Women in Mexico were provided with an education, they would live in convents and be instructed by nuns, with education being significantly limited. Of all the women who sought entry into Mexico City's convent of Corpus Christi, only 10 percent of elite Indian women had a formal education. The Mexican War of Independence was an armed conflict between the Mexican people and Spain. It began with the Grito de Dolores on September 16 of 1810 and officially ended on September 27 of 1821 when army forces marched into Mexico City. Independence affected women in both positive and negatives ways. Prior to the independence,
Mexican War of Independence rule until the Hidalgo revolt of 1810. Elites in Mexico City in the seventeenth century did force the removal of a reformist viceroy, the Marqués de Gelves, following an urban riot in 1624 fomented by those elites. He attempted to eliminate corrupt practices by creole elites as well as rein in the opulent displays of the clergy's power, but ecclesiastical authorities in conjunction with creole elites mobilized urban plebeians to oust the viceroy. The crowd was reported to shout, "Long live the King! Love live Christ! Death to bad government! Death to the heretic Lutheran [Viceroy Gelves]! Arrest the viceroy!"