During the previous two centuries, England occupied some territories in North America, until the thirteen Colonies were settled. In 1776, these colonies struggled to emancipate from the power of the English Crown. After a tough fight, every colony became an independent state, and the thirteen states unified and formed a Republic. Thus, the United States of America were born.

Meanwhile, hundreds of kilometers south, most Creole people in the Nueva España were always loyal to their king who was exiled due to Napoleon's invasion to Spain. Some others thought that Hispano-Americans should govern their own land while the king was away of his chair. This way, the French intruders would not take command. Some other people believed they should obey the government that Spaniards had organized in the peninsula to fight Napoleon. Both groups confronted, the group loyal to the Spaniard King won and accused the rebels of conspiracy and sent them to jail. Among the rebels there were several members of the City Hall.

MEXICO'S INDEPENDENCE

Like in the rest of Hispano-America, the European revolutionary winds blew and the Independence of the United States had a strong influence on the ideology of the Mexican Creole middle class, during the last years of the eighteenth century. There were some attempts of independence conspiracy that were quickly suffocated by the Viceroy''s authorities. However, Mexico City's bourgeoisie took advantage of the fact that Napoleon's troops occupied Spain and there was a lack of power in that country. A liberal Viceroy, Jose de Iturrigaray, supported them to form a Government council. The most conservative classes in Mexico, that by the way were the most powerful, made the council disappear in September that same year and the Viceroy was put in jail and sent back to Spain.

In the Intendances of Valladolid and Guanajuato, a conspirator group was formed. They prepared the Independence Revolution and wanted, at the same time, a deep social reform. In September 1810, several rebels were arrested, but others managed to escape. One of them was the parish priest of Dolores, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, who took part in this insurrection with the so-called "Grito de Dolores" (Dolores Call).

THE "GRITO DE DOLORES"

On September 16th at daybreak Hidalgo had the bells of his church toll to gather people. He talked to them about the unfair situation they lived in, and encouraged them to fight against the lousy Government. His words got into Dolores People's hearts and they became insurgents. The very first thing they did was to take all the prisoners out of jail and put the Spaniard authorities in.

Nowadays, we celebrate the Grito de Dolores every year, but that dawn in 1810, the environment was not that of a fiesta, but there was an enormous tension. The men and women who followed Hidalgo were not part of an organized army. They were people who wanted a government in which they could participate. They did not have enough arms. Instead, they took sticks, slings, machetes and agriculture tools.

THE INDEPENDECE VICTORY

On February 24th, 1821, with Vicente Guerrero's support, Agustin de Iturbide signed a document where he invited all the inhabitants of the Nueva España to forget their divisions and get together to reach the Independence. This document was called Plan de Iguala (Iguala''s Plan) or las Tres Garantias (the three guarantees). The rebellion started in 1810 finally reached its end. The new nation started its own life. They had got freedom and now they had to organize their own Government and rebuild what had been damaged during the eleven years of Independence War.

THE THREE GUARANTEES

These were the three motives that united the Insurgent Army or "Trigarante" (from the three guarantees): a unique religion, the catholic one, and the union of all the social groups and the Independence of Mexico from the Spaniard Crown having a monarchical and constitutional government.

Each guarantee was represented with a color: green, white and red that they used to make a flag that symbolized the birth of a new nation. Along our history, our flag has changed, but the colors have been the same from the beginning.