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Federalism to Centralism in Mexico: The Conservative Case for Change, 1834-1835

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

Michael P. Costeloe
Michael P. Costeloe*
Affiliation:
University of Bristol, Bristol, England
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Extract

In the summer of 1835 Mexico chose to abandon the federal form of government instituted a decade earlier in 1824 and to replace it with a centralized republic. The dismantling of federal laws and institutions and the enactment of those designed to replace them occupied the next eighteen months until on December 30, 1836 the process of change to the new system culminated in the publication of a new constitution, the so-called Constitutión de las Siete Leyes. This fundamental change in the political structure of the nation was not achieved without considerable dissent and the protracted transitional period permitted many groups who opposed the new order of things to air their views and in some cases, notably in Zacatecas and Texas, to attempt military resistance. The supporters of centralism found themselves, therefore, obliged to make and justify their case for change and to convince themselves as well as their opponents that their proposals represented the popular will. It is with this centralist case for change, or manifesto, that this article is primarily concerned.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Americas , Volume 45 , Issue 2 , October 1988 , pp. 173 - 185
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1988

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References

1 One of the few studies to examine in any detail the transitional period and its conservative ideology is Noriega, A., El pensamiento conservador y el conservadurismo mexicano (2 vols., Mexico, 1972).Google Scholar

2 Mora’s work has been the inspiration of most analyses of the political life of the period. See, for example, Heroles, J. Reyes El liberalismo mexicano (3 vols., 2nd ed., Mexico, 1974)Google Scholar and Hale, C., Mexican Liberalism in the Age of Mora (New Haven & London, 1968).Google Scholar

3 Mora, , ‘Revista política de las diversas administraciones que ha tenido la República hasta 1837’, in Obras Sueltas (Mexico, 1963), pp. 152–169.Google Scholar

4 Many of these popular plans were published in the press.

5 Mora, , Obras sueltas, p. 158.Google Scholar

6 The propaganda campaign against federalism, without specifying centralism directly as the alternative, began in earnest with the publication of the paper, El Mosquito Mexicano on March 14, 1834.

7 The argument in the 1834-1836 years also differs from the earlier period in that there is markedly less reference to European writers, notably Edmund Burke.

8 M. Díez de Bonilla -Minister of War, Toluca, May 30, 1835, in El Sol, May 31, 1835.

9 ‘Representación del muy ilustre ayuntamiento de la capital del estado de Jalisco, dirigida al honorable congreso del estado para que inicie ante las cámaras de la Unión la variación de la actual forma de gobierno, en república central’, Guadalajara, June 1, 1835, in El Mosquito Mexicano, June 30, 1835.

10 El Sol, February 1, 1835.

11 Ibid., 24 March 1835.

12 Representations published in ibid., 28 March, May 24, 1835.

13 Diario del Gobierno, November 20, 1835.

14 Ibid.

15 El Mosquito Mexicano, April 24, May 8, 1835.

16 Diario del Gobierno, November 8, 1835.

17 El Mosquito Mexicano, June 30, 1835: El Sol, February 1–3, 1835.

18 La Lima, March 14, 1835, supplement.

19 El Sol, April 7, 1835.

20 El Telégrafo, 1, July 17, 1834.

21 Ibid., June 23, July 7, 1834.

22 Alamán, L., ‘Defensa del ex-ministro de Relaciones don Lucas Alamán, escrita por el mismo ex-ministro quien la dirige a la nación’ (Mexico, 1834) in Obras. Documentos diversos (Mexico, 1946), vol. 2, p. 45.Google Scholar Alamán refers throughout his writings to the importance of political power being in the hands of hombres respetables, clase propietaria etc. See, for example, his letter to Santa Anna of February 23, 1837, cited in Valadés, J. C., Alamán, estadista e historiador (Mexico, 1938), pp. 362–368.Google Scholar For a good examination of Alamán’s political ideas, see Navarro, M. González, El pensamiento politico de Lucas Alamán (Mexico, 1952).Google Scholar

23 For a study of the patronage controversy, see my book Church and State in Independent Mexico. A study of the Patronage Debate, 1821–1857 (London, 1978).

24 For details of the uproar caused by Iturbide’s speech, see ibid., pp. 146–150.

25 This issue caused a heated debate in congress: see El Nacional, April 20, 1836.

26 Clerical support was financial by way of loans and, more important, from the pulpits and episcopal palaces with sermons and pastorals urging the people not to join in revolts: see, for example, ‘Circular del Illmo. sr. obispo de la Puebla a los curas de su diócesis’, Puebla, February 11, 1835, text reprinted in La Lima, February 24, 1835.

27 The civic militia was reduced to a maximum of 1 per 500 inhabitants in decree of 31 March 1835, in Dublán, M. y Lozano, J. M., Legislación mexicana (Mexico, 1876), vol. 3, p. 38.Google Scholar Four weeks later, a new merchant militia to be composed of merchants and property owners in the Federal District was established: see El Sol, May 8, 1835.

28 ‘Memoria del Ministerio de Guerra’, in El Sol, Aprii 12–27, 1835.

29 El Anteojo, July 19, 1835: Proceso del General Santa Anna (Mexico, 1836).

30 Diario del Gobierno, November 7, 1835.

31 See, for example, La Luz, December 16, 1835 and 11 March 1836 where Santa Anna is referred to as “the pretender”.

32 Bustamante, C. M., Continuación del cuadro histórico de la revolución mexicana (Mexico, 1963), vol. 4. p. 366.Google Scholar

33 In many respects, the transition to centralism was a rerun of the events and ideological propaganda of the Bustamante/Alamán regime of 1830-1832 and those years were also held up as a model of the beneficial effects of centralizing the political system: see the editorial in El Sol, 16 March 1835.

34 Alamán was among those invited to draw up a new plan for public education. He replied that he would help to provide the nation with an education “que está en consonancia con el estado de las luces”, in Valadés, , Alamán, pp. 351–352.Google Scholar

35 For an unequivocal statement of the conservative philosophy by another contemporary politician, and especially of the Church as the guardian of public morality, see Cuevas, L.G., Porvenir de México (Mexico, 1954), pp. 391–425.Google Scholar

36 El Sol, February 2, 1835.

37 Bustamante claims that the petitions emanated directly from the cabinet: Bustamante, , Cuadro histórico, 4, 370–371:Google Scholar de Arrangoiz, F.P., México desde 1807 hasta 1867 (Mexico, 1968), p. 369.Google Scholar

38 Alamán-Duke of Monteleone, July 28, 1835, Obras, vol. XII, pp. 286-290.

39 Bustamante, , Cuadro histórico, 4, 370:Google Scholar Bocanegra, J.M., Memorias para la historia de México independiente, 1822–1846 (Mexico, 1897), vol. 2, pp. 610–615.Google Scholar

40 Vázquez, J. et al., Historia general de México (Mexico, 1976), vol. 3, p. 28.Google Scholar

41 El Sol, March 26, 1835.