Essay by Guillermo Floris Margadant
Official Mexican policy toward Indians has passed through three distinguishable stages. The colonial period was an era of official guardianship imbued with the Christian ideal of brotherhood. This policy developed at the time of the Mexican Conquest (1517-1521) and was based on the ideas, experiences, and laws of the earlier insular or Caribbean phase of the Spanish settlement of the New World. In uneasy coexistence with this Christian ideal was a belief in the inferiority of Indians; in the words of a modern writer, the Indians had an inalienable right to be slaves. Gradually, Christian humanitarianism was transformed into a benevolent guardianship begun under Philip II and continued under the enlightened despotism of the Bourbons.
From 1821 to 1910, after Independence but before the Mexican Revolution, the Indian was officially considered a citizen equal to all others in the eyes of the law. In large measure, this egalitarianism reflected the influence of the French Revolution. This egalitarian philosophy, however, did not guarantee the Indian a comfortable role in Mexican society, for the Indian remained politically and economically vulnerable.
Since 1917, a new form of guardianship has evolved. This new policy, conceived as temporary, is based on increasing anthropological knowledge and is relatively free of Western feelings of superiority toward the Indians. It relies on the collaboration of Indian promotores, who both love their cultures and understand what Westernized white and mestizo Mexican culture can offer the Indian world.
This essay will examine, from an historical and legal perspective, the origins and development of Mexico's official policies regarding the treatment of Indians. At the outset, two observations are useful. First, the concept of "Indian" is a somewhat unrealistic abstraction; this general term hides the enormous differences among the several pre-Columbian Indian groups in ethnology, linguistics, religion, and civilization in general. Recognizing the varied character of the Indian world, colonial policy did not always refer to the Indian in general terms; specific rules were sometimes issued for certain groups of Indians. Within the territory that constitutes present-day Mexico, however, such "particular Indian policies" were of little importance in comparison to the general policy. Of course, a difference was evident between laws for peaceful Indians (indios de paz) and aggressive Indians (indios de guerra), but apart from this distinction and the privileges given to the Indians of Tlaxcala or Coatzacoalcos, special rules for particular Indian groups were rare in New Spain (a name spontaneous with the conquistadors, afterwards confirmed by the Kings for the territory now known as Mexico).
A related problem is the number of Indians in New Spain, still a matter of controversy. Calculations differ considerably, especially as to the initial number. At the time of the Conquest, there may have been between five and ten million. It is evident, however, that during the sixteenth century, due either to epidemics such as the one that occurred in 1545 to 1546 or to periods of famine, the Indian population decreased significantly, probably to two or three million. After about 1630, the population crept up again to perhaps four million, a level that has stayed approximately the same until the present. (Of course, this stabilization in absolute terms implies a considerable reduction in Indians as a proportion of the total Mexican population.) It must be noted that it is obviously difficult to define the term "Indian" for statistical purposes. The several possible criteria—access to an Indian language, the use of Indian clothes, a characteristic diet, racial features, or being part of a traditional Indian community—all yield different statistical results.
It is also important to realize that much of what occurred in New Spain was a result of the tension between Christian doctrine and financial necessity. The Spanish Crown's undeniable idealism inspired many policies towards the Indians; but the Crown also needed to make the Indias attractive to the colonists and had to think of direct fiscal advantages besides, because of the constant threat of bankruptcy (during Philip II's reign, Spain suffered three financial collapses). The resulting compromise between idealism and financial necessity lent itself as easily to the creation of "white legends" as of "black" ones. Spanish and Latin American intellectuals, with great inventiveness and flowery rhetoric, have dedicated themselves—and presently continue to do so—to the sport of creating or fighting these legends.
About the Author
Guillermo Floris Margadant. Professor of Law, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico. Doctor en Derecho, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico.
Citation
54 Tul. L. Rev. 964 (1980)