The 1820 reimposition of the 1812 Constitution dramatically affected the war effort in New Spain. The newly reconstituted municipal governments ceased supporting the royalist counterinsurgency effort with tax revenue. Royalist Colonel Jose Barradas, serving in Veracruz, reported that the “constitutional municipalities have openly refused me any aid. . . I only receive frivolous excuses.” The lack of local financial support caused the disbanding of many militia units that had been engaged in counterinsurgency operations.119
Early in 1821, virtually no constituency favored the status quo. Royalist forces were suffering from battle fatigue and a lack of finances, which literally reduced some units to rags. Military levies and continued destruction prevented economic recovery. The Creole elite and the ecclesiastical hierarchy, both staunch opponents of the insurgents, felt the reimposition of constitutional rule in Spain threatened their ancestral privileges. Surviving rebel units were still far from victory. The moribund economy and the mass mobilization prevented countless Mexicans from obtaining jobs and getting on with their everyday lives.120
Agustin de Iturbide, the son of a noble Basque merchant in Valladolid, facilitated the break-up of the political-military logjam. His father-in-law was the wealthiest and most powerful man in that city. When the independence war began, Iturbide was serving as a lieutenant in the Provincial Regiment of Valladolid. He later claimed that Hidalgo offered him the rank of lieutenant general if he would join the insurgents but that he declined, claiming Hidalgo’s movement “would produce only disorder, massacre, and devastation, without accomplishing the object which he had in
121
Iturbide cast his lot with the royalists and was promoted to captain for outstanding service at Monte de las Cruces. By 1813, he had reached the rank of colonel and became commander of Guanajuato, one of the main theaters of the rebellion. Iturbide not only rose rapidly through the ranks but developed a reputation for brutality, excessive even by the standards of the conflict.122
In 1816, Iturbide’s meteoric rise through the ranks ended when he was relieved of command for financial impropriety and cruelty to non-combatants. Authorities in Spain considered the complaints against him and eventually exonerated him of all charges. However, he did not receive another command until 1820.123
Denied the opportunity to advance his military career, Iturbide turned increasingly to politics. In November 1820, four years after being relieved of his command in Guanajuato, Viceroy Apodaca appointed him as Commander of Southern Mexico, hoping this would enable the royalists to defeat Guerrero’s forces.124
Rather than pursuing military victory, Iturbide sent Apodaca false reports about his “progress” and requested additional troops and supplies. At the same time, he corresponded extensively with various factions of the urban elite in Mexico City and Veracruz, sounding out the possibility of a political solution to the military stalemate.125
On February 24, 1821, after it became apparent that a political solution was viable, Iturbide signed a document stating his intentions in Iguala, a village in the modern state of Guerrero. On March 1, Iturbide formally presented his new proposal, known as the Plan of Iguala, to his officers. Iturbide and his men then took an oath to support the independence of Mexico. The ceremonies ended with a Te Deum chanted at the local church.126
The Plan of Iguala called for an extremely broad coalition, including both royalists and insurgents, to unite against Spain to achieve Mexican independence. Article 1 of the Plan of Iguala established the Roman Catholic Church as the official religion “to the exclusion of all others.” Article 2 proclaimed the “absolute independence” of Mexico. Article 3 called for Mexico to be ruled by a constitutional monarchy. Article 4 invited Fernando, a member of his family, or a member of another ruling dynasty to govern. Article 5 established an interim government until a corte could meet. Article 12 granted citizenship to “all the inhabitants” of New Spain. Article 14 guaranteed the Juero and property of the clergy.127
The Plan of Iguala was as conciliatory as possible in keeping with its goal of independence. To attract conservatives, it declared Spain to be the “most Catholic pious, heroic, and magnanimous nation on earth.” The Plan offered each interest group some of what it desired. It offered all citizens, including Spaniards, security of property. Government, military, and religious officials accepting the Plan could continue in their posts. The most radical proposal, in addition to that of independence itself, was civil equality for all ethnic groups. This served to win over insurgents, many of whose bloodlines had previously been declared to be inferior.
With the advantage of hindsight, one can marvel at the political acumen of the Plan of Iguala. However, early in 1821, the response to Iturbide’s Plan remained in doubt. In many places, people evaluated Iturbide’s program and his capacity to win a definitive victory. Slow communications, especially with a place as isolated as Iguala, gave the newly announced plan the appearance of having settled in limbo. The Puebla newspaper La Abeja partly resolved Iturbide’s problem with disseminating the Plan when it printed it “by mistake.”128
On March 10, insurgent leader Vicente Guerrero, whose forces had repeatedly defeated Iturbide’s, announced his alliance with the former royalist. After having exacted an assurance that citizenship would be extended to men of all races, Guerrero declared Iturbide to be “primer jefe de los ejercitos nacionales” (“commander-in-chief of the national armies”) and placed his forces at Iturbide’s disposal. Then on March 19, Colonel Anastasio Bustamante, one of the leading royalist commanders, joined the cause. Still, at the end of March, Iturbide’s troops numbered only 1,800, many of whom were irregulars who had been in Guerrero’s force.129
Once it became apparent that the Plan of Iguala would attract officers of Bustamante’s stature, an avalanche of royalist defections followed. Sometimes officers joined Iturbide, bringing their units with them. In other cases, royalist units simply melted away. At the beginning of March 1821, the royalist force in Valladolid numbered more than 3,500, but by April 4, only 1,500 remained.130
As both royalist and insurgent forces joined Iturbide’s movement, they formed the Army of Three Guarantees (Ejercito Trigarante). This force took its name from the three main provisions of the Plan of Iguala, the guarantees of independence, of the Roman Catholic religion, and of civil equality. This army won repeated victories, not so much due to its effectiveness but to the collapse of the royalist forces. As historian Christon Archer observed, “Exhausted by eleven years of conflict, the old order simply crumbled without much fighting and faded away.” During April, May, and June of 1821, large parts of the Bajio and Nueva Galicia accepted the Plan of Iguala. On August 2, 1821, the city of Puebla surrendered to Iturbide’s forces.131
Viceroy Apodaca was an able administrator, but proved to be a poor military commander. Initially, he responded to Iturbide by concentrating his veteran troops in Mexico City in anticipation of an attack. This enabled Iturbide to build his forces with little opposition. Apodaca could not even trust the loyalty of the troops he commanded.132
Military officers were attracted by Iturbide’s offer to let them keep their rank and by his pledge to reestablish the military fuero, which had been abolished by the Cortes. Many Creole officers, such as Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, switched allegiance, feeling they had been neglected in the provinces and often left without pay. Many Spanish soldiers accepted the Plan, too, since it promised them safe conduct back to Spain. Other Spanish officers, who had been in Mexico so long that they had developed extensive financial interests, joined Iturbide with the intention of remaining in Mexico. Others disliked the anti-military aspects of the reimposed 1812 constitution.133
Juan O’Donoju, the last viceroy sent over from Spain, arrived on July 30, 1821, just as royalist forces were on the verge of collapse. By August, the Army of Three Guarantees controlled almost all of Mexico except Mexico City, the port of Veracruz, Acapulco, and the fortress of Perote. O’Donoju, a liberal who had been jailed after Fernando reimposed absolutism in 1814, realized he could not save Mexico as a colony.134
O’Donoju accepted Iturbide’s invitation to meet in the town of Cordoba on August 23, 1821. The following day, the two signed the Treaty of Cordoba. As Iturbide later commented, O’Donoju accepted his proposal “as if he had helped me write the plan.” With the treaty, O’Donoju felt he could save Mexico for the Bourbon dynasty, if not for Spain, and lay the foundation for cordial relations between the two nations. Accepting the treaty also preserved the wealth and lives of Spaniards then living in Mexico. O’Donoju had other motivations for quickly accepting Iturbide’s terms. Within weeks of his arrival, two of his nephews, seven officials traveling with him, and a hundred crewmen of the battleship Asia, which had brought him to Mexico, had died of yellow fever at Veracruz. He was also promised a life-time pension, allowing him to remain in Mexico rather than returning to Spain where he would be stigmatized for having lost Mexico.135
The seventeen articles of the Treaty of Cordoba, signed on August 24, largely reiterated the provisions of the Plan of Iguala. Article 2 declared that Mexico would be governed by a moderate constitutional monarchy. Article 8 provided for the immediate establishment of a Governing Provisional Junta, to include O’Donoju, which would function until a Mexican corte could be convened. Article 11 provided for a three-man regency to serve as the executive power. O’Donoju agreed to use his authority to persuade Spanish troops in Mexico City to lay down their arms.136
The Spanish force in Mexico City presented the only remaining obstacle for the Army of Three Guarantees. On September 14, O’Donoju informed its commander that under Spanish law, he remained subject to the viceroy and that resistance was absurd. The commander then ordered his men to lay down their arms. As his final official act, O’Donoju assumed responsibility for marching Spanish troops out of the city.137
On September 27, 1821, Iturbide’s thirty-eighth birthday, he and his 16,000-man Army of Three Guarantees triumphantly entered Mexico City, passing under a magnificent triumphal arch constructed for the occasion. Also present, commanding a division, was Vicente Guerrero. A huge popular festival celebrated the consummation of independence. Indians danced in streets strewn with flowers. Official Mexico celebrated with a Te Deum and a banquet. After Iturbide’s arrival, Mexico enjoyed a period of euphoria, rejoicing, and hope.138
On the following day, September 28, 1821, the Governing Provisional Junta issued a formal Declaration of Independence. Thirty-eight people signed it, none of whom were former insurgents. However, some of the signatories included members of the Guadalupes, former deputies to the Cortes, and a member of the feisty 1808 Mexico City municipal council.139 The declaration read:
The oppression, which the Mexican nation has suffered for 300 years without being able to act
Freely or being able to express itself, ends today. . . . The rights granted by the author of nature
And which are recognized as inalienable and sacred by the civilized nations of the world have been restored. Mexico is now free to form the government which will best ensure its wellbeing. Mexico solemnly declares that it is a sovereign nation and independent of Old Spain.140
Iturbide provided a political program around which various groups could rally to end the war. As historian Timothy Anna noted:
In the short run, the Plan of Iguala swept the whole nation before it precisely because it was a workable compromise. Of course, different adherents to the plan had different motives for supporting it and different ideas about what form of government should be created.141
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