Valladolid Conspiracy (1809)

The Valladolid Conspiracy was a group that gathered in Valladolid, Michoacán, to discuss political issues. It included military men, clergymen, and lawyers. Discontented with the Spanish colonial regime because of the coup d'état of September 1808, which had ended the possibilities of furthering their autonomist interests, they moved from conversation into conspiracy in September 1809. Following the autonomist proposal presented by the Ayuntamiento of Mexico in 1808, they intended to establish a junta or congress in Valladolid in order to prevent the peninsular Spaniards from turning New Spain over to the French. The conspirators counted upon the support of military units and of some Indian communities, who were promised an exemption from paying tribute. The insurrection, which was to occur on 24 December 1809, was revealed on 21 December. The plotters, among them Captain José María García Obeso and Lieutenant José Mariano Michelena, as well as the Franciscan Friar Vicente de Santa María, were arrested. Although their role in the conspiracy was clearly proved by the authorities, they were not severely punished. This leniency was due, in part, to the conciliatory attitude of the viceroy, Archbishop Francisco Javier de Lizana y Beaumont. Several of the plotters took part in the conspiracy of 1810, which gave rise to the insurgent movement.

See alsoNew Spain, Viceroyalty of .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Lucas Alamán, Historia de Méjio (1985), vol. 1.

José Mariano Michelena, "Verdadero origen de la revolución de 1809," in Documentos históricos, edited by Genaro García, 2nd ed., vol. 1 (1985); and Diccionario Porrúa de historia, biografía y geografía de México, 5th ed., vol. 3 (1986), p. 3,070.

Additional Bibliography

Chowning, Margaret. Wealth and Power in Provincial Mexico: Michoacán from the Late Colony to the Revolution. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1999.

Franco Cáceres, Ivan. La intendencia de Valladolid de Michoacán, 1786–1809: Reforma adminstrativa y exacción fiscal en una región de la Nueva España. Mexico City: Instituto Michoacano de Cultura: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2001.

Mejía Zavala, Eugenio. Antonio María Uraga y Gutiérrez, conspirador de Valladolid en 1809. Morelia, Michoacán, México: Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, 2005.

                                          Virginia Guedea