The Provincial Deputation In Mexico: Harbinger Of Provincial Autonomy, Independence, And Federalism

240 Pages·1992·33.695 MB·English

by  Nettie Lee Benson

The Provincial Deputation in Mexico
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Special Publication
Institute of Latin American Studies
University of Texas at Austin
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The Provincial Deputation
in Mexico
Harbinger of Provincial Autonomy,
Independence, and Federalism
By Nettie Lee Benson
<v*
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS PRESS
AUSTIN
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Copyright © 1992 by the University of Texas Press
All rights reserved
Printed in the United States of America
First edition, 1992
Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be
sent to Permissions, University of Texas Press, Box 7819, Austin, TX
78713-7819.
All photographs courtesy of the Benson Latin American Collection,
University of Texas at Austin.
All maps provided by the Institute of Latin American Studies, University
of Texas at Austin. Cartography by Susan M. Long.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Benson, Nettie Lee.
[Diputacion provincial y el federalismo mexicano. English]
The provincial deputation in Mexico : harbinger of provincial
autonomy, independence, and federalism / by Nettie Lee Benson. —
1st ed.
p. cm. —(Special publication / Institute of Latin American
Studies, University of Texas at Austin)
Translation of: La diputacion provincial y el federalismo mexicano.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-292-76531-2
1. Legislative bodies—Mexico—History—19th century. 2. Federal
government—Mexico—History—19th century. 3. State govern
ments—Mexico—History—19th century. 4. New Spain. Diputacion
Provincial—History. I. Title. II. Series: Special publication (Uni
versity of Texas at Austin. Institute of Latin American Studies)
JL1298.8.B46 1992
328.72—dc20 91-43937
CIP
ISBN 978-0-292-76364-7 (cid:13)(cid:10)(library e-book)
ISBN 978-0-292-79194-7(cid:13)(cid:10) (individual e-book)
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Contents
Introduction vii
i. Origin of the Provincial Deputations i
2. Establishment of the Provincial Deputations in Mexico, 1812-1814 9
3. Growth of the Provincial Deputations in Mexico, 1820—1821 23
4. Continued Development of the Provincial Deputations
in Mexico, 1821-1823 47
5. Assumption of Power by the Provincial Deputations 61
6. Attitude of the Provincial Deputations toward a New Congress 82
7. Evolution of the Pioneer State Legislatures 92
8. Establishment of Other State Legislatures 106
Appendix A: Deputies in Mexican Provincial Deputations Elected According
to Spanish Constitution of 1812 131
Appendix B: Elections in February 1822 for 1822-1823 137
Appendix C: September 1823 Elections 145
Notes 155
Bibliography 201
Index 213
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Maps
Commandancy-General, 1817-1821 viii
Provincial Deputations in 1814 21
Provincial Deputations and Intendancies in 1821 31
Provincial Deputations in November 1822 51
Provincial Deputations in December 1823 59
Mexican States in Ramos Arizpc's Acta constitucional 125
Mexican States in the Constitution of 1824 128
Illustrations
Agustin de Iturbide xii
Jose Miguel Ramos Arizpe 3
Felix Maria Calleja 7
Juan Ruiz de Apodaca 24
Mariano Michelena 33
Juan O'Donoju 37
Lucas Alaman 38
Jose Servando Teresa de Mier Noriega 57
Carlos Maria Bustamante 62
Jose Antonio Echavarri 63
Guadalupe Victoria 64
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna 90
Luis Quintanar 93
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Introduction
When Napoleon invaded Spain in 1808 and placed his brother Joseph
Bonaparte on the Spanish throne and held the former kings of Spain,
Charles IV and his son Ferdinand VII, as hostages in Bayonne, France, the
former Spanish kingdoms (now intendancies or provinces of Spain) rose
up in protest. So did the Spanish territories in the New World. Many
changes had occurred in the administration and institutions since the con
quest of that territory in America later known as Mexico, which was earlier
known as the kingdom of New Spain. As it grew and was brought under
the control of Spain, New Spain's territory was divided into smaller king
doms or provinces. When various conquerors won new territory, each one
named the region he conquered, often after the region in Spain from
which he came, and vied with the viceroy of New Spain, seated in Mexico
City, to govern his newly conquered area. This happened with Nueva
Galicia, with Guadalajara as its capital, to the west of New Spain. Some of
these territories later conquered were Nueva Vizcaya with Arispe as its
capital, Nueva Extremadura (which became Coahuila) with Monclova as
its capital, Nuevo Leon with Monterrey as its capital, and Nuevo San-
tander (which became Tamaulipas after independence) with Aguayo as its
capital. Some of these areas also were broken up into smaller provinces
governed by a governor subject to the viceroy. Later, between 1767 to 1786,
some of these kingdoms or provinces were changed into intendancies;
however, the original term "province55 and later term "intendancy55 were
frequently used interchangeably.
By 1808, this Mexican territory had been divided into the Viceroyalty of
New Spain, the Commandancy-General of the Interior Provinces, and the
Captaincy-General of Yucatan, all subject or semisubject to the viceroy of
Mexico.
The Commandancy-General of the Interior Provinces went through
various stages of division beginning on May 16,1776, and running through
1821 related to the creation of the intendancy system.1 The Interior Prov
inces of the Commandancy-General were composed of the provinces of
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viii Introduction
Texas, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Nuevo Santander, Durango, Chihuahua,
and Sonora and Sinaloa as well as the territories of New Mexico and
the Lower and Upper Californias. Sometimes there was more than one
Commandancy-General—for instance, the Commandancy-General of the
Eastern Interior Provinces composed of Coahuila, Nuevo Leon, Nuevo
Santander, and Texas and the Western Interior Provinces composed of
Sonora and Sinaloa, Durango and Chihuahua, and sometimes the territo
ries of New Mexico and the Californias, with the Commandancy-General
usually stationed at Chihuahua City, the capital of the province of Chihua
hua.2 Some of these provinces were also governed by intendants or by in
dividual military governors subordinate to the Commandant-General,
whose headquarters was at Chihuahua City.
When the intendancy system was introduced into Mexico between 1767
and the 1790s in New Spain, but mostly after 1786, it involved the prov
inces and Captaincy-General of Yucatan with its capital at Merida, which
also included the provinces of Tabasco and Campeche. Other intendancies
were the province of Puebla, including Tlaxcala; the province of Mexico,
including the area surrounding Queretaro City; the province of Nueva
Galicia, with its capital at Guadalajara; the province of Michoacan, with its
capital Valladolid;3 and each of the provinces of Guanajuato, Oaxaca,
Veracruz, and Zacatecas with corresponding capitals of the same name.
San Luis Potosi posed a special problem, because it was made an inten
dancy located at San Luis Potosi, but it was also supposed to be the head
quarters for that system in several of the Interior Provinces; however, that
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Introduction ix
process had not been carried out entirely by 1808. The first intendancy set
up was that of Sonora and Sinaloa with its capital at Arispe, Sonora. In the
Commandancy-General of the Interior Provinces the only other inten
dancy was at Durango, which had authority over the province of Chihua
hua. The intendant also acted largely as governor over the province in
which he lived. Although his primary responsibility was for the financial
and economic resources of the territory under him, he also had some eccle
siastical, political, military, and judicial authority. Each intendant, includ
ing the one stationed in Mexico City, had a relationship with practically
every individual in his intendancy. He was an appointee of the king of
Spain and was directly responsible to him.4 In fact, from the time of the
creation of the intendancy system, especially in New Spain, the viceroy was
further removed from the individual, who felt loyalty to the king of Spain
more through the intendant than through the viceroy or Commandant-
General over him, for the intendant had authority in everyday life.5
The intendants generally replaced the military governors of the prov
inces except in the military provinces, such as Coahuila, Nuevo Leon,
Nuevo Santander, Texas, New Mexico, Tabasco, the Californias, Chihua
hua, Sinaloa, and possibly other provinces that had not yet been made in-
tendancies; the intendants were supposed to have learned or laid out the
exact boundaries of their intendancies.
The news of Napoleon's having taken the kings of Spain hostages and
placed his brother on the throne of Spain and the subsequent uprising of
the provincial juntas in Spain reached Mexico City in mid-1808.6 There
after, events immediately began to occur there. The well-known story of
the overthrow of Viceroy Jose de Iturrigaray of New Spain and his replace
ment by the Audiencia of Mexico by Pedro de Garibay need not be told
here. However, Garibay's recognition of the government that had been set
up by the revolting juntas of Spain to govern Spain and the Indies through
a Junta Suprema Central of Spain and the Indies seated at Seville does
need to be taken into account here. It was composed of deputies or mem
bers from the various Spanish juntas rebelling against Napoleon's army
and his brother Joseph Bonaparte on the throne of Spain.
That Junta Suprema Central of Spain and the Indies issued a decree in
the name of Ferdinand VII, in whose name it was ruling, that the colonies
of America were no longer to be thought of as colonies but rather as inte
gral and equal parts of the empire. Now the Junta Suprema Central was so
decreeing that the viceroyalties of New Spain, Peru, New Granada, and
Buenos Aires and the independent Captaincy-Generals of Cuba, Puerto
Rico, Guatemala, the Provinces of Venezuela, and the Philippines should
put that resolution into effect by electing a deputy to represent their re
spective districts in this Junta Suprema Central now sitting in Seville.
Then the decree proceeded to spell out how the elections were to be held
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