Mexico City, 1808: Power, Sovereignty, and Silver in an Age of War and Revolution by John Tutino (review)

John Tutino examines the origins of Mexican independence by analyzing events in Mexico City in 1808, during Napoleon’s invasion of Spain and his overthrow of the Bourbon monarchy. In the midst of the imperial crisis that year, Mexico City experienced an explosion of demands for popular sovereignty and local autonomy, demands that were ultimately contained by a military coup that overthrew viceroy José de Iturrigaray in September 1808. For Tutino, these events are especially significant because until then Spain’s rule over Mexico was never in doubt as long as silver capitalism prospered. Unlike most histories of New Spain that emphasize the authoritarian and despotic nature of Spanish colonial rule, this book argues that the colonial system was characterized by mediation and negotiated compromises that gave a diverse populace rights to participate in political processes. The events of 1808, however, broke the regime, undermined Spain’s ability to rule by mediation and consultation, and led to a new era in Mexican politics in which individuals came to power by armed force in the name of popular sovereignty.

The first of the book’s two parts explores the silver economy of the late colonial period, from 1760 to 1810. During this period, the steady increase of silver production created economic dynamism in Mexico City that promoted social stability by containing divisions among the oligarchy and making work available for the city’s inhabitants. Individual chapters examine the different social groups that resided in Mexico City, with discussions of key institutions such as the city council, the mint, and the repúblicas de indios. Fragmentation and divisions among the city’s diverse working people made organized resistance to colonial rule difficult as long as the silver economy flourished.

Part two of the work examines the politics of the late colonial period. Here Tutino emphasizes New Spain’s regime of mediation, noting that the colonial government granted indigenous communities land, local self-rule, and access to judicial appeals, which “enabled them to adapt, represent interests, appeal disputed decisions, and generally negotiate subordination during long centuries” (112). Furthermore, even as taxes increased during these years, no American Spaniard joined the riots or rebellions that erupted in the 1760s and 1770s. Instead, they continued to identify with the colonial regime. Chapters 9 and 10 transition from an analysis of the politics of empire to a narrative of the crucial events of the summer of 1808. It was during these months that thousands of Mexico City inhabitants took to the streets to demand that the city council, viceroy, and audiencia rule in the name of deposed King Fernando VII. In this atmosphere of rising social tensions and political confusion, military men allied with disgruntled merchants deposed the viceroy in September and did so in the name of the people. The coup, however, undermined imperial legitimacy and ended the regime of mediation, as high judges allowed no protest or negotiations after the viceroy’s fall. In a broader context, the events of 1808 established a pattern in nineteenth-century Mexico of military intervention in politics in the name of popular sovereignty.

To help readers navigate this multifaceted history that challenges the conventional wisdom of late colonial politics, Tutino presents a six-page “terms of analysis” after the preface. Here the author analyzes 18 terms, such as castas, creole, español, indio, mestizo, and pueblo, to clarify the meanings of words that are often misleading in English-language studies of this period. The terms of analysis help to make this book accessible to an audience beyond specialists in the field. Indeed, instructors of undergraduate and graduate courses on Mexican history and Spanish colonialism should consider assigning this text to give students a new way of thinking about the imperial crisis that led to Mexico’s independence from Spain.