Editing History of Mexico (section)

==Independence era (1808–1829)==
This period was marked by unanticipated events that upended the three hundred years of Spanish colonial rule. The colony went from rule by the legitimate Spanish monarch and his appointed viceroy to an illegitimate monarch and viceroy put in place by a coup. Later, Mexico would see the return of the Spanish monarchy and a later stalemate with insurgent guerrilla forces.

Events in Spain during the [[Peninsular War]] and the ''[[Trienio Liberal]]'' upended the situation in New Spain. After Spanish military officers overthrew the absolutist monarch [[Ferdinand VII of Spain|Ferdinand VII]] and returned to the liberal [[Spanish Constitution of 1812]], conservatives in New Spain who had staunchly defended the Spanish monarchy changed course and pursued independence. Royalist army officer [[Agustín de Iturbide]] became an advocate of independence and persuaded insurgent leader [[Vicente Guerrero]] to join in a coalition, forming the [[Army of the Three Guarantees]]. Within six months of that joint venture, royal rule in New Spain collapsed, and independence was achieved.

The constitutional monarchy envisioned with a European royal on the throne did not pass; Creole military officer Iturbide became Emperor Agustín I. His increasingly autocratic rule dismayed many, and a coup overthrew him in 1823. Mexico became a [[First Mexican Republic|federated republic]] and promulgated a [[1824 Constitution of Mexico|constitution in 1824]]. While General [[Guadalupe Victoria]] became the first president, serving his entire term, the presidential transition became less of an electoral event and more of one by force of arms. Insurgent general and prominent Liberal politician Vicente Guerrero was briefly president in 1829, then deposed and judicially murdered by his Conservative opponents.

Mexico experienced political instability and violence in the first years after independence, with more to come until the late nineteenth century. The presidency changed hands 75 times in the next half-century.<ref>Michael C. Meyer,  William L. Sherman, and Susan M. Deeds, ''The Course of Mexican History'' (2002), p 413</ref> The new republic's situation did not promote economic growth or development, with the silver mines damaged, trade disrupted, and lingering violence.<ref>[[John H. Coatsworth|Coatsworth, John H.]], "Obstacles to Economic Growth in Nineteenth-Century Mexico," ''American Historical Review'' vol. 83, No. 1 (Feb. 1978), pp. 80–100</ref><ref>Haber, Stephen. "Assessing the Obstacles to Industrialisation: The Mexican Economy, 1830–1940," ''Journal of Latin American Studies'', 24#1 (1992), pp. 1–32</ref> Although British merchants established a network of merchant houses in the major cities the situation was bleak. "Trade was stagnant. Imports did not pay, contraband drove prices down, private and public debts went unpaid, merchants suffered all manner of injustices and operated at the mercy of weak and corruptible governments."<ref>Health, Hilarie J., "British Merchant Houses in Mexico, 1821–1860: Conforming Business Practices and Ethics," ''Hispanic American Historical Review'' 73#2 (1993), pp. 261–290 [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2517756 online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200605161900/https://www.jstor.org/stable/2517756 |date=2020-06-05 }}</ref>

===Prelude to independence===
[[File:Viceroy José de Iturrigaray.jpg|thumb|right|Viceroy [[José de Iturrigaray]]]]
Inspired by the American and French Revolutions, Mexican insurgents saw an opportunity for independence in 1808 when Napoleon invaded Spain, and the Spanish king [[Charles IV of Spain|Charles IV]] was forced to surrender. Napoleon placed his brother [[Joseph Bonaparte]] on the Spanish throne. In New Spain, viceroy [[José de Iturrigaray]] proposed to provisionally form an autonomous government, with the support of American-born Spaniards on the [[Cabildo (council)|city council]] of Mexico City. Peninsular-born Spaniards in the colony saw this as undermining their power, and [[Gabriel J. de Yermo]] led a coup against the viceroy, arresting him in September 1808. Spanish conspirators named Spanish military officer [[Pedro de Garibay]] viceroy. His tenure was brief, from September 1808 until July 1809, when he was replaced by [[Francisco Javier de Lizana y Beaumont]], whose tenure was also short until the arrival of viceroy [[Francisco Javier Venegas]] from Spain. Two days after he entered Mexico City on 14 September 1810, Father [[Miguel Hidalgo]] called to arms in the village of Hidalgo. France and the Spanish king invaded Spain, was deposed, and [[Joseph Bonaparte]] imposed. New Spain's viceroy [[José de Iturrigaray]], sympathetic to Creoles, sought to create a legitimate government but was overthrown by powerful Peninsular Spaniards; hard-line Spaniards clamped down on any notion of Mexican autonomy. Creoles who had hoped that there was a path to Mexican autonomy, perhaps within the Spanish Empire, now saw that their only path was independence through rebellion.

===War of Independence, 1810–1821===
{{Main|Mexican War of Independence}}
{{see also|Timeline of Mexican War of Independence}}
[[File:TrigaranteMexico.jpg|thumb|Entry into Mexico City by the Mexican army]]
In northern Mexico, Father [[Miguel Hidalgo]], creole militia officer [[Ignacio Allende]], and [[Juan Aldama]] met to plot rebellion. When the plot was discovered in September 1810, Hidalgo called his parishioners to arms in the village of Dolores, touching off a massive rebellion in the region of the Bajío. This event of 16 September 1810 is now called the "[[Grito de Dolores|Cry of Dolores]]," and is now celebrated as Independence Day. Shouting, "Independence and death to the Spaniards!" Some 80,000 poorly organized and armed villagers formed a force that initially rampaged unstopped in [[Bajío]]. The viceroy was slow to respond, but once the royal army engaged the untrained, poorly armed and led mass, they routed the insurgents in the [[Battle of Calderón Bridge]]. Hidalgo was captured, defrocked as a priest, and executed.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Hamill | first1 = Hugh M. Jr. | year = 1961 | title = Early Psychological Warfare in the Hidalgo Revolt | journal = Hispanic American Historical Review | volume = 41 | issue = 2| pages = 206–235 | doi = 10.1215/00182168-41.2.206 | jstor=2510201| doi-access = free }}</ref>

Another priest, [[José María Morelos]], took over and was more successful in his quest for [[republicanism]] and independence. Spain's monarchy was restored in 1814 after [[Napoleon]]'s defeat, and it fought back and executed Morelos in 1815. The scattered insurgents formed guerrilla bands. In 1820, the Spanish royal army brigadier [[Agustín de Iturbide]] changed sides and proposed independence, issuing the [[Plan of Iguala]]. Iturbide persuaded insurgent leader [[Vicente Guerrero]] to join this new push for independence. General [[Isidoro Montes de Oca]], with few and poorly armed insurgents, inflicted a real defeat on the royalist Gabriel from Armijo, and they also got enough equipment to arm 1,800 rebels properly. He stood out for his courage in the [[Siege of Acapulco (1813)|Siege of Acapulco]] in 1813, under the orders of General José María Morelos y Pavón.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Guevarra |first=Rudy P. |year=2011 |title=Filipinos in Nueva España: ''Filipino-Mexican Relations, Mestizaje, and Identity in Colonial and Contemporary Mexico'' |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/456194/pdf |journal=Journal of Asian American Studies |volume=14 |issue=3 |at=p. 414; Citation 56 |doi=10.1353/jaas.2011.0029 |s2cid=144426711 |quote=According to Ricardo Pinzon, these two Filipino soldiers—Francisco Mongoy and Isidoro Montes de Oca—were so distinguished in battle that they are regarded as folk heroes in Mexico. General Vicente Guerrero later became the first president of Mexico of African descent. See Floro L. Mercene, "Central America: Filipinos in Mexican History}}</ref> Isidoro inflicted defeat on the royalist army from Spain. Impressed, Itubide joined forces with Guerrero and demanded independence, a constitutional monarchy in Mexico, the continued religious monopoly for the Catholic Church, and equality for Spaniards and those born in Mexico. Royalists who now followed Iturbide's change of sides and insurgents formed the [[Army of the Three Guarantees]]. Within six months, the new army controlled all but the ports of Veracruz and Acapulco. On September 27, 1821, Iturbide and the last viceroy, [[Juan O'Donojú]], signed the [[Treaty of Córdoba]] whereby Spain granted the demands. O'Donojú had been operating under instructions issued months before the latest events. Spain refused to recognize Mexico's independence formally, and the situation became even more complicated by O'Donojú's death in October 1821.<ref>Bazant, Jan. "From Independence to the Liberal Republic, 1821–1867" in ''Mexico Since Independence'', [[Leslie Bethell]], ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1991, pp. 1–3</ref>

===First Mexican Empire===
{{Main|First Mexican Empire}}
[[File:Agustín de Iturbide print.jpg|thumb|left|Agustín de Iturbide the first [[Emperor of Mexico]] in 1822 after leading the Mexican War of Independence against Spain, but his reign was short-lived, lasting only until 1823 when he abdicated, and Mexico transitioned to a republic.]]

When Mexico achieved its independence, the southern portion of New Spain became independent as well, as a result of the Treaty of Córdoba, so Central America, present-day [[Costa Rica]], [[El Salvador]], [[Guatemala]], [[Honduras]], [[Nicaragua]], and part of [[Chiapas]] were [[Central America under Mexican rule|incorporated into the Mexican Empire]]. Although Mexico now had its own government, there was no revolutionary social or economic change. The formal, legal [[casta|racial distinctions]] were abolished, but power remained in the hands of white elites. The power vacuum left by the viceroyalty was filled by the military and the Catholic Church. Both the army and the church lost personnel while establishing the new regime. An index of the fall in the economy was the decrease in revenues to the church via the tithe, a tax on agricultural output. Mining, especially, was hard hit. It had been the motor of the colonial economy, but there was considerable fighting during the war of independence in Zacatecas and Guanajuato, the two most important silver mining sites.<ref>Bazant, Jan. "From Independence to the Liberal Republic, 1821–1867" in ''Mexico Since Independence''. Leslie Bethell, ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1991, pp. 2–4.</ref> Despite Viceroy O'Donojú's signing the Treaty of Córdoba giving Mexico independence, the Spanish government did not recognize it as legitimate and claimed sovereignty over Mexico.

With Spain's rejection of the treaty and no European royal taking up the offer of being Mexico's monarch, many Creoles decided that having a Mexican as its monarch was acceptable. A local army garrison proclaimed Iturbide emperor. Since the church refused to crown him, the president of the constituent Congress did so on 21 July 1822. His long-term rule was doomed. He did not have the respect of the Mexican nobility. Republicans sought that form of government rather than a monarchy. The emperor set up all the trappings of a monarchy with a court. Iturbide became increasingly dictatorial and shut down Congress. Worried that a young colonel, [[Antonio López de Santa Anna]], would raise a rebellion, the emperor relieved him of his command. Rather than obeying the order, Santa Anna proclaimed a republic and hastily called for the reconvening of Congress. Four days later, he walked back to his republicanism and called for the removal of the emperor in the [[Plan of Casa Mata]]. Santa Anna secured the support of insurgent general [[Guadalupe Victoria]]. The army signed on to the plan, and the emperor surrendered on March 19, 1823.<ref>Bazant,  "From Independence to the Liberal Republic, 1821–1867", pp. 4–8</ref>

===First Mexican Republic===
{{Further|First Mexican Republic|1824 Constitution of Mexico}}
[[File:Acción militar en Pueblo Viejo (Batalla de Tampico, 11-9-1829), Carlos París (1820 - 1835).png|thumb|right|[[Battle of Tampico (1829)]] a conflict between Mexican forces led by General Antonio López de Santa Anna and Spanish loyalists attempting to reconquer Mexico, resulting in a decisive Mexican victory that further solidified Mexico's independence from Spain.]]
Those who overthrew the emperor then nullified the [[Plan of Iguala]], which had called for a constitutional monarchy and the Treaty of Córdoba, freeing them to choose a new government. It was to be a federal republic, and on 4 October 1824, the United Mexican States (''Estados Unidos Mexicanos'') was established. The new constitution was partly modeled on the [[constitution of the United States]]. It guaranteed basic human rights and defined Mexico as a representative federal republic in which the responsibilities of government were divided between a central government and several smaller units called states. It also defined Catholicism as the official and only religion of the republic. Central America did not join the federated republic and took a separate political path from 1 July 1823.

Mexico's establishment of a new form of government did not bring stability. The civilian government contested political power from the army and the Catholic Church. The military and the church retained legal privileges called ''[[fuero]]s''. General [[Guadalupe Victoria]] was followed in office by General [[Vicente Guerrero]], gaining the position through a coup after losing the [[1828 Mexican general election|1828 elections]]. The [[Conservative Party (Mexico)|Conservative Party]] saw an opportunity to seize control and led a counter-coup under General [[Anastasio Bustamante]], who served as president from 1830 to 1832, and again from 1837 to 1841.