Refusing Citizenship

This chapter examines the ways in which Pueblo Indians sought to define their own political status during the U.S. territorial period. According to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ended the U.S.-Mexico War, Pueblo Indians were U.S. citizens. As Pueblo Indian Agent John Calhoun (and later governor of New Mexico) reasoned, this meant the right to the franchise as well. But, problems arose over Pueblo voting rights, as some non-Indians concluded that if they voted, it would mean that the Pueblos gave up their status as distinct, sovereign Indigenous communities. For their part, the Pueblos continued to act as Indian republics, and their independent political status was seemingly confirmed by the gift of the so-called Lincoln Canes in 1863. A series of legal cases, culminating in U.S. v. Joseph (1876), ultimately defined the Pueblos as non-voting citizens. Throughout the territorial period, the Pueblos asserted that they did not desire U.S. citizenship, instead preferring to retain their mixed systems of town government, in place since the Spanish period, and their semisovereign status under the U.S. Office of Indian Affairs.

Repúblicas de Indios in Spanish New Mexico

This chapter traces the development of Repúblicas de Indios (Indian Republics) among the Pueblo Indians of Spanish New Mexico. It demonstrates how the Pueblos implemented Spanish directives mandating annual elections of officers, such as governors and lieutenant governors, to form an Indian town council, or ayuntamiento/cabildo. The Pueblos ultimately transformed those elections to bring them more in conformity with traditional Pueblo leadership selection practices. This chapter interrogates the importance of Pueblo officers, the governor system, and the annual elections that put them in office. These elected Pueblo officers represented their communities in dealings with the Spanish church and state. While there were abuses of office, Pueblo governors and other leaders overwhelmingly worked for the survival of their people and to retain their sacred homelands.

Pueblo Contestations of Power in the Mexican Period

During the brief period of Mexican independence in New Mexico (1821–1846), Pueblo Indians participated in electoral politics in unprecedented ways. In the waning days of the Spanish empire, and then the Mexican era, colonial directives sought to bring Indians into the body politic as citizens. This meant Pueblo villages were to become part of larger municipalities with elected councils, or constitutional ayuntamientos, that included both Indians and Nuevo Mexicanos. This chapter shows that Pueblo participation on these mixed council was almost negligible. Instead, Pueblo Indians took the lead in the Río Arriba Rebellion of 1837. In this rebellion, which killed and deposed the Mexican governor of New Mexico, Albino Pérez, Pueblo Indians, Genízaros, and their allies established their own short-lived state, known as the Cantón, with an Indian, José González, as governor.

Historic Churches of New Mexico Today

Historic Churches of New Mexico Today is an interpretive ethnography based on fieldwork among hispanic villagers, Pueblo Indians, and Mescalero Apaches. The fieldwork was reinforced by extensive research in archives and in previous scholarship. The book presents scholarly interpretations in prose that is accessible, often narrative, at times lyrical, and crafted to convey the experience of researching in New Mexican villages. Descriptive guide information and directions to remote historic churches are provided. Themes treated in the book include the interactions of past and present, the decline of traditions, a sense of place and attachment to place, the church as a cultural legacy, the church in relation to native traditions, resistance to Catholicism, tensions between priests and congregations, maintenance and restoration of historic buildings, and, in general, how the church as a place and devotion as a practice are important (or not) to the identities and everyday lives of individuals and communities. Among many others, the historic churches discussed in the study include the Santuario de Chimayó, San José de Gracia in Las Trampas, San Francisco de Asís in Ranchos de Taos, the village churches of Mora County, St. Joseph Apache Mission in Mescalero, and the mission churches at Laguna, Acoma, and Picurís Pueblos.