The Sierra Gorda Pronunciamientos of 1848-1849 and the origins of popular conservatism in Mexico

This chapter is concerned with the emergence of popular conservatism in Mexico. It argues that its roots can be found in the pronunciamientos (revolts) that erupted in the Sierra Gorda mountain range of central Mexico in the aftermath of the 1846–1848 war with the United States, particularly in ultra-conservative cavalry officer Tomás Mejía’s plan of San José de los Amoles. As argued here, when Mejía rebelled, albeit briefly in early in June 1848, he gave voice and direction to a movement that was engaged both with upholding conservative values and addressing agrarian demands. The combination of fundamentalist conservative Catholic beliefs and agrarian-indigenous mobilization would prove, under Mejía’s leadership, a particularly explosive and resilient force in the Sierra Gorda for well over a decade thereafter, and its origins are to be found in the post-war “forgotten years.”