The Empire of Mexico

1821-1824

After the Independence Movement and the signing of the treaty pf Cordoba, There was the convention of the Viceroyalty palace ( Now the national palace) On who to take the throne and divide the country to political regions with a unitary voting system and a parliament headquarters. There were 3 factions on the convetion, The one without much support in the convention were 2 the monarchist, which wanted a king to have supreme power over the whole

The also recently independent Central American states were added to this empire, from the Territory of California to Bocas del Toro in present-day Panama.

After September 1821 Iturbide had remained as President of the Regency, but the throne remained vacant, and the Plan of Iguala stipulated a monarchy government moderated by a Congress. The first measure that was taken was to create a Provisional Governing Board that, as its name indicates, would be in charge of governing until there was an emperor. Immediately afterwards, a letter was sent to Fernando VII in which he or one of his relatives was invited to accept the Mexican throne. Little time passed for the ideological differences between Mexicans to explode and proof of this was the Congress that was formed to hold legislative power. Inside it could be found three tendencies: monarchists, republicans and Bourbonists. The first -monarchists- supported the moderate monarchy that had been embodied in the Plan of Iguala and the Treaties of Córdoba, and they did not dislike the idea that Iturbide himself would end up being crowned emperor of the country. The Republicans, mostly insurgents who fought for the cause of 1811 and 1812, feared that the empire would end up becoming a common absolutist regime that would be in the hands of Iturbide; they proposed to copy the government pattern of the United States that until now had been working very well. The Bourbonists were undecided and divided, they were willing to support any of these options depending on who was the monarch and they made it clear that if the candidate was not a king of the Bourbon house, they would prefer to lean towards a republican government.

The situation worsened when the response came from the King of Spain in which he stated that neither he nor any of his relatives would accept the Mexican throne since they did not recognize the independence of New Spain. The news fell like a bucket of cold water in Mexico because it altered the plans they had. On the other hand, those who rejoiced the most were the Iturbidistas, since they imagined their leader as the country's highest ruler. On the night of May 18, 1822, Sergeant Pío Marcha led a demonstration in which a fiery crowd that ran through the streets of the capital participated, acclaiming Iturbide as emperor and shouting: "Long live Agustín I, emperor of Mexico." On May 19 the Congress met, Iturbide stated that he would abide by what the deputies decided, representatives of the people, meanwhile the people cheered. The Congress could not contain the excited crowd, and two alternatives were given. Consult the provinces or proclaim it immediately. Iturbide insisted on the first option. The deputies of Congress voted in secret, the result was sixty-seven votes in favor of doing it immediately against fifteen for consulting the provinces. The coronation took place on July 21, 1822 in the Cathedral of Mexico, he and his wife Ana María Huarte were named emperor and empress of the Mexican Empire. Similarly, the government flag of Agustín Iturbide was modified by himself with vertical stripes in the order of green, white and red, in addition to the royal eagle crowned on a nopal, representing the Nahuatl legend.

Through the reign of the two years there was insecurities, Iturbide focused more on his own reign than his kingdom. After independence, Mexico was going through a severe economic crisis as a result of eleven years of wars and revolts. Its economic situation included debts, few sources of income, little internal market, low connection between the different territories of the empire and capital flight. The economic activities in which Mexico had excelled in colonial times (agriculture and mining) were in crisis. Faced with this situation, the Iturbide government tried to carry out measures to improve the Mexican economic state: it lowered taxes, took out loans and resorted to issuing excess paper money which, as a consequence, lost value and generated distrust among the population. In addition, he expropriated silver mines that were in private hands, which increased the discontent of the Mexicans. The economic policies carried out by Iturbide were one of the reasons that widened the arch of the opposition that sought to remove the emperor. Therefore there was a problem and the first crack in the wall was from Central America, there was a deal with the need of the Central American provinces or the southern provinces that wanted independence because the government did not appeal to the people's needs of the southern provinces and created a crisis which was " La crisis de Morazan". Which was led by an independentist Known as Jose Francisco Morazan Quezada (1792-1842) whose dream changed as he ordered Iturbide to secede. This was a major blowout and was one of the most disastrous scandals of the regime of the government. However Iturbide did change some things like the beautification of Mexico city and other central cities. And did make sure to leave some of the spanish to stay and help the bureaucratic system.

In February 1823, through the Casa Mata Plan led by Antonio López de Santa Anna, a rebellion took place, also supported by Vicente Guerrero and Morazan. in which they demanded that Congress be reinstated, annul the the Empire of Agustín I and that the monarchy became a Republic, implemented in 1824. Produced the Coup d'état, Iturbide's mandate ends nine months later, abdicating the crown in Congress on March 19, 1823, and embarked towards Europe on May 11. After the Mexican Empire was dissolved on April 8 of the same year, the Central American provinces decided to emancipate themselves from Mexico to create their own federation. Then congress started to send the military into action and retake the rebellions. Morazán which was a leading figure in Central America supported the changing government and thus most of the rebellions dissipated. However there were some that did not stop and within weeks the new congress passed the "National mobilization act" which reprimanded the rebellions and was an instrumental part to a national organizational government. In April 1824, Congress declared Iturbide a traitor. The country was reorganized and culminated in the creation of the First Federal Republic of Mexico. Lead by Morazan, Victoria and Santa Anna.