page_title: Black Eagle Party
section_title: Great Legion of the Black Eagle in Mexico
hierarchical_section_title: Black Eagle Party / Great Legion of the Black Eagle in Mexico
caption_attribution_description: Lorenzo de Zavala, Vice-President of the Republic of Texas
context_page_description: The Black Eagle Party, also known as the Great Legion of the Black Eagle, was a pro-independence Masonic lodge opposing the Spaniards and the intervention of the Church in society. The party was established on May 30, 1823 by Guadalupe Victoria and Simón de Chávez in Puente del Rey. The organization's main goal was facilitating the freedom of the Americans. The organization was considered to be the first political party founded in independent Mexico before later merging into the Mexican Liberal Party.
context_section_description: When the Great Black Eagle Legion was created, Guadalupe Victoria was the commanding general of Jalapa (now known as Xalpa).
  With the failure of Agustin de Iturbide's empire, Mexico faced the challenges of establishing itself since Congress had annulled the Treaty of Córdoba and the Plan of Iguala. A republican constitution was established as the main governing system in 1824, although it had not been decided whether it would be a central or federal republic. There was also intense pressure for each province to remain autonomous.
  In addition to these problems, there were different positions on how or if the church should intervene in society.
  That the struggle for independence had religious aspects for both the insurgents and the colonial army, but once the first Mexican empire was established, the role of the church was rigorously questioned. This uncertainty only grew with the rise of Freemasonry from 1821 to 1823.
  At the end of the struggle for independence, freemasonry based on the Scottish Rite had already been established in Mexico. Led by Felipe Martínez de Aragón and Fausto Elhuyar, It had been joined by men who served Juan O'Donojú, such as Manuel Codorniú; deputies who were back from Cádiz, such as Miguel Ramos Arizpe, Mariano Michelena and Lorenzo de Zavala, and Mexicans of the elite like José María Fagoaga, José Ignacio García Illueca, and Tomas Murphy.
  It is said that Scottish Freemasonry played a very important role in the fall of the empire of Iturbide. The Scots were mostly followers of the constitutional monarchy and Bourbonists.
  The foundation of The Great Legion of the Black Eagle had two objectives: the collaboration in the search for Cuban independence and the desire of Guadalupe Victoria to create a political party that would favor him and neutralize the political impulse and power of The Scottish Rite members.
  Concerning Cuban independence, it is evident that the Great Black Eagle Legion intended to favor it or even achieve the annexation of Cuba by Mexico. The Black Eagle Party claimed to work against despotism and in favor of freedom.
  In 1823, the GLAN indicated that its object was to completely remove the yoke of slavery which the Spanish had been using for 300 years
  In this epoch, the supporters of several political projects that included the republicans, federalists, centralist, those who supported a constitutional monarchy, representatives of several ecclesiastical sectors, and who expounded a moldable position were considered liberals. For the Great Legion of the Black Eagle, however, the true liberals were the republicans - those who they recognized as proponents of freedom, independence from Spain, equality, and patriotism. Guadalupe Victoria proposed to constitute a government headed by an insurgent and that he was also the only insurgent who differed by rejecting the Iguala Plan so as not to abandon his independence plan, for which he proclaimed himself a republican. Therefore, being a member of the Great Black Eagle Legion indicated that you had to support Guadalupe Victoria for the presidency and support her political plan.
  The antipathy of the Great Legion of the Black Eagle for religion was very radical compared to other political sectors, like the Yorkinos.
  According to the documents of the Great Black Eagle Legion, they were not opposed to religion, but as time passed their opinions hardened as they upheld the rule of preventing Clerics and Friars from entering the association as being of the utmost importance because they saw them as being harmful to society for growing their religious fanaticism, making people live in brutality. For the Great Legion of the Black Eagle, it was not only a matter of fighting against religious fanaticism, but they also wanted to banish faith entirely. They considered this to be fundamental for the union and social order since in the Constitution of 1824 the Catholic religion was established as the only one in the whole nation.
  In the statutes of the Great Legion of the Black Eagle, this was declared alien to the other associations of the Masonic type
caption: Lorenzo de Zavala.
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