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POLITICS OF MEXICO Spain ruled Mexico for three centuries, administering a vast economic, political, and religious empire in the interests of the imperial country, its kings, and its representatives in North America. Colonial policy was designed to extract wealth from New Spain (Mexico) and to limit possibilities for Spaniards in the New World to benefit from agriculture, commerce, or industry without at the same time benefiting Spain. It was also designed to ensure commitment to the Roman Catholic religion. In 1810, however, a parish priest in central Mexico named Miguel Hidalgo issued a rallying cry to a group assemble in a parish church in the town of Dolores. He called for an end to Spanish misrule. At the head of a motley band of rebels, he began the first of a series of wars of independence that pitted rebels against the Spanish crown for eleven years. Despite the fact that independence from Spain was recognized in 1821, Mexico struggled to create a stable and legitimate government for decades thereafter (Grindle 382-383). Mexico’s political model theoretically has much in common with that of the United States. As with the U.S. government, Mexico’s government is