Embracing a Suitable Past: Independence Celebrations under Mexico's Second Empire, 1864–6

This study examines Emperor Maximilian's efforts in using public rituals, patriotic symbolism, and the emblems of nationalism to devise an appropriate past for his Mexican empire. The 'republican' celebration of independence and its heroes formed the cornerstone of an effort to reconcile feuding political factions, build social cohesion, and ultimately legitimate his regime. The article concentrates on the independence ceremonies, speeches, and statuary employed by the empire. Ultimately, the political dissension existing in Mexico could not be surmounted by symbols alone. Nevertheless, the attempt reveals the creative use and limits of public rituals in the political realm. As Mexico's Emperor Maximilian delivered his oration from the house where, over a half century before, Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla had issued his famous grito for independence, the 3 2-year-old former Archduke not surprisingly experienced some trepidation. 'You can imagine how embarassed I was', he wrote to his brother, 'before a tightly packed, silent mass of people. It went off well, thank God, and the enthusiasm was indescribable.'1 Maximilian clearly appreciated the situation. For a member of Austria's reigning Habsburg dynasty to pay homage to Mexican independence did appear ironic. Only months earlier, Maximilian had been at his castle in Trieste anxiously awaiting news of whether the Mexican people would call him to the throne. Now, in September I864, not only had he and his Belgium-born wife Carlota been summoned, they had begun the delicate task of rebuilding the state and converting Mexico from a republic into an empire. Key to this success would be the extent to which Maximilian could shape a new imperial political culture. Eric Hobsbawn writes that 'all invented traditions, so far as possible, use history as a legitimator of action and cement of group cohesion'.2 Robert H. Duncan is a Doctoral candidate, University of California, Irvine. * The author wishes to thank Steven C. Topik and Jaime E. Rodriguez 0. for their comments and suggestions. 1Maximilian to Karl Ludwig, n.p., 21 Sept. 1864, quoted in Egon Caesar Count Corti, Maximilian and Charlotte of Mexico, trans. by Catherine Alison Phillips (New York, I968), P. 434. 2 Eric Hobsbawn, 'Introduction: Inventing Traditions', in Eric Hobsbawn and Terence Ranger (eds.), The Invention of Tradition (Cambridge, i983), pp. I, I2. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.211 on Tue, 27 Sep 2016 04:10:07 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 250 Robert H. Duncan Even emergent nations commonly refer to some time immemorial of which they make themselves a part.3 A suitable past offers a regime legitimacy, continuity, and precedence. The dilemma is finding an appropriate history that serves not only to unify and instruct, but to express both hegemony and power relationships. Civic rituals and the celebrations of historic events can symbolically construct this link between politics and history. As a foreign-born monarch introduced by force of arms, Maximilian had to establish his authority while minimising the sometimes wide cultural gap between sovereign and subject. His decision to select, embrace, and manipulate the ritual of independence represented an important step in consolidating and legitimising the political position of the emperor and empire. It would become the symbolic cornerstone in building a new nation. More than a simple holiday, observing independence represented a way of looking at Mexico's past, present, and future. It embodied both the glory and potential of the nation. Over the years, it had carved a lasting niche in the country's contentious political culture. This analysis shows how Maximilian sought to employ this ritual to bring together feuding factions, build social cohesion, and impart appropriate virtues through a heterogeneous population. The heroes and symbols of independence would help the empire craft a new imperial genealogy in the effort to win (and shape) the hearts and minds of the Mexico people. Gauging the ultimate success of these imperial attempts, however, remains elusive. At a time when partisanship greatly colored perceptions, descriptions of the celebration were seldom neutral. Moreover, since independence day was an established fiesta and not newly invented, simple participation cannot confirm or deny support for the empire. Audience response, as a result, must be weighed accordingly. Nonetheless, the Second Empire does offer an important glimpse into the political use (and limits) of symbols and rituals. Celebrations during the early republic In i866, the editor of the San Antonio Herald (Texas) declared that independence day in Mexico was 'just like the Fourth of July in the United States, only it did not happen on the same day'.4 He was mistaken. In little more than four decades, the choice of what or even when to celebrate developed into an important political question. The dispute over the true meaning of independence resulted, in part, from the circuitous path taken by the eleven-year struggle. Those who had started the process 3 Benedict Anderson, Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism, revised edn. (New York, 199i), pp. 11-12. 4 Article reprinted in the New York Times, I8 Nov. I866. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.211 on Tue, 27 Sep 2016 04:10:07 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms Embracing a suitable past 25 I did not finish it. Even the word independenciapresented its own difficulties, having originally expressed only the desire for autonomy, not total separation from Spain. By tradition, the destructive and bloody conflict began in 181o when Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, the parish priest in the town of Dolores, conspired with members of the local elite to replace the royalist government with an American (i.e., creole) junta in the name of the Spanish King Ferdinand VII. Officials, however, learned of the plot and seized most of its leaders. At 2:00 a.m. on 6 September, word reached Hidalgo about his imminent arrest. Facing certain imprisonment, Hidalgo opted to launch the uprising that same morning. Soon, upwards of eighty thousand followers, mostly poor peasants and workers, flocked to the call. Despite capturing some key cities, the movement lasted only a few months. In the decade after Hidalgo's execution, other rebel leaders like Father Jose Maria Morelos and Vicente Guerrero raised the banner of revolt. The process culminated in I82I when autonomist leaders successfully convinced a royalist creole colonel, Agustin de Iturbide, to switch allegiance. On 27 September 1821 Iturbide led his triumphant 'Army of Three Guarantees' into Mexico City virtually unopposed. The entrance was accompanied by military parades, discourses, triumphant arches, floats, and banquets. The celebration signalled 'the first collective and popular festival in the life of the nation'.5 From this time forward, Mexico could single out two clearly defined points in the independence