In a transformative new account of Mexican politics during the era of independence, this book shows how demands for—and backlash over—racial egalitarianism were at the heart of the period's political conflicts. Peter Guardino recovers the radical equality of the political system that emerged from Mexico's long and bloody independence revolution: not only were the racial categories that had organized colonial Mexico abolished, but most states established universal male suffrage, regardless of race or income. A colonial system in which wealthy whites justified their social and economic dominance by claiming racial superiority gave way to a radical democratic moment in which poor urban and rural people embraced electoral politics to publicly assert their honor and social worth. Tracing how legal equality was embraced by the masses, and how Spanish-identifying elites reacted against it, this book argues that race was a crucial driver of the political crises and violence that shook Mexico in the 1820s.

  Guardino shows that far from being disengaged from political questions, poor and mixed-race people exerted crucial influence as they worked to assert their rights and reinforce their new status through raucous party politics, demonstrations, and armed conflict. The clashes that played out would ultimately undermine political stability and representative government. In a compelling narrative that untangles the complexities of this era, this book shows that despite these failures, the egalitarianism of the era established political ideas and participation that would continue to resonate throughout Mexican history.