The Pronunciamiento in Independent Mexico

Glossary

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A

ayuntamiento

town council, town hall; the council of a municipality or the municipality itself. When referring to the council the title ayuntamiento is frequently preceded by 'excelentísimo' (most excellent),or 'honorable' (honourable), as a term of reverence.

agiotista

money lender.

alameda

Spanish for poplar grove, usually the name given to a prominent park, boulevard, avenue.

alcabala

tax.

alcalde

alcalde, alcalde ordinario, or 1º, 2º, 3º etc. denoting rank, the traditional municipal magistrate. He had both judicial and administrative functions.

ayudante

assistant, helper.

Alteza Serenísima

Serene Highness. This was a title first used by Father Miguel Hidalgo in 1810. Santa Anna would adopt it during his 1853-55 dictatorship.

aristócrata

political term of abuse: "aristocrat", used to criticise reactionary politicians, hombres de bien.

B

Bases de Tacubaya

1841 political charter.

Bases Orgánicas

1843 Constitution

bienes nacionales

nationalised ecclesiastical properties under the Reform Laws of 1859.

borlados

the Liberal Party moderate faction of the late 1850s and 1860s.

bustamantista

supporter of General Anastasio Bustamante.

borbonistas

supporters of the Bourbon monarchy who expected a member of the Bourbon dynasty to become king of Mexico after independence.

C

campesino

peasant.

capitular

town hall administrator, bureaucrat.

caudillo

leader or chief, usually military or a political boss, overlord mainly national rather than regional.

científicos

'scientists' or 'scientific philosophers' were a circle of technocratic advisors to Porfirio Díaz during the latter part of his dictatorship (1876-1910). Expounding positivist priciples based on the writings of Auguste Comte (1798 – 1857) French philosopher. They were at the intellectual forefront of Díaz's programme of modernisation.

cívicos

civilian militias.

Comisionado Regio

Royal Agent. A Spanish agent sent to Mexico in 1827 by Ferdinand VII.

cura

priest.

cacique

a local man of influence backed by an armed following. He exercised influence and commanded obedience by virtue of land ownership and the patron system in which patronage was and is given to local people. Caciques often acted as brokers between local people's interests and wider circles of power. They also would provide political leadership at the sub-regional or provincial levels, at times state level and even nationally.

convocatoria

Presidential decree calling for national and state level elections. These may be to a Constituent Congress or to ordinary sessions of the legislature.

Cortes

Spanish parliament; originally Castillian Cortes were a royal council and court. They included the three estates of the nobility, clergy and commons during the high and middle ages. The Cádiz Cortes (1810-13) was a representative assembly asserting the right to exercise sovereignty in the absence of a monarch.

chusma

rabble (colloquial).

cacicazgo

the domain of the cacique.

caciquismo

prevalence of localised networks of private power headed by caciques.

civic militia

part-time army made up of civilians.

capitalino

of the capital.

D

diezmo

a compulsory ecclesiastical tithe.

desamortización

use of state power to expropriate Church property wealth.

Diligencias

E

ejército de vanguardia

vanguard army

escoceses

members of the Scottish Rite of Masons, consolidated in Mexico after 1816 during the War of Independence. They initially followed a moderate constitutionalist position, then later moved to a more conservative and centralist stance.

exaltado/s

a term frequently applied to radical Liberals.

equilibrista

turncoat.

F

fuero

a term derived from medieval Castilian legal history and signified corporate privilege or exemption. In Mexico the fuero eclesiástico guaranteed ecclesiastical immunity from civil prosecution. The fuero militar (1768) provided similar immunity for members of the newly formed colonial militia.

G

gachupín/es

pejorative term for Spaniard/s.

generalísimo

Supreme General a title first adopted in 1810 by father Miguel Hidalgo.

gente decente

the middle and upper classes, with the social designation of 'proper/decent' people.

grito de Dolores

call to arms with which Mexican War of Independence started on 16 September 1810.

golpe de estado

coup d'état, coup, putsch or overthrow. A sudden unconstitutional deposition of a government. This tends to be the act of a small group of the existing state establishment, mainly military, to replace the deposed government with another body; either civil or military.

golpista

person actively involved in a golpe de estado (coup d'état).

gómezpedracista/s

supporter/s of General Manuel Gómez Pedraza.

H

hacienda

Hacienda: A large or small rural private estate. Invariably geared towards the market largely dealing with cereals, livestock, sugar-plantation, cultivation of a range of products, including maize for the workers’ consumption. Frequently diverse market practices co-existed on the hacienda.

hombres de bien

the more affluent members of Mexico's emergent political class.

hombres de privilegio

more affluent members of Mexico's emergent political class.

hombres de progreso

liberals in favour of freedom of the press and other progressive measures.

I

imparciales

faction created by Valentín Gómez Farías and Francisco García in 1828 to fight against the influence of the yorkinos.

indigenismo

historical movement and school of thought that venerates, idealises and attempts to reclaim pre-Columbian heritage asserting historical identity as opposed to colonial models of hierarchy and Spanish superiority over indigenous peoples.

indigenista

an advocate of indigenismo.

indultado

insurgent who handed himself to the Spanish authorities during the War of Independence accepting the granted vice-regal pardon.

intendencia

province, state as organised under the colony.

iturbidistas

supporters of Agustin de Iturbide.

iniciativa

proposal (within context of annual ministerial reports).

indulto

official pardon, usually given to rebels and/or insurgents in exchange for them handing themselves in and vowing to put down their arms

J

Jefe político

district administrator appointed by state governors, exercised supervision over both the municipalities and the electoral process.

jimenistas

followers of General Vicente Jiménez

juarista

supporter of Benito Juárez. The term aquired political weight after 1867. After 1872 it was used to describe subscribers to Juárez's brand of constitutionalism (juarismo) as opposed to followers of porfirismo.

juchitecos

inhabitants of the southern Isthmus town of Juchitán (Oaxaca) frequently in opposition to state and federal government.

jacobinos

a label used for radical liberals who would be prepared to use the State to enforce a revolutionary programme which would result in a reduction of the Church's role in society.

Junta de Notables

1843 constituent Junta of Worthies, handpicked by the Santanista administration after the closure of the 1842 Constituent Congress to draft the Bases Orgánicas.

Junta Instituyente

1822-1823 council in which Iturbide replaced the closed-down Congress.

jarocho

from the province of Veracruz.

L

latifundio

landed properties made up mainly of haciendas and owned by a latifundista.

lerdistas

supporters of Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada.

lépero

member of the urban lower classes.

letrado

lawyer.

leva

arbitrary method of military recruitment in which force was used.

licenciado

university graduate.

M

mestizo

of dual heritage (Indian and Hispanic), within a Hispanisized social context.

maleante

criminal.

memoria de guerra

annual report of the Ministry of War.

mulato

of dual heritage (Indian and Afro-Caribbean).

N

negocios pendientes

unfinished business.

novenario

nine day cycle of religious festivities.

novenarios

faction created by ex-escoceses and moderates; included José María Luís Mora among its members.

O

oficio

formal letter.

P

peones

resident hacienda workers who received both a wage and a supplement maize ration. Often they had the guarantee of housing and a subsistence plot along with a degree of landlord protection. Working conditions varied considerably according to geographical location.

pintos

racially mixed militia soldiers

porfiristas

followers of Porfirio Díaz

pronunciamiento

Often translated as ‘revolt’, the pronunciamiento was a written protest/petition, generally drafted as a list of grievances or demands, signed by a group of individuals and/or corporate body (high-ranking officers, town council officials, villagers, members of a particular garrison, Indian pueblo, etc.) that could result in an armed rebellion if the government did not attend to them.

pueblo

village; in the pre-reforma era, this referred to to a legally constituted community, often Indian. There was the right to corporate ownership and the land had both religious and economic significance. The land possession often defined the identity of the community. can also mean "the people" of a given community, country, as in the "will of the people": "la voluntad del pueblo."

pedracista

supporter of General Manuel Gómez Pedraza; see also gómez-pedracista.

peso

Mexican monetary unit.

polkos

pro-clerical well-to-do rebels in Mexico City who were against the 1847 Liberal reform measures; supported February 1847 revolt against Gómez Farías vice presidency; called polkos because (1) they belonged to affluent classes who danced the polka and (2) because revolt was accused of favouring the United States, whose president at the time was James Polk.

Porfiriato

period in which General Porfirio Diaz was in power, 1876-1910.

partido del orden

party of order.

peninsular/es

Spaniards.

plaza mayor

main square.

pulque

or octli, is an alcoholic beverage made from the maguey plant. A traditional native beverage of Mexico with a history extending far back into the Mesoamerican period.

pulquería

saloon where pulque is sold.

puros

radical liberals

R

rancheros

smaller landowners who were frequently located on either poorer lands attached to haciendas or on lands of higher altitude. A number of pueblos rented out ranchos to Hispanic cultivators or planters or sometimes as livestock ranges.

Reforma

the period between 1855 and 1876 when the Mexican political, legal and social institutions were restructured in accordance with Liberal Party doctrine.

rojos

Radical Liberals with the aim, during the early Reform period between 1855-1876, of removing all Church privilege, property, revenue and influence over the population in Mexico.

regidor

see capitular.

S

santanistas

followers of Antonio López de Santa Anna or members of his personal entourage.

serranos

people originating from sierras (high land zones)for example Júarez, Méndez, Pérez and Castro in Oaxaca.

Siete Leyes

1836 Constitution

sansculotte

radical.

santanismo

philosophy of the santanistas.

Secretaría

ministry; as in ministry of defense or war (secretaría de defensa/guerra).

T

tierra baldías

lands legally definied as 'un-occupied' and available for expropriation by the state and auction/sale to private individuals.

tlaco

currency made up of pieces of wood or soap used by shopkeepers when there was a shortage of real currency.

V

vagos

so called 'idle members of the rabble'.

veracruzano