42 



INSTITUTE OF SOCIAL ANTHROPOLOGY PUBLICATION NO. 13 



VARIOUS ASPECTS OF THE WAR FOR INDEPENDENCE 



One aspect of the War for Independence which 

 comes immediately to attention is the important 

 participation of the native populace. Certain it 

 is that in other parts of Mexico, native support 

 was strong and decisive. But there, the largest 

 and most enthusiastic contingent appears to have 

 been formed by the great masses of Indians, re- 

 duced to peonage by the colonial system. This 

 was not so in Totonacapan, where the principal 

 centers of rebellion were Totonac pueblos removed 

 from Spanish influence and from the socioeco- 

 nomic system of the haciendas — pueblos which 

 maintained their communal lands, and where the 

 enemy, in the dual role of white and hacendado, 

 scarcely existed. 75 



But it was precisely this isolated Totonac ele- 

 ment — that farthest removed and most disinter- 

 ested in colonial life — which participated so 

 vigorously in the War for Independence. The 

 motives are not clear from any of the contempo- 

 rary documents or from later studies. The par- 

 ticipation is the more inexplicable, since at no time 

 during colonial history was there a major Indian 

 uprising in Totonacapan, where unrest was con- 

 fined to local boundary squabbles. Moreover, in 

 1810, Spanish authorities had attempted to im- 

 prove the condition of Indian groups, precisely 

 because they were considered potentially impor- 

 tant in the imminent struggle. 76 At the same time, 

 the viceroys were insisting on stricter compliance 

 with the protective laws contained in the Kecopi- 

 lacion de leyes de Inclias. 



It would be unwarranted to assume any genuine 

 growth of national sentiment in Totonacapan at 

 this time, since even today, it is little evident, at 



75 Tears after the Independence, it is said of Papantla : ". . . 

 los indfgenas cultivaban sus tierras de comunidad y explotaban 

 los productos silvestres . . ." (Flores, p. 9). 



Bustamante (5 : 43) describes conditions in Coxquihui, presum- 

 ably just prior to the War for Independence. He evidently is 

 thinking of Coxquihui in a more restricted sense than that in- 

 dicated in the previous footnote : ". . . su terreno esta ocupado 

 por ties o cuatro mil indios, y algunas castas con pocos blancos. 

 Hace mas de treinta aSos que se arruin6 el unico pueblo que 

 habia en 61, por lo que han subsistido hasta ahora esparcidos por 

 los montes y barrancas sin proporci6n de cura ni justicia." 



"For example, in 1810, by royal decree, the Indians wore to be 

 freed of tribute and lands allotted more generously among them 

 (Legislacion mexicana 1 : 131). An 1812 decree abolished obliga- 

 tory "personal service" and provided for further land allotments 

 to adult male Indians (Legislaei6n mexicana 1:396). Still a 

 further decree, in the following year, abolished corporal punish- 

 ment (Legislaclrtn mexicana 1:425). 



least among groups which have remained relatively 

 aloof from Spanish and Mexican culture. An ex- 

 planation will have to be sought elsewhere. It is 

 possible that Bustamante (1:253) gives some in- 

 sight when he reports that in the course of a roy- 

 alist campaign in the highlands, about 1811, the 

 Spaniards indulged in reprisals and cruelties, 

 burning hamlets and shifting the population from 

 one spot to another. Logically, such measures 

 must have aroused resentment and perhaps influ- 

 enced the Totonac to ally themselves with the rebel 

 cause. 



The results of Independence were not very evi- 

 dent in Totonacapan for a good many years. In 

 accordance with its liberal principles, the Inde- 

 pendence established the legal equality of all Mexi- 

 can citizens; yet, at the start, this theoretical 

 change could have had little significance for the 

 Indian. 77 



Neither social structure, nor political organiza- 

 tion, nor land ownership was greatly affected, for 

 the time being, in Totonacapan, where, during the 

 years following the Independence, the situation 

 differed little from that of colonial times. Al- 

 though we have found no record of further grants 

 in Totonacapan, a great stretch of land near Pa- 

 pantla was given by the Mexican Government to 

 General Guadalupe Victoria, in payment for his 

 services during the War of Independence (Flores, 

 p. 9). Officially, the lands in question probably 

 were the property of the Spanish Crown, but even 

 so, the grant must have reduced very considerably 

 the amount of land available to the Totonac of the 

 Papantla area. In fact, it probably directed set- 

 tlement toward the west, for the tract of Victoria 

 lay immediately east of the city. In Mexico as a 

 whole, such grants strengthened the body of 

 great landholders, by giving them extensive rural 

 holdings. 



We know nothing of the cultural changes which 

 must have taken place in Totonacapan through 

 displacement of combatants, greater contacts with 

 people of other culture, and the new military or- 

 ganization. Unfortunately, there is no record of 



77 Mendieta y Nu0ez (p. 16) remarks that: ". . . siquiera en la 

 gpoca colonial se f ragu6 todo un sistema legislativo de elevadfsimo 

 espfritu en la Recopilaci6n de las Leyes de Indias, para protegerlo, 

 para reanimarlo ; siquiera en aquel tiempo existio la posibilidad 

 legal de su redenciOn, pero a partir de la Independencia ... el 

 Indio o qued6 olvidado fuera de la ley, o quedrf) oprimido o ex- 

 plotado dentro de la ley." 



