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The “Escuelas Pías” of Mexico City: 1786-1820*
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 June 2017
Extract
The year of 1786 was one of famine and disease in New Spain. The effects of the unseasonable frost which had destroyed the corn crop in August of the previous year were felt especially in Mexico City. Hungry peasants and Indians flocked to the capital where they encountered masses of unemployed artisans. Prices of basic commodities soared; epidemic disease plagued the population, particularly among the poor; and crime increased. Social unrest and desperation rose to a peak, causing government and church authorities to enact a series of emergency measures designed to aid the indigent and punish grain speculators.
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- Research Article
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- Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1974
Footnotes
*
This article concerns only the primary schools for boys; it does not treat the numerous private girls schools called “amigas” nor the free Church schools for girls, or those belonging to philanthropical organizations.
References
1 Florescano, Enrique, Precios del maiz y crisis agricolas en Mexico (1709-1810) (Mexico: El Colegio de Mexico, 1969), 155-175.Google Scholar
2 Archivo del Ex-Ayuntamiento de la Ciudad de Mexico (hereafter AA Mex.), Cedulario, Vol. 426, auto, March 28, 1786, 456v; also in AA Mex., Instruction Publica en General, Vol. 2475, exp. 33; and in Biblioteca Nacional, Archivo Franciscano (hereafter BNAF), Vol. 142, exp. 1740.
3 AA Mex., Cedulario, Vol. 426, 453, Proposal of the Procurador General, Francisco Maria de Herrera, January 23,1786.
4 Ibid., 453-454.
5 AA Mex., Instruction Tublica en General, Vol. 2475, exp. 25, Proposal del Sindico de lo Comun, Rafael Ruiz de Moto, August 22,1782.
6 Ibid., exp. 24, Plan de poner cuatro escuelas publicas en los cuatro cantones de esta capital, November 15, 1782. It was suggested to charge a medio real tax on each carga (approximately 138 kilos) of flour brought into the city in order to finance the schools.
7 AA Mex., Actas de Cabildo: Borradores, Vol. 457, August 14,1782.
8 In the Ayuntamiento's discussions of education mention was made of the Sociedad Vascongada in 1782 and again in 1785, along with educational advancements in England diand France, AA Mex., Instruction Piiblica en General, Vol. 2475, exp. 26, April 12, 1782 and exp. 24, December 31,1785.
9 Ibid., exp. 26, June 7, 1782. TJie ordinances of the Gremio de Maestros del Nobilisimo Arte de Primeras Letras de Nueva Espafia were promulgated in 1601 and contained eleven articles regulating: the election of guild officials (1); the qualifications of pure blood, race, and proficiency in various subjects needed in order to be examined by the guild (2, 3, 4); the fines to be levied for opening a school without having been examined (5); the location.of schools so as not to cause competition among guild members (6); the restrictions concerning schools for girls (7); the use of the license (8); the type of house in which a school could be located (9); and the curriculum to be followed (10, 11), in Orozco, Luis Chavez, La education piiblica elemental en la ciudad de Mexico durante el sigh XVIII: Documentos para la historia de la education piiblica en Mexico, Vol. I (Mexico: Secretaria de Education Piiblica, 1936), 29-31.Google Scholar
The Ayuntamiento was divided into various sections in order to facilitate its administrative work; that which supervised the guilds was the Junta de Gremios headed by the Juez de Gremios who also served as the Juez de Informasiones de Maestros de Escuela, Ordenanzas de la Fiel Ejecutoria de la N. C. de Mexico, in Genaro Estrada, El trabajo en Mexico en la epoca colonial: Ordenanzas de gremios de la Nueva Espana, compendio de los tres tomos de la compilacion nueva de ordenanzas de la muy noble y muy leal e imperial Ciudad de Mexico hecha por Francisco Barrio Lorenzot (Mexico: Secretaria de Gobernacion, 1920), 179-180; AA Mex., Artesanos y Gremios, Vol. 383, exp. 15, March 11, 1800 and AA Mex., Ayuntamiento: Comisiones, Vol. 406, exp. 11, January 14, 1811.
10 AA Mex., Instruction Piiblica en General, Vol. 2475, exp. 34, July 14,1786.
11 Ibid.
12 ibid.
13 ibid.
14 Ibid., exp. 33, May 2,1792.
15 Ibid., June 25,1792.
16 Ibid., Vol. 2476, exp. 61. March 13,1794,41-44.
17 Real cedula dated in Aranjuez, April 15,1794, Ibid., 45-46.
18 Ibid., Sindico de lo Comun, February 29,1796, 54.
19 Ibid., entire Ayuntamiento, January 18,1802,79.
20 Ibid., exp. 62, Procurador General, July 17,1795.
21 Ibid.
22 Ibid., exp. 110, Fiscal de lo Civil, December 31,1804.
23 Ibid., exp. 61, entire Ayuntamiento, January 18,1802.
24 Ibid., exp. 110, Fiscal de lo Civil, December 31,1804, 39-45.
25 Ibid., Vol. 2477, exp. 168, July 1, 1812.
26 Ibid., Vol. 2476, exp. 22, July 4,1809, fol. 27.
27 Luis Chavez Orozco, op. cit., 42-44.
28 AA Mex., op. cit., Vol. 2476, exps. 65-82; 84-108; examples of permits given by the Juez de Informaciones de Maestros de Escuela to female teachers upon presentation of proof of legitimacy and good conduct, but without subjecting them to an examination.
29 Ibid., Vol. 2475, exp. 38, December 13,1787.
30 Chavez Orozco, op. cit., 89-116.
31 AA Mex., op. cit., Vol. 2475, exp. 33, June 29, 1792; Vol. 2476, exp. 110, March 11, 1805.
32 AA Mex., Instruction Publica en General: Exdmenes y Premios, Vol. 2589, exp. 1, December 1,1800.
33 AA Mex., Instruction Publica en General, Vol. 2475, exp. 33, June 29, 1792; AA Mex., Artesanos y Gremios, Vol. 383, exp. 21, August 31,1804.
34 AA Mex., Instruction Publica en General: Exdmenes y Premios, Vol. 2589, exp. 1, October 21,1800.
35 AA Mex., Cedulario, Vol. 426, January 23,1786,453-454.
36 Acknowledgement by the Archbishop of receipt of the mandate, May 29, 1786, Ibid., 457; Communication of the Archbishop to each of the fourteen parishes in Mexico City, Archivo General de la Nacion (hereafter AGN), Bienes Nacionales, legajo 1443, exp. 38, June, 1786.
37 Anonymous,. Discurso o disertacion sobre las bondades y defectos de Mexico, AA Mex., Policia en General, Vol. 3627, exp. 43, November 24,1788.
38 The Bethlemites were founded in Guatemala in 1656. The first two members of the order arrived in Mexico City in 1674 where they founded a monastery and hospital. In 1821 the order, along with other monastic and hospital orders, was extinguished by the Cortes of Cadiz, Betlemitas, Diccionario Yorrua de historia, biografia y geografia de Mexico, (2nd. edition, Mexico: Editorial Porrua, 1965), 203.
39 Manuel Rivera Gamba, Mexico pintoresco, artistico y monumental, (2nd. edition, Mexico, 1957), Vol. 1, 460, (originally published in 1880). Rivera Gamba reports that in 1745 the schools of reading and writing of the Bethlemites had more than 800 students and that in mid-eighteenth century a new monastery was constructed, enlarging the locale of the schools on one side of the main door, and whose rooms were so appropriate for the purpose of educating, that even today they are used for the same objective.
40 AGN, Bienes Nacionales, legajo 492, June 8, 1779. In 1779 the Bethlemite monastery in Mexico City had 40 religious and the hospital contained 50 beds. The annual budget was 14,347 pesos but the hospital operated at a deficit.
41 AA Mex., Instruction publica en General, Vol. 2475, exp. 24, December 31, 1785, 5-6. The teachers guild claimed that the first teacher in the Merced was the servant of one of the religious, noting with sarcasm that he was of such accredited and praiseworthy customs that he was sentenced by the Tribunal de la Acordada, Ibid., exp. 34, July 14, 1786.
42 Ibid., exp. 24, December 31, 1785. The document also mentions that there was a school in Santa Maria, which probably means the parish of Santa Maria la Redonda.
43 Ibid., exp. 34, July 14,1786.
44 Chavez Orozco, op. tit., 20-22. The private teachers refer to the Maestros de primeras letras who only taught the basic level of primary instruction, and not to the preceptores de gramatica who taught advanced subjects and Latin, although also instructing their youngest students in reading and writing. It can be assumed that the majority of upper class children were educated by these preceptores or by private tutors who came to their homes. The schools of members of the teachers guild and the escuelas pfas served the middle and lower classes of the city. For information on the preceptores de gramatica, see AA Mex., Instruction Publica en General, Vol. 2475, exp. 20,1778.
45 Ibid., Vol. 2477, exp. 250, May 14, 1822, 63-64. The report of Santo Domingo states that their school had been in operation for thirty six years.
46 Ibid., Vol. 2475, exp. 34, July 14,1786.
47 Ibid.
48 AA Mex., Instruction Publica en General: Exdmenes y Premios, Vol. 2589, exp. 3, 1806.
49 AA Mex., Instruction Piiblica en General, Vol. 2475, exp. 33, May 2, 1792.
50 Ibid., Vol. 2476, exp. 83.
51 Ibid., exp. 110, without date. It is probable that the survey was made in 1802; it is mentioned in a document of the Procurador General dated February 19,- 1803, Ibid., exp. 61, 100-107. Care should be taken in using the list of schools in exp. 110 since some of the teachers noted as examined were actually teaching in escuelas pias rather than in their own private institutions, as verified in the listing in exp. 142, April, 1808.
52 Ibid., Vol. 2477, exps. 250-251. The monasteries and parishes answered the survey in December of 1820 and again in the spring of 1822; the private teachers answered mostly in December of 1820, while some also presented reports in July of that year. In cases where two different enrollment figures are given, I have used the December, 1820, figures (except in one case in district III where the July figure is more credible).
53 In 1790 the census of the city showed a total population of 112,926 with 7,633 boys between 7 and 16 years of age. Calculating the primary school age population in the colonial period as that between 6 and 12, the number of school-age boys was 5,936. Estado general de la poblacion de Mexico, Capital de Nueva Espana, 1790.
Using statistics of births and deaths from 1790 to 1825 from the records of the city's fourteen parishes, it was concluded that the population of the capital had not increased, Noticia de los matrimonios, nacidos y muertos que ha habido en la Ciudad de Mexico en los afios que se designan , La Lima de Vulcano, no. 17, December 14, 1825 (or 1826).
Data so far available and analyzed by the Seminar of Urban History at Mexico's Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia indicates that in fact the population of the urbanized center of Mexico City, that is, of the eight major districts, was about the same in 1790 as in 1820. In the years following 1810 there was an important increase (about 12%) in the population caused by immigrants seeking a haven during the Independence struggle, but there was also a great drop due to the epidemic of 1813.
The census of 1842 based on block by block statistics gives a total population of 114,926.
Other census of the period are based on district, rather than block by block counts, or included outlying towns in the total population. Thus, some statistics as well as travellers observations attribute a much larger population to the city. See Keith A. Davies, Tendencias demograficas urbanas durante el siglo XIX en Mexico, Historic Mexicana, Vol. XXI, January-March, 1972, 501-503.
54 Ibid.,exp.214,July8, 1817.
55 The escuelas pias were located in eight of the fourteen parishes in 1820:
San Miguel (III), San Pablo (V), Soledad de la Santa Cruz (V) and Santa Maria la Redonda had schools in 1802 but by 1820 they were closed. Santa Ana (I) and Salto de Agua (II) never established escuelas pias.
The schools in the monasteries were:
The escuelas pias in colleges and parcialidades were:
There was one primary school supported by the municipality (I) and another located in the Hospicio de Pobres (VIII) financed by the government.
56 Bullock, William, Six Months Residence and Travels in Mexico, containing Remarks on the Present State of New Spain, first published in 1824 (Port Washington, New York: Kennikat Press, 1972), 123-124.Google Scholar
57 The figure of 2,000 students is an estimate based on Rafael Ximeno's claim that in 1786 the 33 private teachers had 1,650 pupils. I believe this figure is overestimated since it attributes an average of 50 students to each school, when in the same document Ximeno complains that due to the competition of the escuelas pias we the teachers have our schools almost empty and many children are taught without cost, AA Mex., Instruccion Piiblica en General, Vol. 2475, exp. 34, July 14, 1786.
However, until a more accurate figure is available, I have calculated 1,500 students for the private teachers and allocated another 500 pupils to the five escuelas pias, giving the total of 2,000 primary school students in 1786.
58 AA Mex., Ibid., Vol. 2475, exp. 10, visit made to the schools in 1748; exp. 36, December, 1786.
59 Spain, de Cadiz, Cortes, Diario de las discusiones y actus de las Cortes (Cadiz: Imprenta Real, 1815), Vol. XII, 249-250.Google Scholar
60 AGN, Reales Cedulas, Vol. 217, exp. 195, 267; decree of November 19, 1815, included in decree of October 20,1817.
61 AGN, Ibid., Vol. 214, exp. 186, decree of November 14,1816.
62 Ibid., Vol. 217, exp. 195. The decree of October 20, 1817, served as the basis for later attempts in the post-Independence period to oblige the monasteries and convents to open primary schools, such as during the governments of Iturbide (1822). Gomez Farias (1833) and Santa Anna (1842).
63 Joseph Maria Carranza, Discurso sobre el establecimiento de una escuela publica gratuita de primeras letras y Christiana education de los ninos pobres el dia 25 de febrero del ano de 178S . . . (Mexico: Felipe de Zuniga y Ontiveros, 1788), 14.
64 Ibid., 18-19.
65 Ibid., 20, 24.
66 Edmundo O'Gorman, El catolicismo ilustrado en la Nueva Espana (principios del siglo XIX), Boletin del Archivo General de la Nation, Vol. XVIII, January-March 1947, 74-75. The entire speech of Father Manuel Agustin Gutierrez is reproduced in this article, 83-101.
67 Ibid., 85.
68 1bid. ,92.
69 Gutierrez, Manuel Agusti'n, Benediccion de la escuela piiblica y gratuita para ninos de Celaya y los foraneos, principalmente los pobres, Dos discursos sobre la mucha imporiancia de la buena education y ensenanza de las primeras letras a los ninos (Mexico: Oficina de Don Juan Bautista de Arizpe, 1820) ,35.Google Scholar
70 Ibid., 43.
71 O'Gorman, op. cit., 101; the school of the monastery of San Diego taught drawing to many students, AA Mex. Instruction Piiblica en General, Vol. 2477, exp. 248, December 29,1820.
72 Gutierrez, op. cit., 41.
73 Perez Martinez, Antonio Joaquin, Reglamento para las escuelas gratuitas de ninaseducadas establecidas en los conventos de religiosas de la Fuebla de los Angeles (Puebla: Pedro de la Rosa, 1818), 12.Google Scholar
74 Alcaide, Elisa Luque, La education en Nueva Espana (Sevilla, 1970), 197.Google Scholar
75 Francisco Zapata, primary school teacher and adviser to the Mexico City Ayuntamiento, in AA Mex., Instruction Piiblica en General, Vol. 2478, exp. 344, April 27, 1836.
76 AA Mex., Cedulario, Vol. 426, January 23,1786,456.
77 Gutierrez, op. cit., 31.