On the morning of October 13, 1641, a Spanish shopkeeper by the name of Juan Agudo died quite suddenly in the silvermining community of San Joseph del Parral in northern Mexico. His death must not have been altogether unexpected, however, for in a will drawn up only three weeks before he had described himself as “andando en pie aun que con alguna falta de salud.” According to the provisions of that will, executed without delay, Agudo, a bachelor and a devout Catholic, was buried in the parish church in Parral amidst ceremonies that were to cost his estate well over 500 pesos.

Those who defend America's entry into the First World War often call attention to the ultimate German threat to the security of the Western Hemisphere. Through his political and economic activities in the years before the War, Kaiser Wilhelm II allegedly endangered the independence of Latin American states, and especially, the dominant position America enjoyed in the Caribbean. Hard evidence to support this position, however, is rarely presented, and with good reason, for after the celebrated Venezuelan incident of 1902-03, German-American relations in Latin America decline in saliency. Yet, during the crucial decade before the onset of World War One, Germans and Americans met one another in the hemisphere in a variety of places and under a variety of circumstances. An analysis of these relatively obscure contacts will help answer two questions: Did Germany menace American interests in the area, and, more importantly, did Americans believe that she did?

Fernando Cortés lived twenty-five years after his first, perhaps only, enterprise of grand design and gigantic proportion, the conquest of the Aztec Confederacy. In those remaining years, his were a multitude of endeavors; many, an outgrowth of his brilliantly successful triumph over the Aztecs, and most, dependent—for funds, materiél, and manpower—upon his great estate, a huge enterprise in itself.

Located in central and southern México, the estate comprised numerous, populous encomiendas, extensive landholdings, mines, Indian and Negro slaves and various commercial establishments. It was known as the Marquesado de Cortés after 1529 and in 1535 was constituted, with royal authorization, a mayorazgo, or entailed estate. Following Cortés’ death in 1547, it became the property of his legitimate son and designated heir, Don Martín.

As it has been suggested in a previous article, by the middle of the 1830's, the Mexican government had started to put into effect a policy of stricter control over the sources of income of the Church and, at the same time, it had started to tap clerical resources with demands for loans, both forced and voluntary. In addition, Liberal politicians had put forward plans to restrict the political and economic power of the Church, not to mention its more subtle influence on areas such as education. These restrictive policies were embodied in the laws decreed by Vicente Gómez Farías during his ephemeral administration. Although the majority of these laws were later revoked, the ideological challenge of the Liberals remained alive, awaiting more propitious times. In the interim, the Conservative régimes which ruled the country from 1835 to 1855 had to face some of the most difficult political and economic crises experienced by Mexico up to that time. In trying to solve them, the Conservatives, although friendly to the Church, continued attempting to exert some form of control over clerical property, and continued to regard the Church as a source of possible funds.

The subject of a commerical treaty quickly emerged after the United States recognition of the independence of Mexico in 1822. To negotiate this treaty Joel Roberts Poinsett was appointed Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Mexico. Since Mexico had modeled its constitution after that of the United States, Henry Clay, Secretary of State, instructed Poinsett to make himself available to explain the practical operation and advantages of our system to Mexico. Inherent in our constitution and system was freedom of religion, establishment of which in our relations with Mexico constituted an objective of Poinsett's mission. Clay incorporated into Poinsett's instructions those which his predecessor, John Quincy Adams, on May 27, 1823, addressed to Richard Clough Anderson, Jr., Minister Plenipotentiary to Colombia. Adams had emphasized the importance of inserting the principle of religious liberty in the commercial treaty with Colombia. Liberty of conscience and of religious freedom were among the usual objects of a commercial treaty. He expostulated that “civil, political, commercial, and religious liberty, are but various modifications of one great principle founded in the inalienable rights of human nature, and before the universal application of which the colonial domination of Europe over the American hemisphere, has fallen, and is crumbling into dust.”