About the database

ON THE CLASSIFICATION AND PRESENTATION OF THE pronunciamiento TEXTS:

BY DATE
BY REGION
GRIEVANCES
SEARCH AND ADVANCED SEARCH FACILITIES
SPELLING
RELATED PRONUNCIAMIENTOS
RELATED DOCUMENTS
PARTICIPANTS
CONTEXT
NOTES
BIBLIOGRAPHY
PRINTING FACILITIES
ABBREVIATIONS

BY DATE

The pronunciamiento texts can be located by date. You will be able to see how many pronunciamiento texts have been located by the Project Team for each year and, after clicking on the year, for each month. By clicking on the month you will be able to access each individual pronunciamiento text (e.g., + 1821 (3) ??? + February (1) ??? Plan de Iguala (Guerrero, 24 February 1821)).

BY REGION

The pronunciamiento texts can be located by region too. By accessing the Regions page you will be able to see how many pronunciamiento texts have been located by the Project Team for each region (e.g., Veracruz (104)). By clicking on the region you will then be able to access each individual pronunciamiento text that was launched from there in chronological order (e.g., + Veracruz (104) ??? + Plan de Veracruz (Veracruz, 6 December 1822)).

Given that the make up of Mexico’s states, provinces, and so-called departments has changed over time we have opted, where possible, to locate the pronunciamientos in present-day states. However, students of Mexico should remember that Texas was part of Mexico (state of Coahuila-Texas) until the Texan Revolution of 1835—36, that California and Nuevo México were part of Mexico until the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848, and that present-day Campeche was part of Yucatán until 1863. In the cases of California, Nuevo México and Texas the regions figure as part of early nineteenth-century Mexico. For the few pronunciamientos that took place in New Orleans or elsewhere, we have created the Abroad category for them and they can be found there.

GRIEVANCES

At the end of each pronunciamiento text it is possible to discern what the key stated grievances for each given pronunciamiento were. For example, for the R epresentación del brigadier don Felipe de la Garza al emperador (Tamaulipas, 22 September 1822) the following grievances have been highlighted: National (anti-government, pro-constitution); Local (pro-government, against Pedro José Lanuza); Political (pro-constitution); Proactive; Military (regular army). This is short-hand for a plan that at a national level was against Emperor Agustín I’s government and that defended Congress’ constitutional plans, and that at a local level was opposed to regional commander-in-chief Pedro José Lanuza. It also tells us that it was a constitutionalist political pronunciamiento, that it was proactive (i.e. that it was an original/source/parent pronunciamiento rather than one launched in response to a preceding pronunciamiento), and that it was carried out by officers of the regular army.

The GRIEVANCES page allows you to explore what were the most common grievances at a national and at a regional level. Having said this it is important to remember that the stated grievances were not always the genuine grievances that had inspired the launching of a given pronunciamiento in the first place. For a pronunciamiento cycle to be successful the original/source/parent pronunciamiento text had to appeal to a wide range of political actors since it relied on their declared statements of allegiance to intimidate the powers that be to listen to their demands. This inevitably meant that, quite often, the concrete grievances that had inspired the initial gesture of rebellion/act of insubordination were disguised behind grandiloquent or general aims that were included to broaden the pronunciamiento???s base of support. Notwithstanding this, the GRIEVANCES page offers the student of Mexico a vivid impression of what were the burning issues of the day as well as the extent to which the pronunciamiento was as much a civilian-led practice as it was a military one.

The grievances are divided here into primary and secondary categories. The primary categories determine whether they were of a national and/or local nature, whether the pronunciamiento was proactive or reactive (i.e. an original call to arms or a response to a preceding call to arms), whether it was military and/or civilian-led, and whether its demands were of a political/constitutional nature and/or whether they were concerned with supporting or opposing a given individual (i.e. of a personal nature). The secondary categories have been included to nuance this overview, offering the opportunity to explore the nature of the political/constitutional demands both at a national and/or a local level (e.g., federalist, centralist, anti/pro-clerical, against/in favour of the government, against/in favour of the constitution in place). Other grievances such as whether the pronunciamientos were anti/pro-Spanish, commerce-economic related, concerned with land rights, etc., have also been included. At a glance it may be possible to attain statistical data on the number of pronunciamientos that were launched, for instance, in favour of General Antonio López de Santa Anna and that made federalist demands at the same time, and compare this number with the number of pronunciamientos that were launched in favour of General Antonio López de Santa Anna and that made centralist demands at the same time. The GRIEVANCES page allows the user to make his/her own grievance-related inquiries.

GMM (i.e. Research fellow Dr Germán Martínez Martínez) was responsible for analysing and adding all the relevant grievances to each individual pronunciamiento held on the website in the third year of the project (2009—2010).

SEARCH AND ADVANCED SEARCH FACILITIES

The database can also be explored using the “Search” and “Advanced Search” facilities. If you are interested in finding all the texts that mention a given individual’s name (e.g., Bravo), a particular location (e.g., Chilpancingo), political faction (e.g., escocés/escoceses), cause (e.g., central/centralista/centralismo), etc., all you need to do is insert the word in the “Search” box on the top right-hand corner of the Home page and press enter. For example, if you want to know how many pronunciamiento texts noted that the event was celebrated with fireworks, you can insert “cohetes” in the “Search” box, press enter, and you will discover that there are 36 results. The pronunciamientos that include the term “cohetes” in their text will appear listed in chronological order and you can consult them individually to see how they referred to the use of fireworks. You will find the word “cohetes” highlighted in blue in the relevant texts.

If you want to carry out a more advanced kind of search, the “Advanced Search” page provides you with a number of option boxes. These include searching for one and/or more texts by adding several words (such as “Acta de adhesión” or “voluntad nacional”), from a specific date or a range of dates (on or after a given month and/or year), from a specific region and/or place and/or which may be concerned with grievances that are: national and/or local, proactive and/or reactive, civilian, and/or military, political and/or personal, and/or other.

SPELLING

For the sake of clarity we chose to correct all spelling mistakes and apply modern spelling conventions to the texts. For example, “paíz” became “país”, “leyez” became “leyes”, “fuersa” became “fuerza”, “pruevas” became “pruebas”, etc. We spelt numbers “dieciséis” to “veintinueve” without the antiquated “y” (e.g., diez y seis). We deleted unnecessary accents (e.g., “á”, “há”) and added accents where they were missing (e.g., “república”). We ensured there was consistency in the spelling as well. As a result “México” always appears with an “x” (rather than with a “j”). Likewise, we ensured the use of capital letters was consistent and in line with modern usage: i.e., names, official titles, abbreviations (e.g., Carlos de Serra, Ayuntamiento de San Juan Bautista, V.E.).

RELATED PRONUNCIAMIENTOS

At the end of each pronunciamiento text it is possible to discern how many as well as which pronunciamientos were related to it. These include those pronunciamientos that were launched in reaction to the given pronunciamiento or the “parent” pronunciamiento the said pronunciamiento was responding to. The related pronunciamientos are categorised either as “Parent” pronunciamientos (original/source pronunciamientos, i.e. the ones that initiated a given pronunciamiento cycle/series/constellation), and “Child” pronunciamientos (pronunciamientos launched in response to a “Parent” pronunciamiento). The “Child” pronunciamientos are classified as having been “reactive” when they limited themselves to supporting or opposing a “Parent” pronunciamiento. They are defined as “reactive-cum-proactive” when they supported or opposed a “Parent” pronunciamiento and used the context of upheaval to add their own demands, becoming a “Parent” pronunciamiento in their own right.

As an example the Acta y plan de Veracruz sobre remoción del ministerio (Veracruz, 2 January 1832) “parented” 83 “Child” pronunciamientos (all of which can be accessed from this pronunciamiento???s own page). Some, like the Acta celebrada por la guarnicion de Alvarado (Veracruz, 6 January 1832) were straightforward pronunciamientos de adhesión, in which the pronunciados offered their support and allegiance to the “parent” plan without making any additional demands (reactive supporting). Some like the Acta de Huamantla (Tlaxcala, 10 January 1832) were launched to make publicly known that the given pronunciados supported the government and were opposed to the “parent” pronunciamiento (reactive opposing). (By 1832, a pronunciamiento de adhesión could be used to offer the government the allegiance of those who pronounced, as much as it could be employed to support the forceful petition/act of insubordination that had started the pronunciamiento cycle). Some, however, like the Acta del pronunciamiento de Tancahuitz (San Luis Potosí, 8 April 1832) offered their support and allegiance to the “parent” pronunciamiento, but also added local demands (such as asking Pablo Jonguitud to head the pronunciamiento in Tancahuitz, San Luis Potosí) (reactive-cum-proactive supporting). In this case, the Acta del pronunciamiento de Tancahuitz (San Luis Potosí, 8 April 1832) went on to “parent” its own “child” pronunciamiento: the Plan de Tancahuitz (San Luis Potosí, 1 June 1832) (reactive opposing). In this case the villagers of Tancahuitz launched a despronunciamiento ( i.e., a pronunciamiento that annuls an earlier pronunciamiento launched by the same community). The town council of Tancahuitz together with Pablo Jonguitud, came out and repented of having pronounced on 8 April 1832, and thus formally made it publicly known that they supported the government. The related pronunciamientos feature of the website allows users to begin to understand how pronunciamiento cycles or constellations unfolded, at times with several “parent” pronunciamientos running alongside each other.

NB: Professor Fowler is still in the process of linking up the individual pronunciamientos with related pronunciamientos de adhesión, desadhesión, and rechazo.

RELATED DOCUMENTS

At the end of some pronunciamiento texts it is possible to access relevant related documents. As an example, the Acta y plan de Veracruz sobre remoción del ministerio (Veracruz, 2 January 1832) is followed by two related documents: Oficio que dirigió Ciriaco VÁzquez al Excmo. Sr. general de división D. Antonio López de Santa Anna, 2 de enero de 1832 and Manifiesto del general Santa Anna para aceptar la jefatura del movimiento del Plan de Veracruz, en que lo justifica en el derecho constitucional de petición, 7 de enero de 1832.

PARTICIPANTS

At the end of most pronunciamiento texts a list of participants (pronunciados) is provided which specifies whether they were signatories, the appointed secretary who minuted the discussion of the meeting (junta) that led to the launching of a given pronunciamiento, the author and/or leader, etc. There are, to date, over 6000 participants listed in the database. In most cases we know very little about who they were. Notwithstanding this, they are listed here in the hope that regional historians of Mexico with concrete knowledge of the individuals who ran politics at a local level in nineteenth-century provincial Mexico may find it useful to discover the number of pronunciamientos a given town councillor, for example, may have participated in and the demands he supported at different points in time. In those cases where the Research Team found information on the given individuals, biographical entries have been supplied. So that users do not have to scroll down long lists of names in search of those who have biographical entries, those with biographies attached to them appear in a separate list at the top of the Participants webpage.

Click on their name e.g., Juan Álvarez to access the participant details which include Lifespan details, Profession-related details, a Biography, and a section on pronunciamiento Activity which allows the user to get an overview of all the pronunciamientos the given participant was involved in. You can then click on each and every pronunciamiento listed here, and the website will take you to the page with the relevant pronunciamiento on it. As an example, in the case of Juan Álvarez, under pronunciamiento Activity, the following pronunciamientos are listed (and can be accessed): Leader of Pronunciamiento de la guarnición de Acapulco (12 August 1832; Acapulco, Guerrero),Plan de Texca (23 March 1835; Texca, Guerrero),Acta de una junta de vecinos de Durango (23 June 1835; Durango, Durango),Author of,Convenio entre Nicolás Bravo y Juan Álvarez (13 April 1831; Chilpancingo de los Bravos, Guerrero),Acta de la guarnición de Acapulco (22 November 1841; Acapulco, Guerrero),Plan de Mineral de Temascaltepec (2 January 1849; Temascaltepec, Estado de M??xico),Signatory of,Artículos ratificados entre Juan Alvarez y Nicolás Bravo (26 August 1835; Chilpancingo, Guerrero),Manifiesto de los generales D. Nicolás Bravo y D. Juan Álvarez (10 October 1841; Chilpancingo de los Bravos, Guerrero),Plan y pronunciamiento de Nicolás Bravo y la guarnición de Chilpancingo de los Bravos (22 October 1841; Chilpancingo, Guerrero),El general Juan Álvarez a los últimos restos de su división (15 November 1841; Chilpancingo de los Bravos, Guerrero),Acta de adhesión al plan de la capital de 23 de diciembre de 1858, modificando el plan de Ayotla (26 December 1858; Ciudad de M??xico, M??xico D.F.),Leader, author and signatory of,Bases propuestas por Juan Álvarez (25 March 1843; La Providencia, Guerrero),El ciudadano general Juan Álvarez, presidente interino de la república (7 October 1855; Cuernavaca, Morelos),Proclama de Juan Álvarez a sus conciudadanos (15 November 1855; Cuidad de Mexico, M??xico D.F.),Proclama de Juan Álvarez, General de División (10 December 1855; Ciudad de M??xico, M??xico D.F.),Manifiesto de Juan Álvarez a los mexicanos (10 December 1855; Ciudad de M??xico, M??xico D.F.),Manifiesto de don Juan Alvarez contra el movimiento de ‘religión y fueros’ (7 December 1856; Iguala, Guerrero),Leader and author of,El general D. Juan Álvarez, al instalar el consejo en Cuernavaca (4 October 1855; Cuernavaca, Morelos)

NP (i.e. Research fellow Dr Natasha Picột) was responsible for adding, researching, and writing the biographies of the participants held on the website in the third year of the project (2009-10).

CONTEXT

Each pronunciamiento has a CONTEXT section where WF (Professor Will Fowler) has provided an overview of the historical context in which the given pronunciamiento took place. The CONTEXT section includes thoughts on the nature, dynamic, and evolution of this political practice as well.

NB: Professor Fowler is still in the process of writing up the individual contexts for each pronunciamiento.

NOTES

Each pronunciamiento has a NOTES section where the Research Team have noted where the original document of the given text can be found, e.g., AHSDN: XI/483/965, f. 94; whether it has since been reproduced in a given secondary source, e.g., Also in Josefina Zoraida VÁzquez (ed.), Planes en la nación mexicana. Libro dos. 1831-1834 (Mexico City: SRE/El Colegio de México, 1987), p. 142; and details of who was responsible for the transcriptions, e.g., Transcribed by Natasha Pic??t and Revised by Will Fowler. In some instances, the NOTES section also notes when given original documents were double-checked, e.g., Original document double-checked by GermÁn Martínez Martínez on 02/02/2009. Colección Josefina Z. VÁzquez/Planes y Documentos, 1832, Archivo Histórico del Colegio de México, Caja 6.

Given that Professor Fowler is in the process of editing the NOTES sections as he writes up the individual contexts for each pronunciamiento, these will remain incomplete until they have all had their contexts added to them.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

At the end of some pronunciamiento texts selected bibliographical references have been noted, to help the user locate specialised works on the given pronunciamiento.

PRINTING FACILITIES

All pronunciamiento texts can be printed in a PDF version. At the end of each pronunciamiento text the user can click on the PDF Download facility and access and print a PDF version of the pronunciamiento.

ABBREVIATIONS
Database authors/editors/contributors:

WF Prof. Will Fowler ??? Principal Investigator
GMM Dr Germán Martínez Martínez ??? Research Fellow
NP Dr Natasha Picột ??? Research Fellow
SRD Sean Dooley ??? Database Designer/Developer
RD Dr Rosie Doyle ??? Former Project PhD Student
KAM Dr Kerry McDonald ??? Former Project PhD Student
SA Dr Shara Ali ??? Former PhD Student

Archives and libraries:

AGN Archivo General de la Nación (Mexico City)
AHSDN Archivo Histórico de la Secretaría de la Defensa Nacional (Mexico City)