Mexican Independence (2)

By 1815, the revolution for Mexico’s independence had already made many victims amongst the population, including two important revolutionaries, i.e. Hidalgo and Morelos. However, the struggle was long from being over.

The group once led by Morelos had been reduced considerably and the spirit of independence was only kept alive in the south by a man called Vicente Guerrero and who, due to the circumstances at the time, knew almost nothing but defeat. Also worth mentioning is a Spanish liberal, Francisco Javier Mina, who organized an invasion force departing from New Orleans in the United States and who had some success, but was captured and executed by a firing squad in 1817. In 1821, the rebel movement was supported by an important group of Gachupines and Criollos that had radically changed their attitude towards the movement. This was due the ratification of a the Spanish liberal constitution of 1812 by king Fernando VII. This constitution had consequences for Spain as well as for the colonies. Independence, however, would allow clergy and aristocracy to maintain the colonial system in which of course they were quite comfortable. The royalist general Agustin de Iturbide joined the rebel movement. At first he tried to subjugate Guerrero in the south, but due to the brave resistance of the latter, he decided it would be better for them to work together, which they did. They drew up the famous Plan of Iguala, after the village of their meeting in the current state of Guerrero. The plan contained 23 articles, of which the first three ones, i.e. establishment of the Catholic religion as the only one allowed, the call for the independence of Mexico and the establishment of a constitutional monarchy, have become known as “las Tres Garantías” or the Three Guarantees, “Religion, independence and union”. A new army was mounted by the plan in order to enforce the three guarantees.

The wordings of the plan were simple but it had enormous consequences. It united all layers of the population: conservatives and liberals, rebels and realists, criollos and Spaniards. The Spanish viceroy agreed to it as well as to Mexico’s independence. In 1822, Iturbide ascended the throne and became Emperor Agustin I. At that time, Mexico encompassed Central America, what is currently Mexico and the southwestern United States of America (California, Nevada, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado). Emperor Agustin’s reign didn’t last very long though: as he arrested all his political opponents and dissolved the legislature, he was deposed in 1823 by Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. A new constitution was created and Guadelupe Victoria became Mexico’s first elected president (1824-1829).

Go To Page: 1 2

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic