First in this struggle for liberty came the English colonies in
America. Then the people of France sprang to arms and overthrew the
moss-grown tyranny of feudal times. The armies of Napoleon spread the
demand for freedom through Europe. In Spain the people began to fight for
their freedom, and soon the thirst for liberty crossed the ocean to
America, where the people of the Spanish colonies had long been oppressed
by the tyranny of their rulers.
The citizens of Mexico had been deeply infected by the example of the
great free republic of the north, and the seed of liberty grew for years
in their minds. Chief among its advocates was a farmer's son named Miguel
Hidalgo, a true scion of the people and an ardent lover of liberty, who
for years longed to make his native Mexico independent of the effete
royalty of Spain. He did not conceal his views on this subject, though his
deeper projects were confided only to a few trusty friends, chief among
whom was Ignacio Allende, a man of wealth and of noble Spanish descent,
and a captain of dragoons in the army.
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