Chapter 16: The First Mexican Empire PDF

Printed by: quinn.smid!@avc:.edu. Printing is for pcil80D8l, privare uso only. No part of1his book may bci npn,dua,d or tnmsmitb:d without pabliahcr'a prior permisaion. VIOl.a1ms will be proeec:uted. CHAPTER 16...

Printed by: quinn.smid!@avc:.edu. Printing is for pcil80D8l, privare uso only. No part of1his book may bci npn,dua,d or tnmsmitb:d without pabliahcr'a prior permisaion. VIOl.a1ms will be proeec:uted. CHAPTER 16 THE FIRST MEXICAN EM PIRE PO MP AND CIRCUMSTANCE lo the best of cilOlIDstaoces nation building is a pm:arious business. but how does one create a nation out of a newly independent staui when the economy is in shambles and the political atmosphere is peIVaded by acrimony and mistrust? How does one fashion a set of nati~ con- tours when ideol~cal fissures and profound regional and ethnic differences tear arthe heart of the body politic? These questions obsessed many Latin American leadem in the nineteenth i century, but binding nationalisms ~uld be long in coming. For his pan, the self-important Iturbide was less concerned with building a nation than with becoming its sovw:ign. As provided bythe Plan de lguala, ltwbide named a provisional junta to govern the coun- try. This junta, completely dominated by conservative criollo interests. in tum named him 10 serve as irs presiding officer. The first order of business was 10-s'etecr. a five-man regency 10 exercise executive functions until an emperor could be designa'kd. The junta chose frurbide as one of the five and award.ed him a new military title Gen,cral(simo de Tima y Mar (Supreme General of Land and Sea), as wcll as a salary of one hundred cwenty thousand pesos annually_ Meanwhlfe: an independent congress. also domui';;ted by conservatives. de.bated Mexico's future. Although a small recalcitrant group ~.to muster sympathy for a republic. lrurbide's conservative cohorrs controlled the organizational proceedings. While they beat back all at- tempts at republicanism, they began to ,...fver on a series of economic and military Issues. When the congress, though divided, decided to cut back on the size of the Army of the Three Guarantees and decreed that no member of the regency could simultaneously hold militaty office, lrurbide realized that his ranks were being thinned and that time was no longer on hb side. If he failed to act decisively. the crown he wanted so desperately might be denied him_ On the evening of May 18 the generaJCsi1110 staged a dramatic demonstration in bis own behalf. Troops were ordered out ofthe barracks and into the sueers. firing muskers and rock- eis into the air and shouting "VivaAgustfn I, Emperor ofMexico! they enticed other soldiers 10 join them. As the frenzy grew in the downtown business distria. thou.~ands ofciviHansac companied the mob on its way to Iturbide's residence. Once there the multitudes demanded 235 Printed by: [email protected]. Printing is for pmcma1, priva&e me only. No part of'lhis book may be reprodnced or transmitted without publisher's prior permisaii>n. Violatvn will be prosec:utcd.  236 IU'-OkM.ANO Rl!.A CTION that Lheir favorite declare himself emperor aLonce. ltu.rbide 1old friends who were in his home at the time that although he wanted 10 go out on his balcony and rum them down, he yielded for the sake of 1hc public good. Despi1e his feigned deference. !he following morning Iturbide appeared personally before the congress and, with his mob shouting in the galleries. lhe imimidated body named him constl1uLlonal emperor of Mexico. In his oalh of office he s"'Ore be.lore Cod and the lloly Evaogels to uphold and defend Lhe Roman Calholic religion a1 the exclusion of all 01hers and to enforce all laws and decrees promulgated by the congress th,11 chose him. With Lhe throne thus occupied, the congress set 10 work. not on the conspicuous de- mands of 1he Mexican nation bu1 on defining proper etiqucn,· and protocol in an obvious auempt 10 emula1e 1he grea test imperial regime 1he world had ever known. In June the congress refined the organizational structure of Lhe monarchy, dooaring it to be heredi- tary.md assigning Lilies of nobility 10 his immediate family. M~y 19, the day of Iturbide'< proclamation, was decJared a national holiday, as we.re his binhday and the birthdays of his d1 ildren. The grea1est prepa,·ations of all ,vcre n1.1d~ for 1he o'fficW coronation ceremon~ in July. Although several liberal deputies argued that kissing,afthe hand and bending of the knee were repl\gnan1 10 the dignity of free peorlcs, Lhclr voices were lost to 1he monarchist majority Th~ effons were all based on a French model, and 1.he congress hired a frend1 baron= '1ho had designed the cosrumes for Napoleon BonJJllfrte some iwenty-two }'l?,US before. 'Ihe.longress authorlzE:d a new Mexican order, 1he Knlgf11., of Cuadalupe. 10 panicipa1e in 1he,toro11.1tion. In preparation, jewelry was borrowed,/ Lh.rones were erected, banners and Oags were hung from church to,eers, and ll:Jms of wo~s were engaged to scour the stree1s,, !'he citi7.enry of lhe capital was being prepared.for Lhe mos1 pn!tenLious speaade ever 10 ocror in Mexico City. Al 8:00 A.M. on Sunda uly 21, 1822, amid Lhe din of an:illery"Salvos and the clamor of severa l milit.1ry band-. the imperial conege wo,·ked i1., wa).tlo11~rpc1ed and nower-wewn path 10 the provisional palace, and the royal family was escQrted to Lhe central cathedral by an honor guard rt"CeDlly designated by the congress. /U the d90r the emperor and empress were met by l\\'O bis'¥1ps. who blessed lhem with holy watet",\nd led them 10 the rwo tl1rones placed on ti\e ahar.;'.J11e bishop of Guadalajara then celebJllfed high mass and consecrated the em- petOt.,nd empress wlLh saned oil. Wi1h treme~ous soiernnity 1he prcsidem of the congress place the crmon on Jturbide's head and hl';.in um, placed a sl ightly smaller one on the head ot t.he empress. The bishop !hen intoned ~11 lmpamor i,i aeremum. While the ou~ 1rappings of ll1e emplre were pretemious 10 an absurd degree. they Wt're 001 entirely without purpose andm~ning. ltutbide's understanding of Mexico's past, while by no means profound, was acute enough. I le realized Lha1 the entire governmental system ofl11ecolonial period bad been predicated upon loyalty to the king and the aown. lndepen- dence obviously underrut the personal loyalty that bound Mexican society together, but the emperor ,.anted 10 cnpit.~lize upon 1he 1ime-1es1ed Lradition. While he became emperor in name, in fact he became a caudllo, a charismatic military leader with a per.;onal following. The congress had given him the leg,11base he rnnsidered vital; 1he os1en1ation that engulfed his person helped 10 l'einforce Lhe mystique of his indispensability and to bl ur lhc d istinc- tions between the man and the office. Iturbide worked hard 10 identify the new state wilh his own person ond, for a while. seemed 10 be succeeding. Printed by: quinn.smi1h@avc:.ec1n. Printing is for pi,ncmal, privata uae only. No part of1his book may ba n,pmduced OJ' trammitted wilhont pabliahet11 prior permilllion. Vwla1on will be p!'OleCUted.  'JhFirstMtrican Empin 237 Agustin_ drnmmide (1783-1824). Changing aflegiancr from the Spanlih 10 the IIUUlgcnl cause. llumide ~ fully oonduded 1h, fight for independence and Ind huruelf ~med emperor of Mexico. PROBLEMS FACIN G THE NEW EMPIRE The empire was huge. Embracing much of Lhe old viceroyalty of N.ew Spain, it st.retched in the nonh to California and the present-day southwest of the Uohed States, and the south induded all of Ceno:al America with the exception of Panamj,, l:ong subject to what they considered the autocratic rule of Guatemala, Cenual Americans were divided about whether to unite with the Mexican empire. ltuJbide sent in an army of six hundred men to ensure their adhesion o the empire, but the connection remailed ienuous. A more senous problem occurred with the neighbor to the nonh. The new regime quite naru(!llly wished 10 serure the official recogniti.9n of the United States, an indeptndeni re- public-for nearly fifty years. The cultivation oJ!iarmonious relations was deemed vital to the s~ty of Mexico's nonhem provinces '11a imponam for commercial ties. Areas that be- 1