page_title: First Mexican Republic
section_title: Politics in the era of Guadalupe Victoria
hierarchical_section_title: First Mexican Republic / Politics in the era of Guadalupe Victoria
caption_attribution_description: English: Lucas Alamán, President of Mexico
context_page_description: The First Mexican Republic, known also as the First Federal Republic, was a federated republic, under the Constitution of 1824. It was nation-state officially designated the United Mexican States. The First Mexican Republic lasted from 1824 to 1835, when conservatives under Antonio López de Santa Anna transformed it into a centralized state, the Centralist Republic of Mexico.
  The republic was proclaimed on November 1, 1823 by the Constituent Congress, months after the fall of the Mexican Empire ruled emperor Agustin I, a former royalist military officer-turned-insurgent for independence. The federation was formally and legally established on October 4, 1824 when the Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States came into force.
  It was bordered on the north by the United States and Oregon Country; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Central America, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Although the region of Central America gained independence when Mexico did and was part of the territory of the Mexican Empire, it chose not to join Mexico's federated republic and was allowed to do so.
context_section_description: The lack of political experience of Mexican elites prior to independence and their sharply held opposing views meant that political life was both highly polarized and chaotic.  Two leaders emerged, articulating the views of the two main political views.  Lucas Alamán from the time he was a young man representing New Spain at the Cortes of Cádiz in 1812 until his death in 1853 was the voice of Mexican conservatism. Conservatives did not repudiate colonial-era institutions and sought a way to recreate what they considered the order and stability of that era, and were proponents of centralism, that is, a strong central government. Lorenzo de Zavala was the early voice of Mexican liberals was from Yucatán and emerged as a spokesperson for a Mexico that looked beyond the traditions and constraints of the colonial era, and were proponents of federalism, that is, for empowerment of states over the central government.  The constitution of 1824 had enshrined federalism as its organizing principle, so that conservatives, who had supported Mexican independence but favored a strong central government, found themselves reviled as opponents of progress by the liberals.
  The first election immediately after the promulgation of the 1824 brought two heroes of independence to the fore as candidates.  Guadalupe Victoria was considered a “natural choice” for the presidency. His opponent for the election was another hero of the insurgency, Nicolás Bravo.  Both men ran restrained campaigns, and were, in fact, occupied with peacekeeping in the post-independence period.  Bravo, however, signaled that he was opposed to the states’ rights of federalism and moved to protect Spaniards still in Mexico. Victoria won the indirect election, carrying all the northern states, most in favor of federalism.  He served his entire four-year term, a feat not duplicated for decades. The fact that it lasted did not mean it was effective. It had no clear cut program of its own and was generally passive.
  Mexicans had no experience with electoral democracy, not least those considered their leaders.  In the absence of a tradition of political parties, Mexican elites sorted themselves into rival rites of the Freemasons in the mid 1820s.  Many conservatives, including Alamán, were affiliated with the Scottish Rite Masons, the elite group that was most sympathetic to the Spanish system. Many liberals, including Zavala and Vicente Guerrero, were affiliated with the York Rite Masons.  The Yorkinos functioned as "the first political party for laboring people" and became a vehicle to mobilize the popular classes, organizing them for political purposes. Since Masonic meetings were carried on in secret, politics took on the air of secrecy and conspiracy, but the Yorkinos in particular generated published propaganda, so that their views were widely disseminated throughout the country with the formation of Yorkino lodges. Foreign interests became involved in Mexican politics through the rival Masonic lodges.  Joel Roberts Poinsett, the U.S. government emissary to Mexico, involved himself in Masonic politics on the side of the Yorkinos, viewing them as most favorable to U.S. interests.   The British envoy, Henry G. Ward and other British diplomats quietly worked with the Scottish Rite Mexican politicians.
  Pro-Spanish elements in Mexico sought the reinstatement of Spain's rule in Mexico.  In January 1827, conspirators to bring that about were exposed and jailed, which led to the expulsion of Spaniards in December 1827. Other political agitation in the period saw the formulation of the Plan de Montaño in Tulancingo by Col. Manuel Montaño to dissolve "secret societies," in particular the Yorkinos, expel the U.S. Ambassador Joel Roberts Poinsett, who meddled in Mexican politics promoting the Yorkinos, and renovate the Victoria cabinet to displace Yorkinos who served in it. The legislature in Veracruz supported the plan. President Victoria put Vicente Guerrero in charge of combating the small group of armed elite rebels. Nicolás Bravo had joined the rebels and was captured, along wit
caption: Lucas Alamán, Conservative politician and intellectual
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