All Pueblo Council

All Pueblo Council
All Pueblo Council
Establishment
• Earliest possible formation	c. 1300s
• Spanish colonization	1598
• Pueblo Revolt	1680
• Pueblo Confederation	1680 – 1692
• Spanish return	1692 – 1696
• Comanche peace treaties	1785 – 1786
• Mexican Independence	1821
• Cantón de Nuevo México	1837
• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo	1848
• Abraham Lincoln canes	1863
• Bursum bill defeated	1922
• Succeeded by All Pueblo Council of Governors	2013
	Website; apcg.org

The All Pueblo Council was an international organization made up of at least 19 Pueblos around New Mexico, one around Arizona, and one around Texas. The organization of Pueblo peoples existed from as early as the 1300s until 2013, when it was succeeded by the All Pueblo Council of Governors. By then, the All Pueblo Council considered itself a federation and was one of the oldest international organization in the world.

The following Pueblos were once part of the All Pueblo Council: Acoma Pueblo also known as Ha-ku, Cochiti Pueblo or Ku-htihth, Hopi Pueblo or Hopitutskwa, Isleta Pueblo or Shiewhibak, Jemez Pueblo or Walatowa, Laguna Pueblo or Kawaika, Nambé Pueblo, Ohkay Owingeh, Picuris Pueblo or Welai, Pojoaque Pueblo or P’o-suwae-geh, San Felipe Pueblo or Katishtya, San Ildefonso Pueblo or Powhogeh, Sandia Pueblo or Tuf Shur Tia, Santa Ana Pueblo or Tamaya, Santa Clara Pueblo or Khapo, Santo Domingo Pueblo or Kewa, Taos Pueblo or Teotho, Tesuque Pueblo or Tehsugeh, Ysleta del Sur Pueblo or Tigua, Zia Pueblo or Ts'iiy'a, and Zuni Pueblo or Halona Idiwan’a.

The All Pueblo Council dates back to time immemorial. According to historian Joe Sando of Jemez Pueblo, the All Pueblo Council may have existed as early as the 1300s, and is confirmed to have existed since 1598. That year the Council allowed Spanish Empire settlers to live in the Rio Grande Valley. The 1680 Pueblo Revolt against the Spanish led to the Pueblo Republic led by Po'pay and Luis Tupatu. Tupatu invited the Spanish to return to New Mexico, which they did between 1692 and 1696. The Comanche peace treaties of 1785 and 1786 were a significant turning point in the Pueblos' relations with the Comanche.

After the Mexican Independence, the Pueblos became Mexican citizens under the 1824 Constitution of Mexico. The Pueblos played a crucial part in the Río Arriba Rebellion of 1837 led by Taos Pueblo leaders José María González and Pablo Montoya, who established the federal republic known as the Cantón de Nuevo México, or Junta Popular. Montoya led the 1847 Taos Revolt against the United States invasion of New Mexico during the Mexican-American War.

After the United States annexed California, New Mexico, and Texas after the Mexican-American War, the Pueblos became citizens of the United States according to the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The All Pueblo Council became dedicated to preserving their Guadalupe Hidalgo treaty rights guaranteeing citizenship and land rights. The 1863 gift of canes to the Pueblos by U.S. president Abraham Lincoln was a symbolic expression of the relationship between the Pueblos and the federal government of the United States. While Pueblo peoples were legally citizens according to treaty law, in practice their legal status as Native Americans and citizens were inconsistently applied until the 1913 Supreme Court of the United States case United States v. Sandoval. Afterwards, the All Pueblo Council worked on legislative, cultural and government issues such as the Pueblo Land Claims Act. After Ysleta del Sur Pueblo joined the Council in 2009, the only federally recognized Pueblo not part of it was Hopi Pueblo, also known as Hopitutskwa, located around Arizona and the Navajo Nation. In 2013 the All Pueblo Indian Council dissolved itself and relaunched as the All Pueblo Council of Governors.

Names

The All Pueblo Council is sometimes abbreviated as the APC and often called itself the Council of All of the New Mexico Pueblos in the 1920s and start of the 1930s. The All Pueblo Council renamed itself the All Indian Pueblo Council from 1965 until 2013, when the organization was dissolved and relaunched as the All Pueblo Council of Governors.^[1]

Pueblos of the All Pueblo Council

Each Pueblo has their own sovereign authority with which to govern their affairs.^[2] The Council works to advocate on behalf of all the Pueblos in matters of Tribal sovereignty.^[3]^[4] The All Pueblo Council described itself as a federation but has also been called a confederation by a number of scholars.^[1]

All of the following Pueblos are around New Mexico except for Hopi Pueblo (Hopitutskwa) located around the Navajo Nation and Arizona, and Ysleta del Sur Pueblo (Tigua) is located around El Paso, Texas. However neither of these Pueblos were part of the organization by the 1920s, when the Council often called itself the . Ysleta del Sur joined the All Pueblo Indian Council in 2009, before the Council became the All Pueblo Council of Governors in 2013. This successor to the All Pueblo Council does not include Hopi Pueblo.^[3]^[1]

All Pueblo Council
Pueblo
English name	Native name
Acoma Pueblo	Ha-ku
Cochiti Pueblo	Ku-htihth
Hopi Pueblo	Hopitutskwa
Isleta Pueblo	Shiewhibak
Jemez Pueblo	Walatowa
Laguna Pueblo	Kawaika
Nambé Pueblo	Nambé
Ohkay Owingeh	Ohkay Owingeh
Picuris Pueblo	Welai
Pojoaque Pueblo	P’o-suwae-geh
San Felipe Pueblo	Katishtya
San Ildefonso Pueblo	Powhogeh
Sandia Pueblo	Tuf Shur Tia
Santa Ana Pueblo	Tamaya
Santa Clara Pueblo	Khapo
Santo Domingo Pueblo	Kewa
Taos Pueblo	Teotho
Tesuque Pueblo	Tehsugeh
Ysleta del Sur Pueblo	Tigua
Zia Pueblo	Ts'iiy'a
Zuni Pueblo	Halona Idiwan’a

History

Establishment of the All Pueblo Council

Pueblo peoples practiced a republican form of government since time immemorial within the different pueblos.^[5] The All Pueblo Council may have existed as early as the 1300s, according to Joe Sando. The All Pueblo Council is first confirmed to have definitely existed by 1598.^[1]

In the 1540s the estimated Pueblo population was around 30,000 spread across at least 110 pueblos, according to authors and sources such as Antonio de Espejo, Alonso de Benavides, Relacion del Suceso and Agustín de Vetancurt.^[6]^[7] For more than 100 years beginning in 1540, the Pueblo people of present-day New Mexico were subjected to successive waves of soldiers, missionaries, and settlers. These encounters, referred to as entradas (incursions), were characterized by violent confrontations between Spanish colonists and Pueblo peoples. The Tiguex War, fought in the winter of 1540–41 by the expedition of Francisco Vázquez de Coronado against the twelve or thirteen pueblos of Tiwa Native Americans, was particularly destructive to Pueblo and Spanish relations.

In 1598, Juan de Oñate led 129 soldiers and 10 Franciscan priests, plus a large number of women, children, servants, slaves, and livestock, into the Rio Grande valley of New Mexico. There were at the time approximately 40,000 Pueblo Native Americans inhabiting the region.^[8] In 1598 the All Pueblo Council gave the Spanish Empire permission to settle the Rio Grande Valley and swore a loyalty oath to the Spanish crown.^[1]^[9]

First Spanish colonial period

In 1599, Oñate put down a revolt at Acoma Pueblo by killing and enslaving hundreds of the Native Americans and sentencing all men 25 or older to have a foot cut off. A troop of seventy soldiers was dispatched to the cliff-top Pueblo of Acoma in 1599 to punish the Pueblo for the killing of twelve Spanish soldiers by a band of warriors. After two days of warfare, almost 600 Acoma men, women, and children were seized and enslaved, with many being legally convicted and disfigured as punishment for crimes against the Spanish Crown. The survivors fled as the Pueblo was destroyed by fire. The harshness with which the Acomas were punished left an unforgettable sense of Spanish cruelty. The Ácoma Massacre would instill fear of and anger at the Spanish in the region for years to come. Franciscan missionaries were assigned to several of the Pueblo towns to Christianize the natives.^[8]^[10]

Spanish colonial policies in the 1500s regarding the humane treatment of native citizens were often ignored on the northern frontier. With the establishment of the first permanent colonial settlement in 1598, the Pueblos were forced to provide tribute to the colonists in the form of labor, ground corn, and textiles. Encomiendas were soon established by colonists along the Rio Grande, restricting Pueblo access to fertile farmlands and water supplies and placing a heavy burden upon Pueblo labor.^[11] Especially egregious to the Pueblo was the assault on their traditional religion. Franciscan priests established theocracies in many of the Pueblo villages. In 1608, when it looked as though Spain might abandon the province, the Franciscans baptized seven thousand Pueblos to try to convince the Crown otherwise.^[12] Although the Franciscans initially tolerated manifestations of the old religion as long as the Puebloans attended mass and maintained a public veneer of Catholicism, Fray Alonso de Posada (in New Mexico 1656–1665) outlawed Kachina dances by the Pueblo people and ordered the missionaries to seize and burn their masks, prayer sticks, and effigies.^[13] The Franciscan missionaries also forbade the use of entheogenic substances in the traditional religious ceremonies of the Pueblo. Some Spanish officials, such as Nicolás de Aguilar, who attempted to curb the power of the Franciscans were charged with heresy and tried before the Inquisition.^[14] The Pueblos by and large resented the missionaries, with the Hopis in particular referring to Spanish priests as tūtáachi, "dictator and demanding person."^[15]

The first recorded meeting of Pueblo leaders occurred in 1620 when the "Spanish decreed that all Pueblo communities be ruled by Governors. The native Governors were given silver-headed canes to represent their authority under Spanish rule. Additionally, land grants were given to the Pueblo communities which provided each with ownership of its land."^[9]

In the 1670s drought swept the region, causing a famine among the Pueblo and increased raids by the Apache, which Spanish and Pueblo soldiers were unable to prevent. Fray Alonso de Benavides wrote multiple letters to the King, describing the conditions, noting "the Spanish inhabitants and Indians alike eat hides and straps of carts".^[16] The unrest among the Pueblos came to a head in 1675. Governor Juan Francisco Treviño ordered the arrest of forty-seven Pueblo medicine men and accused them of practicing "sorcery".^[17] Four medicine men were sentenced to death by hanging; three of those sentences were carried out, while the fourth prisoner committed suicide. The remaining men were publicly whipped and sentenced to prison. When this news reached the Pueblo leaders, they moved in force to Santa Fe, where the prisoners were held. Because a large number of Spanish soldiers were away fighting the Apache, Governor Treviño was forced to accede to the Pueblo demand for the release of the prisoners. Among those released was a San Juan ("Ohkay Owingeh" in the Tewa Language) native named "Popé".^[17] Po'pay's imprisonment and release five years before the Revolt led to his role in planning and orchestrating the events of 1680. Po'pay was considered a credible and respected provocateur by two dozen communities speaking six different languages and spread over a nearly 400-mile radius from Taos to the Hopi villages.^[18]^{[verification needed]}

Pueblo Revolt

The Pueblo Revolt was the first successful Indigenous revolution against European colonialism, and involved the unprecedented cooperation among the Pueblos.^[9] The Pueblo Revolt was led by Po'pay of Ohkay Owingeh, who first appears in written history in 1675 as one of 47 religious leaders of the northern Pueblo arrested by Juan Francisco Trevino's government for "witchcraft." Three were executed and one committed suicide. The others were whipped, imprisoned in Santa Fe, and sentenced to be sold into slavery. Seventy Pueblo warriors showed up at the governor's office and demanded, politely but persistently, that Po'pay and the others be released. The governor complied, probably in part because the colony was being seriously targeted by Apaches and Navajo warring parties and he could not afford to risk a Pueblo revolt.^[19] Po'pay was described as a "fierce and dynamic individual…who inspired respect bordering on fear in those who dealt with him.^[20]

After his release, Po'pay retired to the remote Taos Pueblo and began planning a rebellion.^[21] Po'pay's message was simple: destroy the Spanish and their influence and go back to the old ways of life that had given the Pueblos relative peace, prosperity, and independence. The Pueblo revolt displayed "all the classic characteristics of a revitalization movement...the emergence of a charismatic leader, the development of a core group of followers who spread the prophet's message to the wider public; and, ultimately the successful transformation of Pueblo cultures and communities."^[22]^[23]

Popé took up residence in Taos Pueblo, about 70 miles north of the capital of Santa Fe, and spent the next five years seeking support for a revolt among the 46 Pueblo towns. He gained the support of the Northern Tiwa, Tewa, Towa, Tano, and Keres-speaking Pueblos of the Rio Grande Valley. Because of the language barrier separating the six tribes, the revolt utilized Spanish as the unofficial lingua franca. The Pecos Pueblo, 50 miles east of the Rio Grande pledged its participation in the revolt as did the Zuni and Hopi, 120 and 200 miles respectively west of the Rio Grande. The Pueblos not joining the revolt were the four southern Tiwa (Tiguex) towns near Santa Fe and the Piro Pueblos south of the principal Pueblo population centers near the present day city of Socorro. The southern Tiwa and the Piro were more thoroughly integrated into Spanish culture than the other groups.^[24] The Spanish population of about 2,400, of which a plurality were mixed-blood mestizos, along with native servants and retainers, was scattered thinly throughout the region. Santa Fe was the only place that approximated being a town. The Spanish could only muster 170 men with arms.^[25] The Pueblos joining the revolt probably had 2,000 or more adult men capable of using native weapons such as the bow and arrow.^[26] It is possible that some Apache and Navajo participated in the revolt.

The Pueblo Revolt was typical of millenarian movements in colonial societies. Popé promised that, once the Spanish were killed or expelled, the ancient Pueblo gods would reward them with health and prosperity.^[24] Popé's plan was that the inhabitants of each Pueblo would rise up and kill the Spanish in their area and then all would advance on Santa Fe to kill or expel all the remaining Spanish. The date set for the uprising was August 11, 1680. Popé dispatched runners to all the Pueblos carrying knotted cords. Pedro Omtua and Nicolas Catua were the two young men. On August 8, 1680, two young men from Tesuque set out for Tanogeh (Tano villages) early in the morning. Their first contact occurred in Pecos. Unfortunately, Fray Fernandao De Velasco was informed right away by Christian Indians that two Tewa young men had visited the war chief's house. After leaving Pecos, the two Tesuque runners continued on to Galisteo, San Cristobal, and San Marcos.^[27]

The last few years had been relatively quiet and free from internal dissent, and the Spanish in the capital city of Santa Fe were astonished as a report came to the governor early in the morning of August 10 that a Spanish priest had been killed at a Pueblo only nine miles from Santa Fe.^[28] By August 15, 1,000 Spaniards had taken refuge in the Governor's palace in Santa Fe, and they were besieged by a Pueblo army led by Popé they estimated (or overestimated) to number 2,500. Other Spanish survivors had taken refuge in the friendly Pueblo of Isleta, from where they fled southward.

On August 21 the Spanish broke out of the Palace and began a long trek south, leaving New Mexico behind and not stopping until they reached El Paso. The Pueblos did not molest the departing colonists. The survivors numbered nearly 2,000 persons. The revolt cost 400 Spanish lives, including 21 of the 33 priests in New Mexico.^[29]

Pueblo Confederation (1680-1692)

The retreat of the Spaniards left New Mexico in the power of the Pueblo peoples' republic.^[30] Popé was a mysterious figure in the history of the southwest as there are many tales among the Pueblo peoples of what happened to him after the revolt.^{[verification needed]}

Apparently, Popé and his two lieutenants, Alonso Catiti from Santo Domingo and Luis Tupatu from Picuris, traveled from town to town ordering a return "to the state of their antiquity." All crosses, churches, and Christian images were to be destroyed. The people were ordered to cleanse themselves in ritual baths, to use their traditional names, and to destroy all vestiges of the Roman Catholic religion and Spanish culture, including Spanish livestock and fruit trees. Popé, it was said, forbade the planting of wheat and barley and commanded those natives who had been married according to the rites of the Catholic Church to dismiss their wives and to take others after the old native tradition.^[31]

Each pueblo was self-governing, and some, or all, apparently resisted Popé's demands for a return to a pre-Spanish existence. The paradise Popé had promised when the Spanish were expelled did not materialize. A drought continued, destroying Pueblo crops, and the raids by Apache and Navajo increased. Initially, however, the Pueblo peoples were united in their objective of preventing a return of the Spanish.^[32]

Po'pay had succeeded in expelling the Spanish from New Mexico and according to later accounts, possibly prejudiced, set himself up as the sole ruler of all the Pueblos. He attempted to destroy every trace of the Spanish presence in New Mexico. "The God of the Christians is dead," he proclaimed. "He was made of rotten wood."^[33]

A Spanish force of 300 men attempted to regain a foothold in New Mexico in 1681, but was repelled by Po'pay's army. Another Spanish effort in 1687 also failed. But the expulsion of the Spanish had not brought peace and prosperity to the Pueblos. A return to the traditional religion did not bring rain to ease a drought that destroyed crops. The Apaches and Navajo stepped up their raids on the Pueblos and the Indians recalled that the Spaniards had provided some protection from the raiders. Traditional rivalries divided the Pueblo villages. Po'pay's efforts to rule over all the Pueblos were resented and he was considered a tyrant by many Pueblos. Moreover, among the Pueblos were sincere Christians with ties of family and friendship with the Spanish. Opposition to Spanish rule had given the Pueblos the incentive to unite, but not the means to remain united once their common enemy was vanquished.

Po'pay was replaced by Luis Tupatu of Picuris Pueblo before 1683. That year Tupatu sent an emissary Juan Punsilli of Picuris to negotiate peace and invite the Spanish to return to New Mexico if they did so peacefully, without killing people or burning homes.^[34] Po'pay died, probably in 1688, with the united Pueblo state he envisioned divided and weak. In 1692, Governor Diego de Vargas, with an army of 150 Spanish soldiers and pro-Spanish Pueblo warriors, attempted reconquest. Vargas promised pardon rather than punishment and most of the Pueblos gradually acceded to Spanish rule although violent opposition to Spanish rule continued for several years during the Second Pueblo revolt. Only the distant Hopi, living in what is today Arizona, retained their independence although many Pueblos also took up residence among the Navajo and Apaches.^[35]

The Pueblo confederation was organized according to the principles of federal republicanism, creating a federation of self-governing Pueblos, known as Owingeh in Tewa. Po'pay collected tribute in Santa Fe to fund the federal government.^[36] The idea of a federal republic was controversial at the time, as it went against earlier norms of city-state independence. This debate was a forerunner of a similar one around a century later between the Federalist and Anti-Federalists in the 1790s United States.^[36]

Not all of the Pueblos were part of the confederation; southern Pueblos aligned with the Spanish fled with them to El Paso del Norte. During the Pueblo Revolt, the Spanish-aligned Piro Pueblo of Senecú was abandoned. Rather than return to New Mexico, the people of this pueblo settled in the El Paso district in a village called Senecú del Sur.^[37] Rumors have it that some Piro stayed in New Mexico, however Diego de Vargas did not find anyone inhabiting the pueblo when he passed by it in 1691 and 1692. The pueblo was not resettled after the Spanish re-conquest. The pueblo's ruins were visible to travelers throughout the 18th century, but they have not been seen since then.^[37]

Spanish refugees stopped in the Piro Socorro Pueblo of Socorro before continuing south, out of the province, to safety. A number of Piro Pueblo people followed them. The withdrawal of Spanish soldiers left Socorro and its Piro inhabitants vulnerable to attack by soldiers from Apache bands and other tribes. By 1692 the settlement was in ruins.^[38]

Some Catholic Tiwa-speaking Pueblo people from the Rio Grande Valley also fled with the Spanish. In 1982 these Tiwa-speakers established the new Pueblo of Tigua (Ysleta del Sur Pueblo) to the north, around today's El Paso. The Pueblo confederation never governed this new Pueblo of Tigua, which was allied to the Spanish.^[36]

Second Spanish colonial period

The Spanish return to New Mexico was prompted by their fears of French advances into the Mississippi valley and their desire to create a defensive frontier against the increasingly aggressive nomadic tribes on their northern borders.^[39]^[40] In August 1692, Diego de Vargas marched to Santa Fe unopposed along with a converted Zia war captain, Bartolomé de Ojeda. De Vargas, with only sixty soldiers, one hundred Indian auxiliaries or native soldiers, seven cannons (which he used as leverage against the Pueblo inside Santa Fe), and one Franciscan priest, arrived at Santa Fe on September 13. He promised the 1,000 Pueblo people assembled there clemency and protection if they would swear allegiance to the King of Spain and return to the Christian faith. After a while the Pueblo rejected the Spaniards. After much persuading, the Spanish finally made the Pueblo agree to peace. On September 14, 1692,^[41] de Vargas proclaimed a formal act of repossession. It was the thirteenth town he had reconquered for God and King in this manner, he wrote jubilantly to the Conde de Galve, viceroy of New Spain.^[41] During the next month de Vargas visited other Pueblos and accepted their acquiescence to Spanish rule.

Though the 1692 agreement to peace was bloodless, in the years that followed de Vargas maintained increasingly severe control over the increasingly defiant Pueblo. De Vargas returned to Mexico and gathered together about 800 people, including 100 soldiers, and returned to Santa Fe on December 16, 1693.^[42] This time, however, 70 Pueblo warriors and 400 family members within the town opposed his entry. De Vargas and his forces staged a quick and bloody recapture that concluded with the surrender and execution of the 70 Pueblo warriors on December 30, and their surviving families (about 400 women and children) were sentenced to ten years' servitude and distributed to the Spanish colonists as slaves.^[43]^[44]

In 1696 the residents of fourteen pueblos attempted a second organized revolt, launched with the murders of five missionaries and thirty-four settlers and using weapons the Spanish themselves had traded to the natives over the years; de Vargas's retribution was unmerciful, thorough and prolonged.^[43]^[45] By the end of the century the last resisting Pueblo town had surrendered and the Spanish reconquest was essentially complete. Many of the Pueblos, however, fled New Mexico to join the Apache or Navajo or to attempt to re-settle on the Great Plains.^[39] After the Pueblos were defeated, the Picuris—under the leadership of Luis Tupatu—joined their longtime allies, the Jicarilla Apaches, in El Cuartolejo, which is now in western Kansas and lies east of Pueblo, Colorado.^[46]

While the independence of many pueblos from the Spaniards was short-lived, the Pueblo Revolt gained the Pueblo people a measure of freedom under suzerainty from future Spanish efforts to eradicate their culture and religion following the reconquest. Moreover, the Spanish issued substantial land grants to each Pueblo and appointed a public defender to protect the rights of the Native Americans and argue their legal cases in the Spanish courts. The Franciscan priests returning to New Mexico did not again attempt to impose a theocracy on the Pueblo who continued to practice their traditional religion.^[40]

The Pueblo confederation was the first postcolonial republic established against European colonial rule. Scholar Joe Sando describes it as the First American Revolution.^[8]

Both the Spanish and the Pueblos were decimated by the revolt and its aftermath. However, what can be said with certainty is that the relations between Spanish and the Pueblos were far different after the revolt than before. The dreaded encomienda system (forced labor) was prohibited in New Mexico. Franciscan priests did not interfere with Pueblo religious ceremonies provided that the Pueblos observed the outward forms of Catholicism. Pueblo warriors and Spanish soldiers became allies in the fight against their common enemies: the Apaches, Navajo, Utes, and a new and even greater threat to the survival of New Mexico, the Comanche.^[47] Thus, New Mexico became a blend of Spanish and Pueblo culture.

Two Comanche-Spanish peace treaties in 1785 and 1786 resulted in a 35-year peace between the Comanche in Comancheria and the Spanish colony of Santa Fe de Nuevo México. The treaties were conducted by New Mexican Governor Juan Bautista de Anza and Comanche Ecueracapa, leader of the Cuchanec band.^[9]

First Mexican Republic

After the Mexican War of Independence, the First Mexican Republic's 1824 Constitution of Mexico granted the Pueblo peoples and Hispanos of New Mexico Mexican citizenship, theoretically with de jure equal rights. This was "based on the fundamental pillar of Indian citizenship. Adult Indian males could vote in elections and hold office, and Indian towns were to become participating units of larger municipalities that included Hispano communities as well. But Indian citizenship also implied the division of Indian communal lands and their subjection to taxation.”^[48] Joe Sando wrote how “Mexican influence in Indian life consisted largely of confusing Indian land title, ignoring the illegal taking of Pueblo land, and responding passively when Indian boundaries were violated.”^[49] The 1824 Constitution of Mexico became a way for non-Pueblo Mexican citizens "to take Pueblo land."^[50]

Centralist Republic of Mexico

The Pueblo peoples and their Hispano allies would later govern the Cantón de Nuevo México during the Rio Arriba Rebellion of 1837 against the Centralist Republic of Mexico's territory of Santa Fe de Nuevo México. New Mexicans opposed to the Siete Leyes assassinated Governor Albino Pérez and took over the state, electing José María González as the governor of the Cantón. The Cantón was de facto independent, but the rebels were divided over whether to declare de jure independence from Mexico. The rebellion was successful until Governor González floated a plan to invite foreigners to join the rebellion and annex New Mexico to the United States in return for their support. This proposal was unpopular with his fellow rebels and weakened his support internally.

Pablo Montoya overthrew González in early September and became the new governor, moving the capital to Taos Pueblo. After former governor Manuel Armijo recaptured Santa Fe, Montoya betrayed González and his associates to the Centralists in return for amnesty for his faction. González and Montoya were both Taos Pueblo people and led the most ethnically inclusive government in the history of New Mexico, which was governed as a federation of Pueblos and towns. They became the only Pueblo rulers in the history of New Mexico since Po'pay of the Pueblo republic.

Governor Pérez had arrived from central Mexico in 1835 during the time of the Centralist Republic, which sought to turn all subdivisions of New Mexico into departments governed from Mexico City rather than the local people in the aftermath of a worldwide economci crash and depression. The Pérez administration was opposed by the people and especially by the inhabitants of the northern part of the territory, who resented the "outsider" forced upon them by President Santa Anna. Their dissatisfaction was exacerbated when, following Santa Anna's defeat in Texas, the Mexican government drafted a constitution that tightened administration and tax-collection and imposed property qualifications on political participation. New Mexicans assumed that Pérez would attempt to levy the taxes and completely restructure the regional political system in accordance with the new constitution.^[5]

Other grievances included Pérez's reinstatement of Francisco Sarracino, a former governor who had been suspended for fraud from his position as subcomisario (a customs official); Pérez's appointment of a civil servant named Ramón Abreu as prefect when others thought they were better candidates; Pérez's failure to rein in customs officials who defrauded American traders on the Santa Fe Trail, some of whom lived in Taos in Northern New Mexico; and the inadequate food and bad conditions endured by men forced to serve in the militia against the Navajo and Apache. Some may also have resented his adultery (he openly had a relationship with his housekeeper, his wife being in Mexico City) and his wealth and luxurious possessions, as most New Mexicans were poor. ^[51]

Opposition to Pérez increased, with his opponents circulating rumors of enormous taxes. The Departmental Assembly's list of three nominees for the next gubernatorial term did not include him. Opposition culminated in the summer of 1837, with the spark that set off the rebellion having to do with the alcalde (mayor) of Santa Cruz de la Cañada, Juan José Esquibel. Esquibel had accepted a bribe from a relative to release him from jail when charged with a "grave crime" and had defied Pérez's order to pay a fine and return his relative to jail. Then Esquibel supported two merchants against a man who had documentation that they owed him money. Pérez's appointee as prefect, Ramón Abreu, suspended Esquibel and on learning of the bribe, had him put in jail in irons. At the end of July a mob freed Esquibel, and he organized a rebellion.^[52]

On August 1, rebels from the northern New Mexican communities gathered at Santa Cruz de la Cañada (near Chimayó) with Native Americans from the surrounding pueblos. They called themselves the Cantón (neighborhood or district). On August 3, their twelve leaders, including Esquibel, issued the following declaration:

For God and the Nation and the Faith of Jesus Christ! The principal points we defend are the following: 1. To be with God and the Nation and the Faith of Jesus Christ. 2. To defend our country until we shed every drop of our blood in order to obtain the victory we have in view. 3. Not to admit the Department Plan. 4. Not to admit any tax. 5. Not to admit any disorder desired by those who are attempting to procure it. God and the Nation! Encampment Santa Cruz de la Cañada, August 3, 1837.

When Pérez heard of the rebellion, he attempted to raise a militia of volunteers, but his call did not meet with an encouraging answer. On August 9, Pérez started for Santa Cruz with the troops at his command, meeting the rebels near San Ildefonso. Most of Pérez's men promptly abandoned him and joined the rebels. Pérez retreated to Santa Fe with the few men who remained loyal to him. Unable to find security in the capital, Pérez attempted to flee the city by night, but a group of Santo Domingo Indians intercepted and killed him. The rebels decapitated Pérez and returned his head to Santa Fe for public display. Secretary of the Department Jesús María Alarid, former interim governor and substitute district judge (Juez de Distrito Suplente) of District Court of the New Mexico Territory (Juzgado de Distrito del Territorio de Nuevo México)^[53] Santiago Abreú (one of Ramón's brothers), and approximately 20 officials from the Pérez government were also killed, some by mutilation.

That same day on 10 August, the rebels entered the capital and placed José Gonzales, a Genizaro (of Taos Pueblo and Pawnee ancestry) from Chimayo, in possession of the palace and as governor of the territory. Initially the rebel government was widely popular in the Department, but it soon made enemies by committing atrocities in gaining power and confiscating the massacre victims' property (at the expense of not only their heirs but also their creditors). The ruling junta popular was contentious and indecisive, its minutes full of crossed-out sections. Meanwhile, in Santa Cruz, the Cantón did not dissolve, instead continuing to imprison people and threaten them with death, outside the control of Gonzales's government (Lecompte 1985, pp. 40–46). In Taos, unrest broke out against the Catholic Church and its leader there, Padre Martínez, in early September.^[5]^[54]

In the town of Tomé in southern New Mexico, the priest, Francisco Antonio de Madariaga, began agitating for a counterrevolution. On September 8, he and other "citizens who love their country" adopted the "Plan of Tomé", which named former governor Manuel Armijo to command their force. The 600-man army detachment of Santa Fe, which Gonzales had disbanded, reorganized and marched south to join Armijo. Armijo wrote to the Mexican authorities, explaining the situation, and then marched to Santa Fe. He met little resistance; indeed Gonzales, who had gone to Taos to visit his family, was arrested in Santa Fe on September 11, before Armijo's arrival on the 14th. While in Santa Fe, Armijo wrote to Mexico again, stating what he had done and asking for troops to complete his victory and re-establish peace.^[54]

A former mayor of Taos, Pablo Montoya, led a Cantón force of reportedly 3000 men on Santa Fe. Though Armijo had only about 1,000 soldiers, they were much better trained and equipped than the rebels, and Armijo negotiated a peace treaty that was signed September 21. The rebels surrendered Juan José Esquibel and three other men from Santa Cruz to be indicted, but Gonzales was released and the other rebels received amnesty.^[54] Montoya would later be executed for his part in the Taos Rebellion.^[5]

In October, the rebellion flared up yet again in Las Truchas, east of Santa Cruz. Armijo ordered the execution of Esquibel and the three other prisoners, but to Armijo's anger, his subordinates postponed the execution. Armijo spent the next few months raising funds to feed and pay his soldiers, who were on the point of mutiny. In January 1838, federal troops from Zacatecas and Chihuahua arrived in response to Armijo's request, bringing his official appointment to the governorship.^[54]

On January 23, Armijo sent an ultimatum to the rebels in Truchas. The following day, when they did not surrender, he had his four prisoners executed. On the 27th he marched toward Santa Cruz, where Gonzales and Antonio Vigil of Truchas were gathering their forces to return to Santa Fe. The two armies met between Santa Cruz and Pojoaque, and Armijo's forces (commanded by Lt. Col. Cayetano Justiniani of the Veracruz dragoons) prevailed in the battle.^[54]^[55] Gonzales fled to Santa Cruz where, by Armijo's order, he was executed in the public square.

Armijo was to remain Governor of New Mexico through the Texan Santa Fe Expedition until 1844. He became Governor again in 1845 until he withdrew without a fight while New Mexico was taken over by the United States Army under the command of General Stephen W. Kearny in 1846.

The government was a federal republic composed of individual Pueblos and Hispano towns, and "for the first and only time in the history of New Mexico, its duly elected governor was an Indian."^[56]

The rebels demonstrated by their actions that they comprised an inclusive entity. They sent letters to the Pueblos inviting their leaders to participate in the Junta Popular. A letter dated 21 August 1837 to Josecito Archibeque, the Indian governor of Cochiti Pueblo, informed him of threats to the rebellion and invited him to come to Santa Fe. The letter, signed on behalf of Governor González by José Esquibel and Juan Vigil, reads, “Let us as compatriots and good Mexicans purify our native land so that we can live in peace and quiet.” González wrote to Tesuque Pueblo on 31 August 1837, stating, “Two Indians from the Pueblo of Tesuque must present themselves … so that they can accompany [leaders] from other Pueblos and march to … El Paso … and leave … for the Capital of the Republic with the objective of representing our rights.” As the rebellion took root, two principles guided its actions: governmental power resided in leaders at the village level, and Pueblo Indians were to be included in all governing councils. It was the most inclusive government New Mexico has ever seen—past or present.^[57]

The revolt underlined how increased isolation from Mexico City combined with "Mexico's declarations of political equality for all ethnic groups" increased Pueblo and Hispano cooperation in Mexican New Mexico—"the two groups ousted the governor and briefly established an Independent state—the Cantón—with an Indian serving as its governor."^[58]^[54]

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

The United States invaded Mexico during the Mexican-American War, and annexed New Mexico. The Taos Revolt was crushed with deadly force by the United States, and leader of the revolt Pablo Montoya was executed for treason despite his legal status as a Mexican citizen as he predeceased the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. The Treaty turned the Pueblos and Hispanos into de jure citizens of the United States. However de facto citizenship and land rights were unevenly applied to the Pueblos by differing American military and civil administrations until 1876, despite the treaty guarantees under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution of the United States.^[5] The relationship between the federal government and the United States and the Pueblos is marked by the gift of canes to Pueblo governors by United States president Abraham Lincoln in 1863.^[3] Canes are a symbol of power and sovereingty according to Pueblo traditions.^[5]

Pablo Abeita said the All Pueblo Council was active in his childhood in the 1870s and he became a council member in 1889. During this time, the Council met monthly. The Council mediated a deadly land dispute between San Felipe and Santo Domingo Pueblos in 1894. Following this, the All Pueblo Council became more active and close-knit in an effort to forestall another violent conflict between Pueblos.^[1]

After the Mexican-American War, there was confusion over the legal status of Pueblo peoples as subject to Federal Indian Policy. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo guaranteed their land rights as former Mexican citizens who became American citizens, but in practice these citizenship, land, and voting rights were violated along with those of the Hispanos of New Mexico. The 1876 case United States v. Joseph declared that Pueblos were not legally Indians and could therefore sell their property to non-Indians.^[1] This ruling was overturned by United States v. Sandoval, 231 U.S. 28 (1913), the United States Supreme Court held the Pueblos to be dependent Indian communities, which is distinct from most Native nations' status as domestic dependent nations.^[59] This was the first time the Supreme Court recognized Pueblo peoples as Native Americans legally, although they were labelled dependent Indian communities rather than domestic dependent nations due to their history of city-state behavior.^[60]^[1]

Council of All of the New Mexico Pueblos

File:All Pueblo Council 1922.jpg

Members of the All Pueblo Council delegation that defeated the Bursum bill in 1922.

In the 1920s and 1930s, the All Pueblo Council continued to use its formal name but also often called itself the Council of All of the New Mexico Pueblos. Although Pueblo lands were guaranteed by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, in practice their land rights were violated by both the Mexican and United States governments.^[1] To sort out aboriginal title in New Mexico following Sandoval, Congress attempted to pass the Bursum bill to give Pueblo lands to non-Pueblo settlers. The defeat of the Bursum bill in 1922 was a landmark moment for Pueblo land rights and was sometimes errenously referred to as the foundation of the All Pueblo Council by some historians, even though the organization is far older.^[1]^[3]

Following the defeat of the Bursum bill, Congress passed the Pueblo Lands Act on June 7, 1924.^[61] The Senate and House reports described the purpose of the act as "to provide for the final adjudication and settlement of a very complicated and difficult series of conflicting titles affecting lands claimed by the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico".^[62]

The act created a Public Lands Board composed of: the Attorney General, Interior Secretary, and a third member to be appointed by the president.^[63] The act further provided that the Pueblo's aboriginal title would be extinguished over lands deemed adversely possessed by non-Indians from 1889 to 1924 (with payment of taxes) or 1902 to 1924 (with color of title).^[64] In addition to statute of limitations/adverse possession, the act preserved any "equitable defenses which [the claimants] may have or have had under the laws of the Territory and State of New Mexico".^[64] Decisions of the Lands Board could be enforced by quiet title suits in the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico.^[65]

Further, the act provided for compensation to the Pueblos if they "could have been at any time recovered for said Indians by the United States by seasonable prosecution".^[66] Non-Indians also received full compensation if they acquired title before 1912 and compensation for improvements if after 1912.^[67]

Prospectively, for post-1924 conveyances, § 17 of the act provided:

No right, title, or interest in or to the lands of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico to which their title has not been extinguished as hereinbefore determined shall hereafter be acquired or initiated by virtue of the laws of the State of New Mexico, or in any other manner except as may hereafter be provided by Congress, and no sale, grant, lease of any character, or other conveyance of lands, or any title or claim thereto, made by any pueblo as a community, or any Pueblo Indian living in a community of Pueblo Indians, in the State of New Mexico, shall be of any validity in law or in equity unless the same be first approved by the Secretary of the Interior.^[68]

On at least two occasions, Congress passed legislation approving post-1924 conveyances.^[69] In several early cases, the Pueblo Lands Act was applied to dismiss Pueblo land claims, brought as ejectment or trespass, in federal court.^[70] The Pueblo had more mixed success litigating quiet title claims under the act, especially where the federal government sued in its trust capacity.^[71] The Pueblo had no success in challenging the compensation calculations performed by the Board.^[72]

In United States v. Candelaria (1926), the Supreme Court held that § 4 of the Lands Act provided the only affirmative defense that could be raised by land owners in a Nonintercourse Act/quiet title suit initiated by the federal government on behalf of the Pueblos, concerning pre-1924 conveyances.^[73] The same year, the United States Department of the Interior created the U.S. Pueblo Indian Council as a rival organization to the All Pueblo Council "to corral the members of the APC in a new forum controlled by the federal government."^[1]

Advocacy after the Pueblo Lands Act

The All Pueblo Council was an important lobbying group during the twentieth century American period:

In the twentieth century, the nineteen Pueblos of New Mexico relied on their confederate council—the All Indian Pueblo Council (AIPC)—to negotiate the demands of the American political system. By organizing around a single, historic body, the Pueblos were able to shield much of their tradition, secure a degree of political and educational autonomy, protect their water rights, and increase their economic development. The leaders of the AIPC were on the front line in negotiating with federal and state authorities, and became adept at negotiating political networks to secure Pueblo interests. Despite the historic conflicts within the Pueblos, the actions of the AIPC during the twentieth century demonstrate that the Pueblos were keen to unite around a political confederation, representing all Pueblos, when their joint interests were threatened. Further, the AIPC became the single organization Pueblo people and tribal councils relied on to protect, bolster, and even increase the sovereignty of the Pueblos, amidst a larger Native sovereignty movement in the United States.^[1]

All Indian Pueblo Council

In 1965, the All Pueblo Council renamed itself to the All Indian Pueblo Council.^[1] The All Indian Pueblo Council was formally incorporated in 1970, allowing greater access to federal funding program.^[3]

The U.S. federal government's return of Blue Lake in 1970 marked the first success of the contemporary Land Back movement and the Native Self-Determination Era. [The Pueblo's 48,000 acres (19,000 ha) of mountain land was taken by President Theodore Roosevelt and designated as the Carson National Forest early in the 20th century. It was finally returned in 1970 by the United States when the Republican Richard Nixon signed Democratic senator Fred Harris' Public Law 91-550.^[74] An additional 764 acres (309 ha) south of the ridge between Simpson Peak and Old Mike Peak and west of Blue Lake were transferred back to the Pueblo in 1996.^[75]

Blue Lake, which the people of the Pueblo consider sacred, was included in this return of Taos land. The Pueblo notably involved non-native people in lobbying the federal government for the return of Blue Lake, as they argued that their unrestricted access to the lake and the surrounding region was necessary to ensure their religious freedom.^[76] The Pueblo's web site names the reacquisition of the sacred Blue Lake as the most important event in its history due to the spiritual belief that the Taos people originated from the lake.^[77] It is believed that their ancestors live there,^[78] and the Pueblos themselves only ascend the mountain for ceremonial purposes.^[79] Blue Lake serves as a vital economic foundation for this farming community, providing the main water supply that supports their agricultural activities, including corn cultivation, fruit growing, bean production, and livestock ranching with cattle and sheep.^[80]

In 1985, the Supreme Court held that, under the Pueblo Lands Act, the Interior Secretary had the power to approve conveyances of interests in Pueblo lands. Thus, the Court reversed the Tenth Circuit, which had affirmed partial summary judgement to the Pueblos in seeking trespass damages against a telephone company whose agreement with the Pueblos had not been approved by Congress.^[81]