Letter to the Commander of Arms of the Plaza of Valladolid [Carta de José María Morelos al comandante de las armas de la plaza de Valladolid Morelia], December 23, 1813

Letter of encouragement from José María Morelos to the commander of the arms of the Plaza of Valladolio, I.E., modern Morelia.

English title/description created by Clevy Lloyd Strout, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Spanish, University of Tulsa, 1962. English title translated to Spanish by Travis Jeffries, Ph.D., Post-Doctoral Fellow, Helmerich Center for American Research, 2019-2020.

Inspired by the American, French, and Haitian Revolutions, Mexicans began fighting for independence from Spain in 1810. This letter concerning military logistics is from José María Morelos y Pavón, one of the movement's early leaders. Morelos had mixed Spanish and Indigenous heritage and was ordained as a Roman Catholic priest before devoting his life to Mexico's struggle for freedom. Off the battlefield, Morelos drafted a document called Sentimientos de la Nacion (Feelings of the Nation), which outlined principles for a new Mexican republic. He called for the abolition of slavery and for equal rights for all citizens. Morelos was captured and executed, however, so his ideas were not adopted. After independence slavery continued in Mexico until 1829 and in the lands that became Texas until 1865.