First Mexican Revolution

The **First Mexican Revolution**, also known as the **Monarchist Uprising** or the **September Uprising**, was a major revolutionary conflict and civil war in Mexico between monarchist and pro-democracy factions against the authoritarian governments of José Mariano Salas and his successors which lasted from October 1869 until February 1872. The revolution was the first major civil conflict in Mexico since the country's independence in 1821 and was one of the most politically significant events in Mexican history, radically altering the political scene and power dynamics of the country for following half century.

Following the Coup of 1852, general José Mariano Salas established himself as the head of a new republican regime as president of Mexico, beginning a seventeen year-long autocratic regime under Salas and his Conservative Party. During the dictatorship, the deposed liberal congressional faction reorganised itself into the Mexican Radical Party, which served as the main opposition faction for the early period of the Salas presidency - after being defeated in the rigged 1859 presidential election, the party declined and was ultimately replaced as the main opposition by the monarchist Restoration Party under the leadership of Pedro de Iturbide, the former crown prince of Mexico. Under Iturbide, the opposition gained a major swing in the 1864 presidential election and nearly defeated Salas. After the success of the 1864 election, Iturbide ran again in 1869 with the aim of finally overcoming the dictatorship. In March 1869, the first ballot of the presidential election saw Iturbide winning with a considerable majority, prompting President José Mariano Salas to cancel the ballot and call for new elections which ultimately certified Salas as president-elect for a fourth term.

After Pedro de Iturbide's election victory in the 1869 presidential election was overturned by President José Mariano Salas, the Restoration Party began 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 his brother Juan 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. The formation of the unity transitional coalition government between President Juan Almonte, the Restoration Party, and the Mexican Radical Party under the terms of the Treaty of Oaxaca in February 1872 is generally regarded as the end of the First Mexican Revolution, although fighting against remnant rebel groups continued throughout the 1870s.

Over the course of the two years of the First Mexican Revolution, the uprising radically changed the political and cultural identity of Mexico and ushered in a new political order that would hold until the outbreak of the Second Mexican Revolution in 1921. The former ruling Conservative Party was banned by President Almonte in 1870, leaving the Restoration Party and Mexican Radical Party to become the two largest political parties - whilst power would alternate between the two under the new regime, there was little policy difference between the parties and both supported the transformation of the Republic of Mexico into the Second Mexican Empire in 1881. Between the end of the revolution and the imperial restoration, a new 1873 constitution governed the Mexican republic and attempted to depoliticise it. However, despite constitutional restrictions against the consolidation of power, Pedro de Iturbide governed as the *de-facto* leader of Mexico from 1872 until the end of the republic in 1881, and then became Emperor Pedro II of the new imperial regime, which he led until his death in 1910.

## See Also

* Coup of 1852
* House of Iturbide
* First Mexican Empire
* Republic of Mexico