Juan I of Mexico

**Juan I** (Juan José Miguel Agustín; August 6, 1838 - June 11, 1921), known by his full name **Juan José Miguel Agustín de Iturbide y Rivera** or simply as **Juan de Iturbide** during the Republic of Mexico, was a member of the Mexican royal House of Iturbide who reigned as the fourth and final Iturbide emperor of Mexico from May 18, 1910 until his death on June 11, 1921. Prior to his brother's restoration of the Mexican Empire in 1881, Juan I was a prominent politician of the Restoration Party, serving as the party's general secretary from 1874 to 1881 and in numerous cabinet positions from 1872 to 1881.

Born in 1838 as the youngest son of Emperor Pedro I and as the younger brother of future emperor Pedro II, Juan I spent much of his childhood as a senior member of the royal House of Iturbide, before becoming a major figure in monarchist politics following the abolition of the Mexican Empire in August 1853. During the Republic of Mexico, Juan I was a prominent political figure, first as a senior campaigner and party manager with the Mexican Radical Party and later as deputy leader and election manager for his brother's Restoration Party. Following the First Mexican Revolution, Juan I was appointed as Secretary of Foreign Affairs and elected to the restored Congress of Mexico, before becoming the congress' presiding officer in 1878. As chairman of congress, Juan I orchestrated the impeachment of Juan Almonte in September 1881 and presided over the drafting and implementation of the 1881 constitution of Mexico, which restored the Mexican Empire under the rule of the House of Iturbide - subsequently, Juan I became crown prince of Mexico and retired from politics.

## History

### Childhood

Juan was born at 5:37pm on August 6, 1838 in the Palace of Iturbide in Mexico City as the youngest son of Crown Prince Pedro and the second grandson of Emperor Agustín I of Mexico. Through his father and grandfather he was a member of the royal House of Iturbide and was referred to using the honorific *Don* (Lord) from birth. On July 19, 1843, Juan's grandfather Agustín I died of heart complications, leaving his father Pedro I to ascend to the throne as emperor of Mexico. Following his father's accession to the throne, Juan became second in line to the imperial crown, behind his older brother Crown Prince Pedro.

### Coup of 1852

 Main article: Coup of 1852
On October 16, 1852, general José Mariano Salas conducted a coup d'état against the government and placed the royal House of Iturbide under house arrest at the Imperial Palace in Mexico City. Emperor Pedro I and his immediate family attempted to flee house arrest in June 1853 but were caught by the armed forces. Consequently, the monarchy was abolished and José Mariano Salas became the first president of the Republic of Mexico; with the abolition of the monarchy, Prince Juan was stripped of his rank as second in line to the throne, alongside all other royal titles and honours, and became addressed as Juan de Iturbide rather than by his former royal titles.

### Post-monarchy

Following the proclamation of the Republic of Mexico on August 18, 1853, Juan was released from house arrest on September 16, 1853 alongside his mother and brother, though his father remained under arrest until November 1854. After his father's release from house arrest, the Iturbide family established the Committee for the Restoration of the Monarchy to take over legal ownership of Iturbide assets and to campaign for the restoration of the imperial regime. In 1856, following his eighteenth birthday, Juan became a senior member of the Committee and a campaigner for the restoration of the royal family.

## Political Career

### Mexican Radical Party

In March 1859, Juan de Iturbide's brother Pedro was selected as the vice presidential nominee of the Mexican Radical Party for the 1859 presidential election. During the campaign, Iturbide joined the Mexican Radical Party and was appointed as deputy campaign manager by party leader and presidential candidate Manuel Robles Pezuela. Whilst Pezuela and Pedro de Iturbide failed to win the presidency, Juan de Iturbide remained as a prominent member of the Mexican Radical Party after the election and was promoted to become the national campaign secretary for the party in February 1860.

### Restoration Party

#### 1864 presidential election

In February 1864, Pedro de Iturbide founded the Restoration Party to act as a vehicle for his 1864 presidential campaign and subsequently quit the Mexican Radical Party, leaving Juan de Iturbide in a politically perilous position; ultimately, Juan remained a member of the Mexican Radical Party but continued to be close with his brother's political operation. In March 1864, Juan de Iturbide negotiated an agreement for the Mexican Radical Party to form an electoral alliance with the Restoration Party in an electoral trial to see whether Pedro de Iturbide was a more popular presidential candidate than Manuel Robles Pezuela. The Restoration Party's efforts in the 1864 presidential election resulted in a large swing to the party, with Pedro de Iturbide nearly defeating President José Mariano Salas. In March 1865, Juan de Iturbide resigned from the Mexican Radical Party and joined the Restoration Party, becoming the party's national election coordinator.

#### 1869 presidential election

In February 1869, the Restoration Party nominated Pedro de Iturbide as its presidential candidate in preparation for the scheduled presidential elections, and Juan de Iturbide was reappointed as the party's national election coordinator. Mere days after the party confirmed its election team, President José Mariano Salas brought forward the 1869 presidential election from June to March 1869, undermining the Restoration Party's ability to campaign. Despite the issues in campaigning, Juan de Iturbide orchestrated a successful campaign and preliminary election results showed Pedro de Iturbide winning in a landslide - however, following the release of early results, the government cancelled the first ballot and organised a re-run in June 1869, which saw incumbent José Mariano Salas win by a large margin.

#### First Mexican Revolution

 Main article: First Mexican Revolution

After Pedro de Iturbide's election victory in the 1869 presidential election was overturned by President José Mariano Salas, Juan de Iturbide led the Restoration Party in formulating alliances with various civil factions with the intention to challenge Salas' regime. Immediately following Salas' re-inauguration on September 1, 1869, Pedro de Iturbide declared himself as the legitimate president of Mexico and called upon his supports to rise up against the government. After Juan de Iturbide struck a deal with trade unions and revolutionary forces in southern Mexico, Pedro de Iturbide's rebellion erupted on October 16, 1869 with the seizure of Merida exactly 17 years to the day of Salas' 1852 coup d'état. With the rebellion spreading across the country, President Salas proclaimed martial law and attempted to put down the rebellion, but was convinced by his cabinet to stand down as president for the sake of national unity. On November 18, 1869, José Mariano Salas resigned as president of Mexico and was succeeded by vice president Félix María Zuloaga.

Under President Zuloaga, the government attempted a two prong strategy of simultaneously attacking the rebels with heavy force and attempting to bring them to the negotiating table to agree upon terms of peace. After his meddling in military planning led to rebel groups briefly seizing control of Mexico City in February 1870, President Félix María Zuloaga signed *Executive Order 832* to transfer supreme command of the armed forces to defence secretary Juan Almonte and instead focused his entire efforts on securing a political agreement between the government and the rebels. On April 2, 1870, Félix María Zuloaga and rebel leader Pedro de Iturbide met for the first time at a summit in Guanajuato in order to discuss terms of a potential agreement; as part of the terms, Iturbide demanded Zuloaga's resignation and a transition to fair elections in exchange for not prosecuting Salas and Zuloaga for their role in subverting elections. With rebel forces in control of a significant portion of the country, Félix María Zuloaga accepted these terms and on April 18, 1870, resigned as president of Mexico and transferred his position to defence minister Juan Almonte.

Despite having negotiated the resignation of former president Félix María Zuloaga and the transfer of power to general Juan Almonte, Pedro de Iturbide and his coalition of rebel forces continued their campaign against the government with the aim of either negotiating a better deal or taking full control over the state. However, the rebellion quickly began to spiral out of Iturbide's control and in November 1870, a rebel faction based in the north of Mexico separated from Iturbide's forces and launched an independence campaign for the northern provinces - the resulting campaign forced Iturbide to united with Almonte's forces to put down the rebellion. In September 1871, Iturbide and Almonte signed an agreement to bring rebel forces into government for a temporary transitional government, which formed on February 2, 1872.

#### General Secretary

After a brief stint in a coalition government, Juan de Iturbide's brother Pedro was elected as president of Mexico in the 1873 general election. Under the terms of the 1873 constitution, the president was prohibited from being a member of any political party, meaning that in order to take office, he would have to resign as general secretary. Subsequently, on December 23, 1873, Juan de Iturbide was elected as general secretary of the Restoration Party and became the party's *de-jure* leader on January 1, 1874, with Pedro remaining as the party's *de-facto* leader.

In March 1881, the Restoration Party launched a manifesto supporting the abolition of the republic and the return of the House of Iturbide to the throne - in response, President Juan Almonte signalled his intention to ban the party on constitutional grounds if it did not drop the policy, and called upon congress to rewrite the constitution in order to allow him to run for the presidency again. The manifesto's publication sparked a constitutional crisis, which allowed Pedro de Iturbide to become head of state for a second term.

### Secretary for Foreign Affairs

Under the terms of the 1871 peace agreement with the government of Juan Almonte, the Restoration Party under Juan and Pedro de Iturbide formally entered into a transitional coalition government on February 2, 1872. As part of the agreement, Juan de Iturbide was appointed as Secretary for Foreign Affairs, whilst his elder brother became vice president. During his tenure as foreign secretary, Iturbide travelled to the capitals of neighbouring states, particularly the United States of America, in a bid to reassure regional leaders that the new Mexican government was stable and willing to work within the established international order. Juan de Iturbide remained as foreign secretary after his brother Pedro assumed the presidency in January 1874, before stepping down following the 1877 general election to become chairman of the ninth congress.

### Member of the Congress of Mexico

In the 1873 general election, Juan de Iturbide was elected as a member of the eighth Congress of Mexico as a representative of the Restoration Party. In 1877, Iturbide was re-elected to congress and was appointed as chairman of the ninth Congress of Mexico in January 1878. Amid the 1881 constitutional crisis, Juan de Iturbide was appointed as the overseer of the Almonte Administration with de-facto presidential powers during the impeachment process against President Juan Almonte, before stepping down after the removal of Almonte and the appointment of Pedro de Iturbide as president for a second term. Following snap elections in October 1881, Juan de Iturbide was re-elected to congress but never took office due to the passing of the 1881 constitution of Mexico in November 1881, which restored the royal House of Iturbide and saw Juan de Iturbide become crown prince of Mexico, and thus ineligible to hold political office.

## Crown Prince

On November 18, 1881, the second Mexican Empire was proclaimed in Mexico City, with Juan de Iturbide's older brother Pedro receiving the throne as Emperor Pedro II of Mexico. Consequently, the restoration of the House of Iturbide within the Mexican state meant that Juan de Iturbide was proclaimed as crown prince and heir apparent to the throne due to Pedro II's childlessness, and was thus formally barred from holding political office under the terms of the Constitution of 1881, which prohibited any member of the royal family from holding political office. As such, crown prince Juan was immediately disqualified from his position as general secretary of the Restoration Party and his position as a congressman.

As crown prince, Juan was one of the most influential political figures in the country, despite the constitution's ban on royal influence on politics - his position as crown prince and brother to Pedro II, himself an extremely politically powerful figure, meant that Juan was able to influence Mexican politics with relative ease. Juan held close friendships with numerous senior political figures, such as prime ministers Ignacio Mariscal and Bernardo Reyes, as well as with influential noblemen, businessmen, and members of the clergy. In March 1910, a minor political scandal emerged after newspapers leaked correspondence in which crown prince Juan described newly appointed prime minister Francisco León de la Barra as an "insufferable halfwit with dangerous delusions of political autonomy".

## Reign

 Prime Minister

On May 18, 1910, following the death of his older brother Pedro II, Juan automatically ascended to the throne as Emperor Juan I of Mexico, becoming the fourth and final monarch of the House of Iturbide. Simultaneously upon his ascent to the throne, Juan I also became the patriarchal head of the royal House of Iturbide.

### Governments

#### León de la Barra ministries

At the time of Juan I's accession to the Mexican throne, Francisco León de la Barra was serving as the incumbent prime minister of Mexico, having taken office mere months prior to the death of Pedro II. Under the 1881 constitution of Mexico, the death of a reigning monarch did not necessitate the disillusion of the Congress of Mexico for fresh elections, and subsequently Juan I ceremonially reappointed León de la Barra as prime minister as the first act of his reign. Whilst Juan I and Francisco León de la Barra were well known for their mutual animosity, the pair maintained a working relationship for much of the first four years of the León de la Barra ministry. However, after the government attempted to open a constitutional convention in December 1914 to strip the monarchy of its powers, relations soured and Juan I vetoed the convention.

In March 1915, Juan I struck down a proposed government crisis, prompting a general election in July 1915 - however, Francisco León de la Barra was re-elected with a larger majority, despite Juan I's efforts to coordinate a national front against the governing Restoration Party. After further disputes with the government continued, Juan I ordered the arrest and dismissal of prime minister Francisco León de la Barra and several other senior government ministers - in their place, Juan appointed Enrique Creel at the head of a government personally selected by the emperor for their loyalty to the monarchy.

#### Creel ministry

Amid the 1916 constitutional crisis, Iturbide loyalist Enrique Creel was appointed as the civilian leader of a loyalist government by Emperor Juan I on September 4, 1916. During his administration, Creel's power was de-facto dismantled and transferred to the emperor himself or to deputy prime minister Manuel Plata, who became the *de-facto* head of government. However, despite this transfer of power, Creel was retained as the civilian head of government as the leader of the largest party in order to retain international legitimacy. On June 19, 1917, Enrique Creel resigned from government in protest against his sidelining.

#### Plata ministry

After prime minister Enrique Creel resigned in June 1917, Emperor Juan I appointed his personal ally Manuel Plata to head the government and conducted a reshuffle of ministers, although the individuals in government largely remained the same. During the Plata administration, Juan I made his clearest break from the Restoration Party and instead used the military establishment to gain legitimacy for his governance - in order to gain the support of the military to overturn the democratic order, Juan I and prime minister Plata passed legislation expanding the influence and power of the armed forces to act in matters of state. Simultaneously, Juan I ordered a crackdown on worker's and human rights movements and stripped many civilians of their civil rights - this repression also extended to diplomats; in September 1918 the US ambassador to Mexico was arrested and later died in prison.

The death of the US ambassador amid Juan I's attempts to consolidate his power prompted a furious response from the American government, and in January 1919 the United States launched an invasion of Mexico. During the six week war, prime minister Manuel Plata personally led the Mexican army but was badly defeated in numerous battles after the Mexican opposition openly supported the United States army and granted them safe passage. On February 19, 1919, Emperor Juan I issued a formal surrender after the US forces encircled Mexico City. Two days later, Juan I forced Manuel Plata to resign as prime minister under pressure from the American occupying force.

#### Carvajal ministry

Following the Mexican defeat during the United State's invasion, Emperor Juan I was forced by the occupying US administration to relinquish day-to-day government powers and was effectively placed under house arrest at the Imperial Palace in Mexico City. After forcing Manuel Plata to resign, the US occupation overseer John J. Pershing selected Francisco Carvajal to lead a transitional administration with the mandate to oversee new elections - subsequently, on February 21, 1919, Juan I appointed Carvajal as the head of government. During the Carvajal ministry, several of Juan I's allies established the National Action Party under the leadership of Victoriano Huerta as a Christian conservative alternative to the Restoration Party, which was regarded by the emperor and his allies as having lost its loyalty to the House of Iturbide. However, the National Action Party's final manifesto for the 1919 general election supported the formation of a constitutional monarchy and the party abandoned it's support for the House of Iturbide prior to the 1923 general election. In the 1919 general election, Francisco Carvajal's transitional government was removed from power and succeeded by a coalition government led by Pedro Lascuráin of the Mexican Radical Party.

## Styles and Titles

    Throughout his life, Juan I held numerous different titles and styles of address related to his position within the royal family and government of Mexico. Under the First Mexican Empire, Juan I was addressed by virtue of his birth-right position within the royal House of Iturbide. Under the Republic of Mexico, Juan I's position was based on his elected office. Under the restored Second Mexican Empire, Juan I was addressed by virtue of his position as crown prince, and later emperor, of Mexico.