Hispanics and Latinos in New Mexico
The mainland part of New Spain won independence from Spain in 1821 and New Mexico became part of the new nation of Mexico. After independence from Spain, the Spanish population began to mix somewhat with the indigenous populations. The new 'Mexican' élite attempted to create a common identity out of all the classes and different ethnicities. Nationalists attempted to establish equality, if only legally, between these different groups. The Spanish settlers of New Mexico and their descendants adapted to Mexican citizenship somewhat. In 1836, after the Republic of Texas gained independence, Texas claimed part of the Province of New Mexico, which was disputed by Mexico. In 1841, the Texians sent an expedition to occupy the area, but the expedition was captured by Mexican troops;
First Mexican Republic
The Spanish overseas possession of the Viceroyalty of New Spain lasted for 300 years, from 1521 with the fall of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan and the foundation of Mexico City until the collapse of the viceroyalty in following years of civil war and military stalemate. An insurgency for independence from Spain lasted from the initial 1810 mass revolt, led by secular cleric Miguel Hidalgo and continued under another secular cleric, José María Morelos, and carried on the hot country of Mexico's south by Vicente Guerrero. Augustin Iturbide, a royalist military officer born in New Spain of Spanish parents, made a strategic alliance with Guerrero under the Plan of Iguala, in which the former foes fought in tandem to oust Spanish rule. The plan proclaimed Mexico a nation-state; Roman Catholicism as the sole religion; the equality of Spaniards and American-born Spaniards and abolished legal racial designations, and was to be a constitutional monarchy. On September 27, 1821, Mexico obtained its sovereignty under the Treaty of Córdoba, which recognized New Spain as an independent empire, which took the name the Mexican Empire.