Carlos María de Bustamante

Biography

Carlos María de Bustamante was born in Oaxaca on 4 November 1774. He began studying law in 1796 and later joined the movement for Mexican independence. In 1805 he founded the newspaper Diario de México, through which he expressed liberal, pro-independence ideas, leading to repeated imprisonment. After the liberal Cádiz constitution granted New Spain limited autonomy, he founded El Juguetillo and continued agitating for full independence.

In 1813 insurgent leader José María Morelos appointed him editor of the independence newspaper Correo Americano del Sur. That year Bustamante participated as a deputy in the Congress of Chilpancingo and wrote Morelos's opening speech, which declared that the insurgents would free Mexicans from serfdom imposed in 1521. The congress drafted the Constitution of Apatzingán, the first constitution for Mexico, but it was never implemented. After independence in 1821, Bustamante was elected deputy from Oaxaca to the Mexican Congress.

He opposed Agustín de Iturbide's ascension to the throne and was imprisoned by Iturbide. Following the empire's collapse, he helped write the 1824 Constitution of Mexico. In 1846, amid public uproar over President Mariano Paredes's perceived monarchist sympathies, Bustamante published the newsletter Mexico no quiere rey y menos a un extranjero. The Mexican-American War caused him deep grief, and he died shortly after its conclusion in 1848.

Works

Bustamante’s account of the Mexican-American War offers a blunt look at the collapse and disarray that plagued Mexico during that conflict, sparing no criticism of his own side’s war effort. His 1833 autobiography, Lo que se dice, y lo que se hace, stands as a useful piece of contemporary history. Though he was deeply involved in Mexican politics and held key posts through some of the republic’s hardest years, including the war with the United States, he made his lasting mark as a historian.

He brought to light colonial-era works that had been sitting in manuscript form, largely forgotten. His most notable contribution was publishing Fray Bernardino de Sahagún’s Historia general de las cosas de Nueva España, a 16th-century text that proved a major boon to historical research. He also issued the chronicle of Gómara, Veytia’s study of Tezcuco, Gama’s essays on two large Mexican sculptures, and other works. To Sahagún’s history, he added one of Fernando de Alva Ixtlilxóchitl’s relaciones, chosen for its fierce anti-Spanish tone.

Bustamante uncovered the manuscript of exiled Jesuit Andrés Cavo’s Historia civil y política de México, written in Latin and Spanish, and published it with a lengthy appendix as Los tres siglos de México bajo el gobierno español hasta la entrada del Ejército Trigarante, first released in Mexico City in four volumes from 1836 to 1838. He also brought out part of Mariano Veytia’s Historia antigua de México, which drew on manuscripts gathered by Lorenzo Boturini Benaduci, and issued a flawed edition of 18th-century writings by Hipólito Villaroel on Spanish treatment of Indigenous people and the colonial power structure.

The Diccionario universal de Historia y Geografía (Mexico, 1853) includes a thorough account of his life, and historian Lucas Alamán wrote biographical material highlighting his private character and domestic virtues.

Writings

Bustamante's published works include Galería de antiguos príncipes mexicanos (Puebla, 1821); Crónica mexicana, Teoamoxtli ó libro que tiene todo lo interesante á usos, costumbres, religión, política y literatura de los antiguos indios tultecas y mexicanos, redactado de un antiguo códice del caballero Boturini (Mexico, 1822); Necesidad de a unión de todos los megicanos contra las asechanzas de la nación española y liga europea, comprobado con la historia de la antigua República de Tlaxcala (Mexico, 1826); Mañanas de a alameda de México; publicadas para facilitar a las señoritas el estudio de a historia de su país, 2 vols.

(Mexico, 1835-36); Hay tiempos de hablar y tiempos de callar (Mexico, 1833), his autobiography to 1833; Apuntes para la historia del gobierno del general Antonio López de Santa Anna; Cuadro histórico de la revolución de la América Mejicana; Historia de las conquistas de Hernando Cortés escrita en español por Francisco López de Gómara, traducida al mexicano por Juan Bautista de San Anton Muñon Chimalpahin quauhtlehuantzin, indio mexicano, 2 vols. (Mexico, 1826); Memoria sobre la guerra del Mixtón en el estado de Jalisco (1826); Tezcoco en los últimos tiempos de sus antiguos reyes, ó sea relación tomada de los manuscritos inéditos de Boturini; redactada por el Lic.

D. Mariano Veytia, publicados con notes y adiciones para el estudio de a juventud mexicana (1826); Historia del descubrimiento de la América Septentrional por Cristóbal Colón, escrita por el P. Fr. Manuel de la Vega (Mexico, 1826); Historia de la conquista de México por el P. Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún (1829); Horribles crueldades de los conquistadores de México y los indios que los auxiliaron, para subyugarlo a la corona de Castilla, ó sea Memoria por D. Fernando de Ixtlilxochitl (1829); Historia general de las cosas de la Nueva España, que en doce libros y dos volúmenes, escribieron por el R. P. Fr. Bernardino de Sahagún, 3 vols.

(Mexico, 1829-30); and Descripción histórica y cronológica de las dos piedras, que son ocasión del nuevo empredrado que se está formando en la plaza principal de México, se hallaron en ella el año de 1790, por D. Antonio de León y Gama (Mexico, 1832).