The Novo-Hispanian Deputies in the Courts of Cádiz (1810-1813): problems and state of the question

Abstract

The double bicentennial commemoration of the Constitution of Cádiz and the American Independence allows us to address a series of issues and protagonists more or less manipulated by history. And in the first place, the Freemasonry that as a result of the Cortes of Cádiz acquired unusual importance on both sides of the Atlantic, when in reality today we are wondering about a leading role that to a large extent has yet to be demonstrated. And secondly, the center of attention is the presence of the American deputies and more particularly the New Hispanics, who were the most numerous. Hence the interest in knowing who those parliamentarians were and what their ideology and the main problems they addressed, so much more than out of 23 New Spain deputies, fourteen were priests, some of whom were persecuted and imprisoned, accused of being Masons, by Fernando VII his return in 1814, and others, who signed the "Manifesto of the Persians", awarded with bishoprics.

In the brief biographical review of each and every one of the New Hispanic deputies, the one who stands out the most is precisely the representative of Tlaxcala, José Miguel Guridi y Alcocer, who led with Miguel Ramos Arizpe, both priests, one of the central topics of discussion: the defense of the American representation in the Courts and the equal rights of the Indians, as well as the status of the brown “castes”, that is to say with mixed African blood.

Aspects in which the concept of national sovereignty, total abolitionism and the social and political equality of all Spaniards, both American and European, came into play.

Keywords: Constitution of Cádiz, Cortes de Cádiz, New Hispanic Deputies, Priests.