“The choice god makes of us”: Religion, national identity and counterrevolution in the Independence of Mexico

ABSTRACT This paper examines the relationships between religion, national identity and counterrevolution in the context of the independence of Mexico (September 1821). The impact of the Spanish revolution in 1820 had deep reverberations among conservative groups in New Spain. In the reactionary cosmogony, the traditional alliance between the Altar and the Throne was threatened by the policies of the new liberal regime. This tension led some counterrevolutionaries to modify their ideas on independence, which up to that point they had rejected. Under these new circumstances, they opted for emancipation, which would keep Mexico on the sidelines of certain transformations in the liberal revolution. A religious dimension ran throughout this ideological shift, which gave rise to the definition of a new kind of national affirmation. This text will analyze the various components that fed this intertwining, as well as their political implications and limits. It will address the sermons made by ecclesiastics, with special attention given to their interpretations of the historical moment. The contribution made by these religious figures to achieving independence would lead them to make a claim for special treatment in the short-lived Mexican Empire.