Fall of the Centralist Republic The Mexican American War broke out in April 1846 during the presidency of
Mariano Paredes. A series of uninterrupted Mexican losses inflamed opposition against the government, and Paredes faced revolution, he resigned on July 28, choosing to return to the military to help with the war effort.
Nicolás Bravo was meanwhile chosen as his successor. On August 3, the garrisons of Vera Cruz and San Juan de Ulua revolted, against Bravo.
José Mariano Salas was made the provisional president, and on August 22, he restored the
Constitution of 1824, putting an end to Centralist Republic of Mexico, and inaugurating the era of the Second Federalist Republic.
Mexican American War Restoration of the Federal System Salas allowed the exiled Santa Anna to return to the nation, and the latter embraced the liberal
Constitution of 1824, thus restoring the federal system and giving birth to the era of the Second Federal Republic. Salas now formed his cabinet out of liberals and Santa Anna supporters, including ex president
Valentín Gómez Farías who now received the post of finance minister. Congress finally opened its sessions on December 5, 1846, at midnight, composed mostly of liberals. General Salas opened the session by lamenting the defeats that the military had faced, but expressed hope for the army of twenty thousand men that Santa Anna had gathered at
San Luis Potosi. He expressed that he was completely behind continuing the war,. He also expounded upon the peace proposals that had been forwarded to him by the American government. In December the congress elected Santa Anna and Gomez Farias as president and vice-president respectively. Both men had previously won the elections of 1832 in the same fashion. They assumed power on the 24th. The government struggled to finance the war, a problem made worse by the refusal of several state governments to cooperate, and by corruption in the finance ministry, which did not inspire confidence when the government proposed an audit of property owners. On January 7, 1847, a measure was introduced to congress endorsing the seizure of fifteen million pesos from the church by nationalizing and then selling its lands. The proposal created great controversy and on February 27, 1847, several national guard battalions proclaimed against the government. They released a manifesto excoriating the government for pursuing a divisive policy instead of uniting the country in the war effort and seeking a means of funding the military that was backed by national consensus.This became known as the
Revolt of the Polkos, because the young middle class men who made up the militias stations throughout the capital were known for dancing the polka.
American Troops Land at Veracruz Meanwhile news arrived that Santa Anna had won the
Battle of Buena Vista which took place on February 22 to February 23, 1847, and which in reality had been a draw. Santa was heading back to Mexico City to arrange defenses against the forces of
Winfield Scott who had just landed at Veracruz. He was at the town of
Matehuala on the way from Angostura to
San Luis Potosí City, when he received news that there had been a revolution against the government of Valentin Gomez Farias.Valentin Gomez Farias resigned. The insurrection ended, troops were sent back to their stations, and the presidency passed over to Santa Anna, but in turn Santa Anna passed the presidency over to
Pedro María de Anaya, as he went to face the forces of Winfield Scott. Anaya was authorized by congress to place the capital under a state of siege. After the
Battle of Cerro Gordo in which the Americans broke through the defenses on the way to Mexico City, congress gave the president extraordinary faculties, without giving him the authority to sign a peace treaty on his own, or to alienate any portion of national territory, and anyone who now attempted to negotiate with the Americans was declared a traitor. On April 2, 1847, Anaya convoked a junta in which he to resolve the issue on whether to defend the capital in case there was not a reasonable chance of winning. All of the supply and budget issues were expounded and the cabinet endorsed guerrilla warfare. When Santa Anna returned to the capital, Anaya passed the presidency down to him.
Battle for Mexico City Santa Anna was in charge of the presidency as the Americans advanced upon and eventually captured Mexico City. The presidency was eventually transferred back to Anaya, who had commanded forces in the defense of Mexico City. After the loss of the capital the Mexican government fled northeast to the city of
Querétaro City. Various governors gathered at Queretaro and suggested various options to the government ranging from a continuation of the war to the surrender of the sparsely populated northern territories. Per the instructions of Congress, Anaya's term ended on January 8, 1847, and the presidency passed to
Manuel de la Peña y Peña, who had already served a brief term during the war.
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Congress finally met in May, 1847 and at its opening session President Peña y Peña recommended a policy of peace, and recounted the progress that had been made in the fields of order and finances amidst so many challenges. He explained how as Minister of Foreign Relations under President Herrera, he had been against the war. He did not view this stance as dishonorable as even the most martial of nations at one point had faced a war they could not win. He expressed belief that Mexico simply did not have the ability to continue the war, and proclaimed that anyone who viewed such a stance as dishonorable was not worthy of being called honest. Negotiations were opened with the United States government, and after deliberating upon the matter, the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was approved by congress. As the peace treaty was concluded and the occupiers were on the point of leaving the country, congress named Jose Joaquin Herrera to the presidency of the republic, and Peña y Peña left his post as president in exchange for the presidency of the Supreme Court on June 3, 1848. The government left Queretaro and returned to the capital.
An Era of Peace and Moderate Rule Herrera Presidency The Herrera Administration faced enormous financial challenges and while the rest of the Herrera ministry was stable, many financial ministers resigned. However, the economy seemed to be overall improving. Abundant harvests were reported, and the mines began to increase their yields. Construction on a railway and telegraph line was begun, and the first industrial exhibition in Mexico opened on November 1, 1849, in Mexico City. On November 4, 1848, the army was reduced to 10,000 men, and conscription was abolished, yet the latter measure had to be abrogated when only enough volunteers could be found to fill half of the men needed in the army. The government attempted to establish military colonies along the frontier to settle and pacify the region against Indian raids. The project was hampered by lack of funds, but by 1851, despite not being as extensive as originally planned, reasonable progress on the colonies had nonetheless been made, and three successful settlements were home to over two thousand individuals. The 1851 election was won by Mariano Arista, Herrera's Minister of War, and Herrera was the first Mexican president to complete a full term since the inaugural holder of the office,
Guadalupe Victoria has passed power over to
Vicente Guerrero in 1828.
Arista Presidency Arista took office on January 15, 1851. He decided to adopt many of Herrera's policies, which he as Minister of War had already played a significant hand in enacting, but made some changes in the cabinet. It was ultimately the ongoing financial crisis which would lead to Arista's fall being used as a pretext by
Conservatives who wished to see Santa Anna restored to the presidency. Revolts were raised against the government, most prominent of which was the local insurrection led by a Guadalajara hatmaker named Blancarte. Supporters of Santa Anna, reached out to Blancarte and successfully convinced the latter to increase the scope of his revolt. On September 13, Blancarte proclaimed that Arista ought to be overthrown and that Santa Anna ought to be recalled to take a role in reorganizing the government. As the Blancarte revolt spread throughout the entire nation, Arista addressed the chambers on December 15, 1852, and eventually resigned on January 5
Santa Anna's Last Dictatorship The restoration of Santa Anna was brought about by a Conservative Party faction led by
Lucas Alaman, and including Governor Mugica of Puebla,
Teodosio Lares, and
Jose Maria Tornel. The centralist system under which the country had been governed was restored, and state legislatures among other bodies of local government were dissolved throughout the country. Education and the accreditation of lawyers was brought directly under the control of Mexico City. A new Ministry of Development was established with the responsibility of handling public works, trade, and colonization. The military was reorganized, being increased in its number of troops, the state militias being dissolved and absorbed into the national army, and subject to an unprecedented conscription, which proved to be enormously unpopular.Santa Anna nonetheless aimed to modernize the army, hiring instructors from Europe, and improving fortresses armaments, and the ships of the Mexican Navy. The regime found new funds through the
Gadsden Purchase, which nonetheless proved to be controversial for once again alienating national territory to the United States. The dictatorship began to take on a regal atmosphere as Santa Anna moved his residence to
Tacubaya to live in a lavishly decorated palace which also frequently hosted balls and soirees. He revived the noble
Order of Guadalupe that had briefly existed during the
First Mexican Empire, but upon the first public exposition of its members wearing their ceremonial decorations, they became subject to public ridicule throughout the country and were referred to by the pejorative '
huehuenches.' Notwithstanding, Santa Anna himself began to go under the honorific
His Most Serene Highness He impeded efforts to organize a congress for the purpose of drafting a new constitution and on December 16, 1853, passed a decree extending his personal dictatorship indefinitely.
La Reforma . On March 1, 1854, the liberal
Plan of Ayutla was proclaimed against
Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, indicting him for the
Gadsden Purchase and his suppression of democratic government. A little over a year of civil war followed, the Liberals being led by
Juan Álvarez and
Ignacio Comonfort and achieving success by October 1855. Álvarez assumed the interim presidency and convoked congress. Appointed to the Alvarez Cabinet were a younger generation of liberals that were to play a notable role in the subsequent Reforma, including the liberal lawyers
Melchor Ocampo and
Benito Juarez, the poet
Guillermo Prieto and the anti-clerical writer
Ignacio Comonfort. The Alvarez administration made progress on some anti-clerical legislation, but amidst the controversy that was resulting he stepped down from the presidency in December 1855, passing down his office to the more moderate Comonfort. Congress began to meet in February 1856, ratifying Comonfort's ascension to the presidency and beginning work on a new constitution. Work on the new constitution ended about a year later in February 1857, and the
Constitution of 1857 was promulgated on February 12, 1857, with the purpose of coming into effect on September 16 of that year. The Constitution had integrated two major pieces of anti-clerical legislature that had been passed since the ascension of Alvarez the Ley Juarez and the
Ley Lerdo, the latter nationalizing collectively owned land, a measure aimed at the Catholic Church vast holdings, but also affecting Mexico's indigenous communities.
Reform War President Comonfort was dismayed by the level of opposition being shown towards the Constitution of 1857, also finding himself unsatisfied with how weak it left the president in the face of so many revolts. Conservatives reached out to Comonfort to overthrow the government and establish a new constitution, and On December 17, 1857 General
Félix Zuloaga proclaimed the
Plan of Tacubaya, declaring the Constitution of 1857 nullified, inviting Comonfort to join. To the dismay of liberals Comonfort accepted a role in to what amounted to a
self coup. Comonfort accepted the Plan of Tacubaya, and released a manifesto making the case that more moderate reforms were needed under the current circumstances. Comonfort had overestimated the support he could expect among the state governors, and upon realizing that the nation had begun to fracture into a civil war he resigned in favor of the imprisoned President of the Supreme Court
Benito Juarez whom Comonfort released before leaving the nation. Juarez narrowly escaped death but eventually found himself along with the Liberal cabinet ensconced in the strategic port of
Veracruz while the Conservative government remained based in Mexico City. The initial phase of the war resulted in repeated Conservative victories, but the Liberals remained entrenched in the peripheries of the nation, and controlled strategic ports that kept them supplied with vital customs revenues. The Conservatives replaced Zuloaga with
Miguel Miramon who had a record of victories but who repeatedly failed to capture the Liberal capital of Veracruz, which during the
Battle of Antón Lizardo was protected by the
United States Navy. Meanwhile the Liberals passed even more sweeping anti-clerical reforms, nationalizing the remainder of Catholic Church properties in order to continue funding the war effort. The controversial
McLane–Ocampo Treaty was also signed with the United States by the Liberal government although it died in the American Senate. The tide of the war began to turn in 1860 as the Liberals finally began making inroads upon the Conservative controlled interior, culminating in the decisive
Battle of Calpulalpan in December 22, 1860. Miramon and other leading Conservatives fled the country, while Conservative guerrillas remained active in the countryside.
Second French Intervention President Juarez entered Mexico City in victory but now faced the task of rebuilding an exhausted and divided nation. A moratorium on foreign debt payments was passed in July, 1861 in order to meet Mexico's financial crisis, but France, the United Kingdom, and Spain responded with the
Convention of London, agreeing to armed intervention in order to assure Mexico's debt payments. On 8 December 1861, the three navies occupied the port city of
Veracruz. France had ulterior motives in joining the Tripartite Expedition.
Napoleon III intended to overthrow the Mexican Republic and establish a monarchical client state. The idea for invading Mexico and establishing a monarchy had reached Napoleon through two monarchist Mexican expatriates named
José Manuel Hidalgo y Esnaurrízar, and
José María Gutiérrez de Estrada, and the idea coincided with French imperial aims. Spain and the United Kingdom abandoned the Tripartite Expedition when they realized France's true intentions. Upon beginning the invasion in December 1861, however, Napoleon realized that Hidalgo and Estrada had exaggerated the monarchist sentiment, which did not truly exist even among Mexican
Conservatives. Furthermore, French troops were repulsed by Mexican troops at the
Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862, delaying French advances for over a year. Conservatives eventually found it convenient to collaborate with the invaders in their aims to return themselves in the wake of their loss in the Reform War, and many Conservative generals eventually began to join the French. Mexico City was taken by June, 1863, with President Juarez fleeing ahead of the French troops, and a French controlled triumvirate was set up as the new executive for the Mexican government. This triumvirate organized a Mexican
Assembly of Notables and under French direction resolved on July 3, 1863, to change Mexico into a monarchy inviting
Maximilian of Habsburg to assume the newly established Mexican throne. This proclamation ended the era of the Second Federal Republic of Mexico. ==Government==