Centralist Republic of Mexico

Mexican Republic
República Mexicana
1835–1846
  •   Mexico
  •   Disputed land between Texas and Mexico
  •   Texas and Yucatan
CapitalMexico City
Common languagesSpanish (official), Nahuatl, Yucatec Maya, Mixtecan languages, Zapotec languages
Religion
Catholic (official religion)
GovernmentUnitary presidential republic
President 
• 1835–1836
Miguel Barragán
• 1836–1837
José Justo Corro
• 1837–1841
Anastasio Bustamante
• 1841–1844
Antonio López de Santa Anna
• 1844–1845
José Joaquín de Herrera
• 1846
Mariano Paredes
LegislatureCongress
Senate
Chamber of Deputies
History 
23 October 1835
15 December 1835
2 March 1836
1838–1839
• Siege of the National Palace
1840
1841
1843
• Mexican–American War breaks out
12 May 1846
• 1824 Constitution restored
22 August 1846
Population
• 1836[1]
7,843,132
• 1842[1]
7,016,300
CurrencyMexican real
Preceded by
Succeeded by
First Mexican Republic
Republic of the Rio Grande
Soconusco
Tabasco
Second Federal Republic of Mexico
Republic of Texas
Republic of the Rio Grande
Tabasco
Republic of Yucatán
California Republic
U.S. provisional government of New Mexico
State of Deseret
Puebla
Today part of

The Centralist Republic of Mexico (Spanish: República Centralista de México), or in the anglophone scholarship, the Central Republic,[2] officially the Mexican Republic (Spanish: República Mexicana), was a unitary political regime established in Mexico on 23 October 1835, under a new constitution known as the Siete Leyes (lit.'seven laws') after conservatives repealed the federalist Constitution of 1824 and ended the First Mexican Republic. It would ultimately last until 1846, when the Constitution of 1824 was restored at the beginning of the Mexican–American War.

Two presidents would predominate throughout this era: Santa Anna and Anastasio Bustamante.

The Centralist Republic marked nearly ten years of uninterrupted rule by the Conservative Party. Conservatives had attributed the political chaos of the First Mexican Republic to the empowerment of states over the federal government and mass participation in the political system through universal male suffrage. Conservative elites saw the solution to the problem as abolishing the federal system and creating a centralized one, reminiscent of the political system during the colonial era.[3]

The political and economic chaos that had marked the First Republic, however, continued well throughout the Centralist Republic. Infighting among the conservatives resulted in administrations continuing to be interrupted by successful military coups, and another centralist constitution known as the Bases Orgánicas (lit.'organic bases') would be attempted in 1843. Significant political and military agitation for the restoration of the federalist system continued as well. The period was marked by multiple secession attempts across Mexico, including the loss of Texas and Yucatan, and two international conflicts: the Pastry War, caused by French citizens' economic claims against the Mexican government, and the Mexican–American War, as a consequence of the annexation of Texas by the United States.

Instability in the government due to the beginning of the Mexican–American War, including a revolt by parts of the army, finally resulted in restoration of the Constitution of 1824 on 22 August 1846, beginning the Second Federal Republic of Mexico.

  1. ^ a b "Portal Politico del Ciudadano INEP, A. C." INEP.org. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
  2. ^ Michael P. Costeloe (1993). The Central Republic in Mexico and the 'Hombres de bien in the Age of Santa Anna. Cambridge University Press.
  3. ^ Costeloe, The Central Republic in Mexico, 1835–1846: Hombres de Bien in the Age of Santa Anna.