page_title: Agustín de Iturbide
section_title: Dissolution of Congress
hierarchical_section_title: Agustín de Iturbide / Downfall / Dissolution of Congress
caption_attribution_description: English: Portrait of Mexican Empress Ana María, consort of Agustín I Español: Retrato de medio cuerpo de la Emperatriz Ana María, esposa de Agustín I de México, atribuido a Josephus Arias Huerta.
context_page_description: Agustín de Iturbide, in full Agustín Cosme Damián de Iturbide y Arámburu, also known as Augustine of Mexico, was a Mexican army general and politician. During the Mexican War of Independence, he built a successful political and military coalition that took control in Mexico City on 27 September 1821, decisively gaining independence for Mexico. After the secession of Mexico was secured, he was proclaimed President of the Regency in 1821. A year later, he was announced as the Constitutional Emperor of Mexico, reigning briefly from 19 May 1822 to 19 March 1823. In May 1823 he went into exile in Europe. He returned to Mexico in July 1824, when he was arrested and executed. He is credited as the original designer of the first Mexican flag.
context_section_description: The republicans were not happy with Iturbide as emperor. While the Catholic clergy supported him, the coronation dashed republican hopes, and while the Plan of Iguala and the Treaty of Córdoba directed that in the event of it being impossible to instate a European ruler on the Mexican throne, a national sovereign could be chosen, some of the royalists that had supported Iturbide had hoped for a European ruler. Many of the landed classes supported Iturbide and those documents because they offered a sense of continuity with the past. Iturbide's election to the throne was against their wishes, and many of them withdrew their support for him and conspired against the new empire.
  The strongest opposition to Iturbide's reign came from the Congress, where a significant number of its members supported republican ideas.  Many of these members also belonged to Masonic lodges, which provided an easy forum for communication. Those ideas found a voice when Manuel Codorniu founded the newspaper El Sol, essentially becoming the in-house publication for the Scottish Rite lodge in its struggle against Iturbide.  Iturbide's government was notoriously harsh in turning down territorial negotiations with agents of the US government, as attested by Poinsett.  The United States was itself a republic as well, meaning Iturbide's relations with the US were on shaky ground. The Congress, believing itself to be sovereign over the Emperor and the people and the recipient of the executive, legislative, and judicial powers, antagonized Iturbide. The Congress refused to draw up a new monarchical Mexican Constitution with a role for the Emperor. Furthermore, people loyal to the Emperor became aware of a conspiracy that involved several members of the Congress who planned to kidnap the Emperor and his family and overthrow the Empire. As a response to this claimed threat to his life and to combat the resistance, Iturbide dismissed the Congress on 31 October 1822 and created a new junta, the National Institutional Junta, to legislate in its place two days later, answering only to himself.
  The National Institutional Junta was directed to create much-needed legislation in economic matters, create a provisional set of laws for the Empire, and then issue a call for a new Constituent Congress.  The formulation of the new Congress was changed in how many representatives each Mexican province was granted.  The new Congress would also be in charge of issuing a new Mexican Constitution. Iturbide persecuted his enemies, arresting and jailing a score of former members of the Congress, but that did not bring peace.
  A number of prominent politicians and military leaders, many of whom had supported Agustín as emperor, turned against him for having "made a mockery of national representation" in the new Congress's composition. Among those were prominent Insurgent leaders Vicente Guerrero, Nicolás Bravo and Guadalupe Victoria.
  Meanwhile, Mexico suffered as an independent country.  Ferdinand's resurgence as a ruler in Spain and his clear intentions to reconquer Mexico meant that no European nation was willing to recognize Mexico's independence, and most broke off economic ties with the new state. Iturbide's economic policies were draining resources as well. To increase his popularity, he abolished a number of colonial-era taxes. However, he still insisted on a large and very well-paid army and lived extravagantly himself. The elite turned against him when he imposed a 40% property tax.
  The situation did not last long. Soon, Iturbide was unable to pay his army, forming discontent in a significant portion of his power base. When criticism of the government grew strong, Iturbide censored the press, an act that backfired against him. Opposition groups began to band together against him. Leaders such as Valentín Gómez Farías and Antonio López de Santa Anna began to conspire against the imperial concept altogether and became convinced that a republican model was needed to combat despotism.
caption: Lady Ana María Huarte, empress consort of México, by Josephus Arias Huerta.
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