, she, the mulatto freed slave,⁵he, the mestizo wage-earning carpenter, both clothed in garments years past the time others would have discarded them, huddling, over, a box confiscated from the barn containing, their baby. We know this story. We have the data, and the statistics. Experts have developed models and provided projections; and we can be pretty sure that the rest of the story includes a mother’s tears, a father’s humiliation, a son’s hardship, and then, an end, a tidy end.

But who can say what really passed between those parents and the infant in that scene? The insiders are no longer with us; and all we have are these monuments, lots of them, monuments all over the place, some over a hundred feet tall. Perhaps, those parents looked upon their infant in wonder, and in the joy of family love, the awareness of their poverty disappeared in irrelevance. Giggling, one, picking up the thread of an ongoing conversation, suggests, “Jose Maria”, and then, “Why Not?” The other laughing, says, “But”, and grins, blushing. The little one looking up, incapable of nothing other than belief, locks eyes with mama, and then papa. They knew the beauty of this scene. And so, papa Jose Manuel and mama Joanna Maria agreed. His name shall be Jose Maria Morelos. And so they named him after the parents of the best hope they new, not Joseph, not Mary, but Joseph and Mary. And then, in the sing song voice that every parent knows, they looked upon this tiny human being, and said, “Hello Jose Maria.”

The Mule Driver

History next records that he was a muleteer, a task often given to boys when they became somewhere around ten years old. And so Jose Maria entered into the hearty outdoor life of the working class poor. He couldn’t know, of course, that lessons learned behind that mule would prepare him to general Mexico’s War of independence; he just knew that mama and papa said it was important that he do this work, and that it was good work, and that they encouraged him, and advised him, to a job well done. “Remember”, they’d remind him, “It is the mule who is doing the work, so respect him, and his strength, and make sure he has the food and water he needs.” “Mules are as different from one another as people,” they’d say; “so be kind.”⁶ “To plow a straight line, keep your attention fixed on your goal, the end of the row, not your feet or the mules feet.” “A well trained mule makes the plowman’s job easier.”⁷ “A horse may be faster and flashier, but a mule is stronger and more precise for plowing.”⁸ And so he learned from the mules, how to get things done, from dawn till dusk, year after year, until the opportunity arose to become a cowhand.

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The Vaquero

Cowhands in Mexico were known as vaqueros; vaca, of course, being Spanish for “cow”. Vaqueros were the original cowboys of America, with legendary skills that have inspired countless movies. It was the vaqueros who taught their northern trade-brethren in Texas, and Colorado, and Montana, how to move a herd, how to cut cows from that herd, and how to rope a stray at full gallop. Long hours in the saddle in harsh environments, shaped a vaquero into a formidable being; independent, capable, empathetic, and, when needed, dangerous. Routinely living off the land for months at a time, the vaquero would deliver new born calves, nurse the injured, and rain fire and fury on predators, be they man or beast. The sight and sound of vaqueros, flying down the mountainside, screaming with ropes reeling and bull whips cracking, was like thunderbolts from the angry gods. It was the vaqueros who would provide the muscle for the army that won Mexico’s independence. Morelos would have been about 14 or 15 years old when he was noticed and brought on to a ranch as a helper to the vaqueros; about the same time Nature was equipping him with the physique he’d be needing.

He’d have started with simple tasks, helping the vaqueros with their saddles and ropes, feeding and watching their horses, joining the vaqueros in the night watches, singing to keep the herd calm. And then he’d learn to make his own ropes, and to use them; and he’d learn to ride, and to train horses, the vaquero way. And, as he learned to ride, he’d be given the job of watching for stragglers, following the herd, riding in the rear, eating their dust all day long. And then one day the lead vaquero yells out, “Hey Vaquero, Go get that cow!”, and you, the helper, were the nearest. You perform, expertly cutting through the brush this way, heading off the calf that way, and bringing him home to safety. That evening, around the fire, a vaquero singing in the distance, everyone laughing and no one needs say a thing; everyone saw it and knew it; you’d become a vaquero. And so he learned that the open range doesn’t care if you are mulatto or European, mestizo or indios. All that mattered was getting the job done. And there he make lifelong friends.

Jose Maria thrived on the range and saw others thrive too. Mestizos, reserved in town around the gachupines, emerged boisterous, colorful and capable on the range, where respect earned was freely given. Caste and color made no difference. Years later, when the opportunity would arise for Morelos to provide guidance for an emerging independent society, he would do so in a document entitled “The Sentiments of a Nation”; and, in words which may remind us of Martin Luther King, a century and a half later, Morelos said, “May slavery be banished forever, together with the distinction between castes, all remaining equal, so Americans may only be distinguished by vice or virtue.” Some believe the title is better translated as “Feelings” of a Nation, as though Morelos was attempting to capture his own feelings, and to implant them into the soul of his people, that the coming independent country would become a nation truly feeling the bonds of mutual respect.^{9 10}

It may be considered an indicator of the respect and friendship he experienced, that, twenty years later, when he called upon the people to form an army, many rallied to him with little question.

The Student

By all reports, young Jose Maria had loved school. But the growing family had some problems, as families do; and those problems led to financial problems, as they too often do; and young Jose Maria began to go less and less to school and more and more to work. Then his father died,¹¹ and Jose Maria became the main provider for his mother and sister; and school became an unfinished memory.

But through the years, as muleteer and then vaquero, the love of learning never died. Perhaps it reminded him of his early childhood with his family intact, perhaps it merged with his desire to see make his mother proud, we don’t know; but we do know that he determinedly saved up some money,¹² and, at age 25, with encouragement from his mother and sister, the seasoned cowhand enrolled in San Nicolás College in Valladolid. From reports of his professors, he seized upon his studies as enthusiastically as any 10 year old schoolboy.¹³

There Jose Maria resumed his studies of Latin and History. Then he advanced to Rhetoric and Theology, and then, next, to Philosophy; and it was there, in all likelihood, he encountered Hidalgo. Miguel Hidalgo, who would become known as the Father of Mexico, whose ringing of the church bells of Dolores would be remembered as a founding act of Mexican Independence, was steeped in the literature of the Enlightenment; and, was rector of the college at Valladolid. As a teacher, he was as bold as he was brilliant. He had little use for the doctrine of the divine right of kings, and not much more for the authority of popes. But he was luminescent with the literature of the enlightenment, holding forth on the rights of man, the blessings of legal restraints to government, and expansive on the dignity of humanity. “All men a created equal”, Hidalgo read to them, “endowed by their Creator with unalienable rights”, Hidalgo taught them. And he reminded his students of what was happening in the United States just North of them; France across the Atlantic, and Haiti to the East.

It must have been wonderful, Jose Maria’s feelings, as he listened to Hidalgo. His experiences were affirmed, his intuitions confirmed, and his confidence soared as the mighty intellects of The Enlightenment established pillars in bis soul, countering the prejudices of the peninsulares, and supporting the truths he had already known in his heart. His experience on the open range of equality and respect, which, to him, seemed heaven-like, was real; and was affirmed by the greatest intellects of the Age. His intellect, heart, and conscience, grew, merging into a single clear outlook. Morelos matured. He accelerated his education to conclusion, earning high marks for scholastics, and acclaim for ceremony, singing the liturgy after the manner of the priests of old.

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The Priest

A generation before, Juana Maria’s grandfather had some prominence in a local Catholic parish and had left a patrimony for an heir. Juana Maria lobbied hard, to claim this for her son, while he completed his education. Upon graduation, the Church offered a position to Jose Maria. The position represented a significant promotion for so recent a graduate, in recognition of his talents; but, it came with a difficulty. The location was notoriously hard, and, with little prestige. Sources indicate his mother opposed the position, at least in part, due to its harsh conditions. Valladolid had been the family home, and the place of his education, and was known as The Garden of the Viceroyalty of New Spain;¹⁴ whereas the assignment was in Tierra Caliente,¹⁵ an impoverished desert region in the South.¹⁶ Other sources suggest the poor assignment was due to Jose Maria’s mixed ethnicity.

We do know that Jose Maria accepted the position in January 1798, that the family moved to Churumuco, Tierra Caliente, in February 1798; that the mother became ill in the Summer of the same year, and was sent away to a better town for treatment, and, in January 1799, died, without Jose Maria by her side, unexpectedly, and alone.

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Tierra Caliente was a parish with about 3000 Indios, spread among a hundred towns and two poor churches. Jose Maria, in performance of the duties of the church, would have spent many hours in the saddle traveling from town to town. He’d observe the land with the eye of a vaquero, learning its seasons and its ways, its high grounds, gullies and quicksands. And as he rode, he’d sing; singing to prepare epistles for his parishioners, singing as the old priests sang, singing as the vaqueros sang to calm the herd, while trying to calm his own soul.

Hot tears wetting the hot saddle leather beneath Jose Maria, would not have surprised anyone who really knew him. But an watching stranger might be forgiven the surprise at the image of this desert rider, dressed like a padre, riding like a vaquero, whip and rope lying easy at his side, singing, weeping.

One imagines the bitterness, just when everything was going so well with the education and then the job offer; and the regret, his mother having advised him against the move, but he did it anyway, and, now, she was gone.

It’s not hard to imagine a sadness as broad and dry as the desert through which he rode daily on horseback. There he was, without father, without mother, a priest to the Indios, in the backside of the desert.

And there he remained, unknown, riding the circuit in the heat of Tierra Caliente, baking in the desert, riding that same circuit year after year, wondering about the circuit of his life, the experiences of his life baking into him, the lessons of life baking into him, the teachings of the enlightenment baking into him, the bitterness of the Indios baking into him, baking, baking, baking, until, one day, his baking was done, and the bell was rung.

***

The bells were rung with new meaning in Dolores on the morning of September 16, 1810. There was hope in the air; and news flew like the golden eagle¹⁷ throughout the land; and soon enough, reached Tierra Caliente where Morelos heard and looked up.

The Warrior Statesman – Morelos Answers the Call and Leads the Nation

Jose Maria Morelos emerged from the desert about three weeks after the revolution began, to offer his services, as a chaplain in the army, to his former teacher, Hidalgo. There perhaps was never a man more unexpectedly equipped, nor, more fully ready, as was this man, for the task he was about to receive. The two had wine and the conversation began, the pupil asking his teacher, “What are you doing? They told me to announce your excommunication.” With a slight laugh and head shake, Hidalgo replies, “I am doing exactly what I told you we would do those many years ago. I have not changed, and the world has not changed; so, now, we change the world.” The next day they traveled to the next town, together, and, talking more, Jose Maria Morelos asks, “What would you have me to do?” Hidalgo replied, “Go South, Raise an army, March on Acapulco. I will continue to the gates of the capital. We shall meet afterwards. And if we die, we die proud.”

The qualifications necessary to, personally, raise an army, to train an army and to lead an army, into battle, successfully, must be rare, extraordinarily rare.¹⁸ Nevertheless, Morelos did exactly that. He raised an army, and became their leader; and, within a month he had won his first battle. Thereafter, day by day, people rallied to him, and he trained them and he led them. Farmers, who knew him from the regions he had pastored, came to him, to join the cause. To them he said, “An army needs to eat as well as fight. You are equal warriors by raising the food upon which your fighters fight. Go back to your farms, and there fight for your brethren and for your country.” In the first year of his commission, Morelos fought, and won, twenty two straight victories, destroying three separate royalist armies along the way. We have this excerpt, from the letter he wrote to the Spanish Viceroy, at the time: “On the fourth day of the present month I have taken possession of the town of Cuernavaca, (I warn you), do not send troops or orders, because the troops will be defeated, and the orders disobeyed” He continued, commending his personally trained army, “these troops, in whatever number they attack, don’t leave the action until they are victorious.“¹⁹

The responsibilities laid upon Morelos grew yet more, with Hidalgo’s capture and execution in 1811. In 1813 Morelos called upon the nation to convene a Congress to draft a constitution for the incipient republic. There he presented what he entitled, The Sentiments of a Nation, a document in 23 points, expressing his vision for the emerging independent society. “America is free and independent of Spain and all other nations, governments, or monarchies”, it stated. The country prohibits “slavery forever, as the distinction of caste, being all equal and only vice and virtue distinguish an American from the other.” “Sovereignty emanates from the people and is placed in a Supreme National American Congress, made up of representatives from the provinces in equal numbers.”²⁰

In the Summer of 1815, the muleteer reached out to James Madison, the 4th president of the United States, and, in most elegant terms, sought recognition of Mexico’s independence, concluding with express wishes for the success of, “negotiations and treaties which may assure the happiness and the glory of the two American nations.”²¹

That same year, as Winter drew nigh, Morelos was called upon to protect the hunted young Congress in a move to a safer town. Betrayed, and ambushed by royalists, Morelos fought a rearguard battle until he could see the Congress escaping; then, giving the command “Every man for himself!“, he effectively offered himself as an unguarded prize to the enemy, saving the Congress, as well as the fighters, to fight another day.²²

He was captured; he was tried; he was defrocked by the Spaniard Catholic Church; condemned by the Spaniard Court of Law, and sentenced to death. The execution was swift; and death came, as ordered, from above. He was buried in a pauper’s grave in a nearby nondescript church.

Aftermath

The Crown, of course, had hoped that the matter was ended, that Ferdinand VII would reign forever and the lower classes would remain lower, forever, or, for at least another generation. But, it wasn’t the end; not even close. Jose Maria Morelos had entered the theater of nations, like a comet in the night sky; and like an unlooked for omen, streaked across the skies for 5 years, leaving an impression upon the psyche of a nation, that would not fade. The war wound its course as wars do, but the memory of Jose Maria seemed fixed. In 1821, Spain finally acknowledged the truth of Mexico’s independence; Jose Maria was remembered, hiss remains recovered, and removed with ceremony to the Alar of Kings in the Cathedral of Mexico.

The young nation grew, with fortunes ebbing and flowing as they do; but with each generation, it seemed, there were more, and yet more, dedications to the memory of Jose Maria Morelos. The town of Valladolid was renamed Morelia. Cuernavaca, the scene of an early victory, is in the Valley, now called, Morelos, which is in the state, now called, Morelos. There were wars, and another revolution, and still the memory of Morelos persisted. In the 1930s an island in the middle of a lake was dedicated to Morelos and a 130 foot tall monument raised to his memory and often called the statue of liberty of Mexico. There is Morelos stadium, and Morelos parks, and monuments in Los Angeles California and Yakima Washington. The presidential plane is named the Jose Maria Morelos, and in 2015, the Morelos 3 joined Morelos 1 and 2 in orbit, as a constellation of technology facilitating the communications of his people into the 21st century. And just now, more than two hundred years later, his story is being heard by, you.

The End ? …

PostScript:

An alternative scenario for the end of Morelos has been proposed; but, who can really say? Those that were there are no longer with us; and all we have are these monuments, which seem to increase in number, and grandeur, with every passing generation. It’s been said, the Fates, which had arranged the preparatory stages of Jose Maria’s life, leading up to that incalculable coincidence of the right person, in the right place, at the right time; were quite pleased with their work. Thereafter, they followed his progress avidly, watching, and then marveling, as he offered himself to his foes, sparing the young congress and their army. As the courts of men convened to pronounce their judgment, so, were others convening, upon, what some call, mount Olympus. With intense interest, they watched, looking down upon, and into, that little box which men call a courtroom; their eyes fastened upon Jose Maria Morelos, as helpless as a babe in a cradle. The judge and lawyers scowled, while gods and angels grinned, glancing at one another, nodding, and watching. And as the verdict of men became obvious, so it did on Olympus, and with the assent of all, one looked up at Mercury, saying, GO. The next instant, the Winged Messenger, the Swiftest among the gods, the Bearer of the Verdict of the Court of Olympus, Mercury, stood, filling the courtroom, but unseen. Jose Maria, looking up, capable of nothing more than hope, locked eyes upon the void, where stood the unseen god, and was strengthened. The judge among men gavelled the sentence of like men, as the message of the gods was uttered, “Come up hither.” And then, shortly thereafter, came Death, who, with great reverence and infinite tenderness, collected Jose Maria Morelos among the Great spirits. And, upon Mount Olympus, they stood, silently, as Morelos passed, into their midst.

The End

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Jose Maria sought equality for all²³

But, who can say?

Juana Maria died January 5, 1799²⁴

author’s note: the world is much bigger than any of us think. what do you think?

The Grand Finale.

In the book Aztec Rage, part of a series of 6 books, author Gary Jennings relates the following dialogue. While not purported to be a recording, as a historical fiction, but it gives the sense that this author derived from research, a sense which I share, “Who’s this priest that is supposed to raise this army?” I had asked her at the time. She said his name was Jose Maria Morelos, a forty-five year old priest who had been born into poverty. He’d been a muleteer and vaquero until the age of twenty five, when he began his studies for the priesthood. Since becoming a priest, he had curacies in small, unimportant places, administering to peons. “How does the padre (Miguel Hidalgo) know that this man can raise an army and fight a war? I had asked. I was a caballero — the best shot and best horseman in the whole colony– and I couldn’t raise and lead an army.” He has fire in his belly,” Marina said, “and Christ’s love in his eyes.” page 381, 382 Aztec Rage, Gary Jennings

And the, at age 45, the gods opened the final chapter of .Jose Maria commenced wriing that final chapter of his lifeStatue of Liberty erected to eternally memorialize the mulatto mestizo magnificent Morelos²⁵

Charrer’a Mexicana: An Equestrian Folk Tradition, Kathleen M. Sands. page 56 “Accustomed to long hours in the saddle in civilian life, they had great endurance and were already familiar with the hardships of life in the open. What distinguished the chicanos from other cavalrymen, although both were armed with lances and sabers, was the use of the rope as an offensive weapon. They disdained firearms, which were considered unmanly, and rode down and roped enemy soldiers, preferring to outwit their enemies. They employed guerrilla tactics like dropping nooses over enemy horsemen from ambush, either knocking the rider off his horse or hanging him. … also captured enemy guns and artillery pieces with their ropes.

Charrer’a Mexicana: An Equestrian Folk Tradition, Kathleen M. Sands. speaking about the vaqueros in general in the war, not specifically Morelos, “Their success was due to their superb horsemanship, which allowed them to penetrate mountains and ride ‘through the most intricate sites, by trails or making an opening through forest or mesquite.’ “(quoting Valero)Charrer’a Mexicana: An Equestrian Folk Tradition, Kathleen M. Sands. speaking about the vaqueros in general in the war, not specifically Morelos. “During the course of the war the chicanos faced large formations of troops loyal to Spain, but their superior horsemanship, guerilla tactics, and knowledge of the terrain allowed them to prevail. Even the soldiers of the Spanish expedition who fought them were fascinated by how adroitly they handled their horses.” page 56.

was 25 years old, driving a mule²⁶ and working as a cowhand, he learned the skills of physical labor, to maximize the day, to leverage ones strength, to respect the land and let the land work for you, to respect the the beast of burden. to maximize the sto

the working cowhand in Mexico was known as a vaquero. thse are the originals who developed skills as the went and made their own cothing and gear²⁷ as required by the task and the terrain and the temperature. following the mexican war with the U.S., many vaqueros became employed in the new US southwest, and what became glorified as the american cowboy of the wst was born. but the vaqueros of mexico wre the oiginal.²⁸ History records that Jose Maria was a working vaquero, when the opportunity for advanced education arrived, in his 25th year. so it is likely he bgan this profession when h was 17 or 18 years oldit was aneeded skill and a rough profession and a trade requiring exacting talents. and it bcame obvious withing a few days whtehr a man was riding a horse or the horde rifing him. uero. The stories tell us that he was laboring as a cowhand when the opportunity for further education arose. The vaqueros, the original of what would beome the cowboy of hollywood fam, originatd in Meixoc, and there the rules of the trade and the skills of the trade were developed and perfected. Morelos rode from dawn till dusk with his peers, participating in all the communla lable and demostrating individual strengths capacities and resp0onsibilitus without which and then we’re told he labored as a cowhad, a vaqueor, the original of that yrade and skill which became known as the cowboy after the trade spread to no one would be worthy of the title vaqueros. he learned the land, its hills its watering holes, its rocky mounts and soft sands, the entanglicg underbrushe and the soptty cacti, he learned to maneuver through the land like the back of his hand. we have reason to believe he excelled in the environment, was respected for his skills pehaps even admired by a few, for not too many years later, when he would call for volunteers to risk their lives in the cause of the independence of Mexico, an army readily gathered to him. he wa thrifty and excelled. he was twenty five when the call for education came. we may surmise that either he had a benefactor, or saved sufficienty,²⁹ or more likely, entered into the educatio with the proise to enter the preiesthood following and thus it was financed.

A leader of the independence movement, he was born in Valladolid, Michoacán. From 1779 to 1790, he worked at the sugar cane farm of Tahuejo at Apatzingán, perhaps as a clerk or accountant. In 1790, he entered San Nicolás Obispo College in Valladolid, where he studied Latin grammar, rhetoric, philosophy, and ethics. In 1795, at the Tridentino Seminary in the same city, he studied moral theology and philosophy. On April 28, Morelos traveled to Mexico City to take his exams for a bachelor of arts degree at the Real and Pontificia University. On December 13, he received the first shearing and the four minor orders of Valladolid and six days later, he became a sub deacon. In early 1796, he moved to Uruapan as an auxiliary priest and headed the teaching of grammar and rhetoric. In September of that year, he was ordained as a deacon in Valladolid, and on December 21, 1779, he was ordained as a priest in the same city.³¹ and, at age 25, the seasoned cowhand enrolled in San Nicolás College in Valladolid, and seized upon his studies as enthusiastically as any 8 year old schoolboy.³²

meeting morelos and hidalgo at charo https://mediateca.inah.gob.mx/repositorio/islandora/object/fotografia%3A389625

Obverse IO: “Franciso P. de Mendoza 1934 The priest José Marí Morelos y Pavón reaches the priest Don Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla in the town of Charo, Mich., Who marches with his insurgent troops over Toluca and places himself at the service of Independence. Mr. Hidalgo welcomes him with joy and together they march to Indeparapeo where he dispatches his Colonel’s office with instructions to return to the south and organize his contingents and march on Acapulco- October 1810. ” Reverse: “Meeting of Hidalgo and Morelos, in Charo, Michoacán”, “5318”. Stamp: “LA FOTO MADERO 42”. Note: October 20 Saturday. Valladolid Cathedral. Valladolid. Late in the morning, Hidalgo leaves Valladolid for Acámbaro. In Charo he is reached by José María Morelos y Pavón, who offers himself as an army chaplain, but Hidalgo invites him to be one of its commissioners with military rank, on the southern coast, the main task being the taking of Acapulco, with the instruction that “the government and weapons be commissioned and received by all the places that pass that they existed “, leaving the creoles in command and removing the Europeans, who also” seized their property for the promotion and payment of troops. ” They arrive at Indaparapeo at lunchtime and then say goodbye. Hidalgo stays overnight in the place. Reference: http://www.inehrm.gob.mx/cdigital/libros/independencia/la%20_ruta.pdf, (date of consultation: 18-04-2013).

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruta_de_la_Independencia_de_M%C3%A9xico_en_Michoac%C3%A1n

https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruta_de_la_Independencia_de_M%C3%A9xico_en_Michoac%C3%A1n

https://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=es&u=https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruta_de_la_Independencia_de_M%25C3%25A9xico_en_Michoac%25C3%25A1n&prev=search&pto=aue

Mexico’s Independence Route in Michoacán

Charo and Indaparapeo [ edit ]

The neighboring towns of Charo (Michoacán) and Indaparapeo are located in a valley northeast of Morelia, among other towns they are part of the route of the old Camino Real Morelia-Mexico City that operated during the Spanish colonial era and the 19th century. This royal road was a site that Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla and José María Morelos y Pavón traveled on their military expeditions.

In October 1810, Hidalgo and Morelos met in the towns of Charo and spent the night at the Indaparapeo El Nazareno inn, where they planned the formation of the liberating army and the military campaigns in the north and south of the country. In that city, on October 20, 1810, Hidalgo named Morelos Chief of the Army of the South and confirmed the rank of general. Indaparapeo has been improperly considered the “Cradle of the Mexican Army”.

Carácuaro [ edit ]

OCTOBER 20, 1810. I fully commission my lieutenant, José María Morelos and Pavón Cura de Carácuaro, to raise troops on the south coast and hot land, proceeding according to the verbal instructions that I have entrusted to him. MIGUEL HIDALGO Y COSTILLA

OCTOBER 25, 1810 Morelos commissioned the parish of Carácuaro and accompanied by about twenty poorly armed volunteer men, he left for the southern hot lands as lieutenant of Hidalgo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_Mexican_War_of_Independence#1810

• September 16. At 2 a.m. Hidalgo and Allende were awakened by Aldama and advised that the conspiracy was in danger of being quashed by the government. Meeting with other conspirators, they decided to initiate the revolt immediately. In the early morning Hidalgo rang the church bells, assembled his followers to worship, and made a speech, the “grito” or Cry of Dolores, which set in motion the Mexican War of Independence. Hidalgo affirmed support for King Ferdinand VII and demanded the end of economic abuses by peninsulares. Accounts differ as to whether he called for the full independence of Mexico from Spain. Hidalgo and his followers, 500 to 800 men, took over Dolores and advanced southward. By nightfall, they took control of San Miguel de Allende, home town of Allende and Aldama. Along the way Hidalgo raised a banner with an image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, who became the symbolic leader of the insurgency.^[10]
• September 19. Outside the city of Celaya, Hidalgo and Allende sent a letter to the city government threatening to “cut the throats of seventy-eight Europeans” held prisoners if the insurgent army was fired upon.^[11]
• September 24. The Bishop of Michoacan excommunicated Hidalgo, Allende, Aldama, and Mariano Abasolo.^[12]
• September 28. Conquering cities and gathering more men as he marched, Hidalgo and his army of 25,000, primarily indigenous people and mestizos, defeated the defenders of Guanajuato City, storming the fortified granary (Alhóndiga de Granaditas). They sacked the city and slaughtered many inhabitants.^[13]

• Statue of Hidalgo and the church of the “grito.”
• Ingnacio Allende
• Juan Aldama
• Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez.
• The banner carried by Hidalgo.
• The granary (center) in Guanajuato.
• Félix Maria Calleja.

• October 25. In support of Hidalgo, a mestizo priest, José María Morelos, started a military campaign to expel the Spaniards from the state of Guerrero. This came to be called “Morelos’ First Campaign.” Initially he had only 25 men, but he quickly added many more as he progressed.^[14] Unlike Hidalgo, Morelos invested time and effort in training his men. He imposed strict discipline and forbade looting.^[15]
• October 30. Marching toward Mexico City with a disorganized army of 60 to 80 thousand men, Hidalgo defeated a much smaller royalist army in the Battle of Monte de las Cruces. With his army in the outskirts of Mexico City, Hidalgo inexplicably ordered a retreat. The insurgent army had suffered heavy casualties in the battle and many desertions afterwards and failed to gain much support from the Criollos, indigenous people, and mestizos in and near the capital city.^[16]
• November 7. With an army reduced to about 40,000 men, Hidalgo was defeated by a royalist army of 7,000 at Aculco.^[17]
• November 9. José Antonio Torres, a mestizo, secured the surrender of Guadalajara, the second city of Mexico, to insurgent forces.^[18]
• November 19. Ignacio Allende proposed to Hidalgo that the insurgents concentrate their forces in Guanajuato. He said that the royalist forces were advancing and public opinion “may shortly be converted into a hatred for us and for our government.” Hidalgo ignored Allende’s recommendation and advanced toward Guadalajara.^[19]
• November 24. Allende and his soldiers were forced by royalist pressure to abandon Guanajuato. After his departure a mob killed 138 peninsulares who had earlier been taken prisoner.^[20]
• November 26. Hidalgo and 7,000 followers entered Guadalajara in triumph, the entry to the city prepared by Torres. Hidalgo began setting up the machinery of government in Guadalajara and appealed to criollos, mestizos, and indigenous people to support the insurgency. During December, Hidalgo dropped the fiction that the insurgency supported ousted Spanish king Ferdinand VII and openly declared that the goal was complete independence for Mexico.^[21]
• December 12. Suspecting a plot against his rule, Hidalgo ordered the execution of at least 350 Spanish-born peninsulares in Guadalajara. Allende, who had joined Hidalgo in Guadalajara, contemplated poisoning Hidalgo to “end the evil he was doing.”^[22]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Mar%C3%ADa_Morelos

The bishop of Michoacán, Manuel Abad y Queipo, excommunicated the insurgents. Hidalgo y Costilla and his army marched on to Valladolid, where the locals feared that the slaughter of Guanajuato would be repeated, prompting many people to abandon the region, particularly elites. Valladolid was taken peacefully on October 17, 1810.

In Tacámbaro Hidalgo y Costilla was proclaimed general, and Allende captain general. Hidalgo ordered a rest for his troops in Indaparapeo, where a few minutes before their departure, Morelos, who had read about his excommunication and his triumphs, found him.

Morelos had heard of the revolt in October 1810 and determined to join it.^[9] Hidalgo asked his former student to recruit troops in the south of the colony and capture the port of Acapulco, the west coast port for the Pacific trade to the Philippines, also a Spanish colony.^[10] Unlike Hidalgo, who was a poor tactician leading a huge and undisciplined following, Morelos quickly demonstrated military skills, gathering and training a small core of fighters. He sought allies in the region, and obtained cannon and other war materiel.^[10]

Morelos’s hopes for the rebellion called for the creation of a republican government that “all Mexican people would participate, the abolition of slavery, and the elimination of divisions between races and ethnicities.”^[11] Morelos saw the suffering of the poor at the ends of the Church and the elites, and believed that these things must be changed in order to achieve the full participation of the people in the new government. Morelos also called for the end of the Church’s special privileges and the redistribution of large estates among the people. These principles demonstrated the rebellion’s desire to achieve both independence and justice for the poor.

In early October 1810, Morelos heard the news of Hidalgo’s uprising and on the nineteenth of that month left to find him. He caught up with Hidalgo the next day and spoke with him at Charo e Indaparapeo. Morelos was put in charge of raising arms on the south coast. On November 13, Morelos and his troops engaged the enemy for the first time, facing the royalist forces of Luis Calatayud at El Veladero. On November 17, Morelos issued an edict suppressing slavery, castes and community funds. His activities worried the viceroy, who sent Francisco París to fight him. París engaged him on December 8 at El Veladero but was rebuffed.

Encomienda is system of labor management. It is the word used as a label for the system Spain implemented for the management of its New World colonies. The word derives from the Spanish word encomendar which means to entrust, or to put in someone’s care, or to assign a fiduciary duty. The root concept of encomienda is that one group of people were entrusted to the care of another group of people. That concept, when planted in the soil of the New World, sprouted into a system in which the early conquerors, or conqusitadors, received tribute in the form of labor and other valuables from the conquered in exchange for protection and religious instruction. The system mutated into several varieties through subsequent generations while retaining the central character of the conquerors being the prime beneficiary of the labor of the conquered.

Encomienda was born in the latter days of the Spanish Reconquista. The Reconquista is the name given to the centuries long endeavor to retake, or reconquer, the Iberian peninsula from the Moors who had dominated since the 700s. In the latter era of the Reconquista, the last half century or so, encomienda was conceived as a way of rewarding military endeavor by providing both incentives and compensations. It was a three way¹arrangement involving the Conquerors and the Conquered and the commodity of the labor of the conquered. The Crown granted to the conquering military a right of tribute from the conquered.

The Reconquista ended successfully for Spain in 1492, the very year that Christopher Columbus discovered the new world. Within ten years, settlements had commenced in the Caribbean Sea and within thirty years, the Aztec Empire was under Spanish control. As the expanse of the territory and the populace of that new world became apparent, it was perhaps the easiest path of administration to transfer encomienda from the Iberian Peninsula to the Americas.

In 1501, the Crown declared the “Indios”, the native peoples of the Americas, to be subjects of the Crown. This decree granted them legal status and appears to have been, at least partly, to protect them from outright enslavement. In 1503 encomienda was legally redefined for the New World. Retaining the concept of entrustment, encomienda became the grant by the Crown to the conquistador, or encomiendero, of a certain number of Indios. The encomiendero was obligated to protect the Indios and to provide them with religious instruction, and was empowered to collect tribute from the Indios in the form of labor or produce or silver and gold.

The system became immensely profitable for the encomienderos and also for Spain. It became a catchphrase among 16th century Spaniards to say, “sin indios no hay Indias“, that is, without Indians, there are no Indies. This emphasized that the value of the “Indies” was not the land itself, but it was the “Indians”, or more specifically, the indentured labor of the people of the land.²

In most cases it was little different than outright slavery. The lasting imprint of the system upon the character of Latin America has been considered by some to be a reason for its lagging economic progress in the 21st century.

Christopher Columbus granted encomienda in Hispaniola.³ It is said that he required tribute upon pain of punishment, sometimes brutal. Later, Cortes and his followers were granted encomienda in the region that became Mexico.

The Crown had reservations about the implementation of encomienda in the New World from the beginning. In response to growing reports of abuses, the Crown implemented the New Laws in 1542 as reforms to encomienda.

The New Laws provided increased protections for the Indios. Force could not be used to obtain work from unwilling people, products beyond a reasonable tribute must be paid for, and abuses of the people could result in the forfeiture of the encomienda to the Crown. The New Laws also provided restrictions to the encomienderos. In addition to potential forfeiture for abuse of the people, the encomienda would not be possessed in perpetuity by the family of the encomiendero. The prospect of these restrictions had been vigorously opposed by many of the encomienderos, and, upon their implementation, led to various revolts against the Crown. But the rebellions were ultimately put down, the empire continued, and the new laws became relaxed in time. In time, the encomiendas reverted to the possession of the Crown, the new Laws were relaxed, and encomienderos were replaced by corregidors.

The persons of the encomienderos,⁴ generally the first and second generation conquistadors, passed with time, but the position they occupied remained in the form of the corregidors. Similarly, the encomindas^{5 6}too, passed with time, but the reminder of that mode of polity remained in the form of the corregimiento⁷. The independence of the indigents had long been gone, and the last of the actually indentured servants passed with time, but the memory remained in the stories of the people. The crown continued in authority and possession and the indigent continued as peasants⁸ These corregidores tended to be hated by the people as much as the encomienderos⁹. They represented the claim of the crown over the labor of the people.

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By 1800, encomienda had been long gone as an institution, but the shape of encomienda had been stamped upon the culture. The Crown ruled and the peasants paid tribute through the system of corregidores and corregiementos. The peninsulares¹⁰ had the highest station, the criolles¹¹occupied a secondary status but were generally in positions of power in New Spain. Mestizos¹² held the third station followed by Indians and last of all imported slaves. The indigenous peoples with the strongest natural claim labored for the benefit of those with the claim of ancient conquest.

It was this system that revolutionaries Hidalgo, Allende, Morelos and Josefa encountered and resisted.