Miguel's+Motive

Write a paragraph or so that states your paragraph, explains why you chose that question, and what other questions you considered but decided against. Basically in our paragraph we talk about why Miguel Hidalgo dislikes Spaniards and what drove him to dislike them. We chose our question because we have found a lot of evidence on how he hates them, but it doesn't really ever say what drove him to hate them. Another question we had but didn't consider was “why didn't America want to entangle themselves in fights with Europe ”, but that question was too easy and you could easily find the answer. =Gathering and Evaluating Evidence=
 * Questions**

Start by explaining where you began and what that turned up. Share the struggles you faced in this stage When we first started looking for our answer we found many things about Miguel, but nothing really on what drove him to dislike Spaniards. So we realized that we’d have to dig deep, and may run into struggles while finding information. When we thought we were going to find the most information on Wikipedia we actually found the most information on about.com and the video chat with Dr. Erika Edwards. On the Wikipedia page that we found, it talked a about how Hidalgo's goal was to make the Indians and Mestizos less dependent and self-reliant on Spanish economic policies. However, these activities violated policies designed to protect Spanish peninsular agriculture and industry, and Hidalgo was ordered to stop them. Hidalgo was enraged because of this, but never actually says why. After some more research, and the chat with Dr. Erika Edwards, we were able to find exactly what enraged him.

Then share with us the documents used. Describe how you considered source, context, corroboration, etc. What questions and answers came and went in this stage?  We used a total of three documents while researching our question. The three were Wikipedia, about.com, and the video chat with Dr. Erika Edwards. Our main document was the video chat, and we also pulled some information out of about.com. It was difficult for us to find the answers because it is almost like an educated guess. The answer isn't given out in the open, you have to dig deep until you find it. A major question we have is that what would have happened if Hidalgo would have pushed into Mexico City on November of 1810? What if they would have defeated the Spaniards that day? History would have taken a huge twist.

=Interpretation =

What did you find? How do you feel about your conclusion? Was your conclusion surprising? We found that basically Miguel Hidalgo hated spaniards because the Spanish kept collecting taxes, and the poor villagers who were giving the money, weren't getting any back. It all started when Hidalgo would host small gatherings at his home to discuss whether it was the duty of the people to obey or overthrow and unjust tyrant. He believed the Spanish crown was such a tyrant, a royal collection of debt had ruined the finances of the Hidalgo family, and he saw injustice daily in his work with the poor. On September 15, 1810, word had spread about Hidalgos conspiracy and was soon found out. Hidalgo rang the church bells announcing his intention to strike for independence and suggested most of the people of Dolores join him. Within minutes, Hidalgo has an army of about 600 men. They became known as "The Cry of Dolores". Hidalgo and his growing army marched, killing several Spaniards and winning many battles. On January 17, 1811, the Spanish finally defeated Hidalgos army and were forced to head towards the United States. Soon after Hidalgo was arrested and sent to jail, and executed.