The long and painful transition from colony to independent republic, from absolutist monarchical rule to constitutional government, from corporatist-feudal society to one that privileged individualism, from tradition to modernity, unfolded during Santa Anna's lifetime. His career, his successes and his failures, his rises and falls and the choices he made were all reflections of the times in which he lived.
Will Fowler, 200758
In 1794, Santa Anna was born in Jalapa, Veracruz, the son of a minor official in the colonial administration. At age sixteen, he joined a Veracruz-based infantry militia unit. Between 1811 and 1815, he fought pro-independence forces in northeastern Mexico and later commanded 500 troops in the Veracruz area. In contrast to many of his timid colleagues in the royalist officer corps, Santa Anna was a vigorous commander. On his own initiative, he made land available to amnestied insurgents to provide them with an alternative to warfare.59
Even at the age of twenty-eight, Santa Anna impressed future U. S. Ambassador Joel Poinsett, who commented that he possessed “a very intelligent and expressive countenance.” Santa Anna showed a charismatic quality of leadership and the ability to gain control of the Veracruz customs receipts. He first rose to prominence when he issued his Plan of Veracruz calling for limits on Iturbide’s power. His defeat of the 1829 Spanish invasion and his leading the forces that ousted President Bustamante further increased his stature. Before he passed from the political scene, Santa Anna had served as president of Mexico six times.60
In 1833, Mexico’s state legislatures provided Santa Anna with sixteen of the eighteen votes cast, thus electing him president for the 1833—1837 term. He immediately put his personal stamp on the presidency by retiring to his 220,000-acre Veracruz hacienda, Manga del Clavo (Clove Spike), and leaving governance in the hands of Vice-President Valentin Gomez Farias. This enabled Santa Anna to avoid instituting the reforms his liberal constituency expected. Such reforms would inevitably divide society and undermine his popularity.61
Gomez Farias was the model of a liberal, middle-class provincial. A native of Guadalajara, he had practiced medicine in Aguascalientes and then served as a congressman from Zacatecas. Upon
Assuming power, he attempted to impose the values of the Enlightenment upon his reluctant countrymen. He believed members of society should be free to rise or fall according to their ability and that the primary responsibility of government was to ensure that freedom.62
Gomez Farias and his allies in Congress introduced sweeping changes affecting the whole society. Following liberal tenets, he shifted the responsibility for education from Church to the states and secularized Franciscan missions in the north. He made payment of agricultural tithes to the Church voluntary. To replenish the national treasury, the government ordered the Church to sell all nonessential property and levied a 6 percent tax on such sales. Priests were forbidden to bring politics into their sermons. Gomez Farias canceled the fueros of both the Church and the army. He also reduced the size of the military, placed governors in command of military forces serving in their state, and strengthened state militias. Finally, he launched an intense propaganda campaign against wealthy aristocrats, claiming that wealth should circulate and not remain in the hands of the few.63
By 1834, Gomez Farias had not only instituted sweeping change but had accumulated a formidable list of political opponents without having consolidated a power base. To devout common people, his measures affecting the Church constituted rampant anti-clericalism. The Church and the military resented both the end of their fueros and their reduced role in society. Many wealthy individuals, who in the abstract supported free enterprise, resented their loss of monopoly and privilege.
Santa Anna possessed a keen sense of the politically possible that bore no relation to ideology. In 1834, he seized upon opposition to Gomez Farias and staged a coup. The elite, the military, and the clergy supported the coup. Santa Anna also drew support from some individuals who had previously favored federalism, but who had decided Mexico required a strong central government to maintain control of Texas, impose order, adequately finance the government, and keep the nation whole. In April 1834, Gomez Farias resigned and the left the country, ending the first great attempt to reform the Church and the army.64
Santa Anna then began to restructure government in a manner more sweeping than Gomez Farias had attempted. He dissolved Congress after it granted him the power “to make as many changes in the Constitution of 1824 as he should think needful for the good of the nation without the hindrances and delays which that instrument prescribed.”65
A new constitution, promulgated in 1836, required voters to have an income of at least a hundred pesos a year or “honest, useful” employment. Such a requirement reduced male suffrage by 60 percent. The constitution also introduced a minimum income requirement for members of the chamber of deputies, senators, and the president. States, which lost their political and financial autonomy, were downgraded to “departments,” whose governors were appointed by the president. Santa Anna appointed many aristocratic militia officers as department governors. State legislatures were eliminated. Officials appointed by department governors assumed most municipal functions, greatly limiting peasants’ ability to compete for local power and protect their interests. Federal army officers took command of state militias, rendering these forces incapable of defending state interests.66
Santa Anna’s scrapping of the federalist political structure won him the support of a broad range of interests. The army and the Church supported him for having returned to them the power and privilege that they had previously enjoyed. Hacendados supported him for his having denied peasants access to local political power. The Mexico City elite supported him because he restored power to the capital, enabling them to protect their interests in the provinces. Many others supported Santa Anna simply because he promised an end to insecurity and political strife.67
As has so often been the case, those promising to rule with a firm hand to end strife have only increased conflict. Provincial interests in Yucatan, Zacatecas, and Texas refused to accept Santa Anna’s centralization of power. Many Yucatecans considered Mexico a greater liability than Spain since it lacked the mother country’s wealth, stability, and trade connections. Zacatecas sought to keep the federal government at arm’s length so more wealth from its rich silver mines would remain in the state, rather than disappearing into federal coffers. In Texas, Anglo settlers who had been allowed to colonize the area after Mexican independence formed the nucleus of the opposition. Some in Texas preferred to remain a part of Mexico, but under the decentralized government provided by the 1824 constitution. Others saw their opposition to Santa Anna as a wedge issue they could use to wrest sovereignty from Mexico and join the United States, from where the overwhelming majority of the colonists had come.68
Santa Anna’s decisive responses to these movements left permanent changes in the map of Mexico. Since Zacatecas was the closest of the upstarts, he advanced on the state with a 4,000-man force and delivered an ultimatum, declaring that the state militia should lay down its arms or be attacked. Zacatecans rejected the ultimatum since they knew Santa Anna would abolish their state militia, and by so doing, render the state unable to resist the new order. Santa Anna’s forces took the state capital in a pre-dawn surprise attack. He not only allowed his troops to plunder the city but removed Aguascalientes from the jurisdiction of Zacatecas, making it a federal territory. Zacatecas never again played a major role on the national political scene.69
Texas presented a greater challenge due to its distance from Mexico City. Nonetheless, Santa Anna marched his troops through the central Mexican desert to arrive in San Antonio in February 1836. There, a defiant, largely Anglo force held an old mission now known as the Alamo. Santa Anna’s forces stormed the Alamo, killing all its defenders. Feeling this victory ended the Anglo military threat, he very unwisely divided his forces so they could drive what remained of the Anglo opposition east back into Louisiana. On April 21, his 1,200-man force was camped at San Jacinto, near the present city of Houston. There, 910 Texas rebels under the command of Sam Houston routed his force in a surprise attack. Santa Anna was captured and, in order to secure his release, he agreed to recognize Texas’s independence from Mexico. After the fall of the Alamo, Anglo colonists had unequivocally embraced separation from Mexico. Even though the Mexican government refused to recognize Texas’s independence, the rebels had won de facto independence.
Following his release from Texas, Santa Anna returned to Manga del Clavo—as often occurred when his fortunes declined. In 1838, luck favored Santa Anna in the form of a French invasion. As was the norm in international diplomacy of the time, the French government demanded the payment of damage claims made by its citizens against the Mexican government—a sum of $600,000. These claims included compensation for a French-owned pastry shop destroyed when the mob sacked the Parian market. When the bankrupt Mexican government failed to honor the claims, France landed troops in Veracruz. This incident is known as the Pastry War because of the pastry shop claim.
Santa Anna assembled a force that pushed the French back to their ships. Mexico later met the French monetary claims, but did not yield to other French demands, such as the dismissal of officials the French claimed had mistreated French citizens. This action came at a high personal cost for Santa Anna, since French artillery riddled his leg with shrapnel. Doctors amputated his left leg below the knee after it turned gangrenous. However, Santa Anna’s rallying of troops to save Mexico’s honor did restore his reputation.70
Having redeemed himself politically, Santa Anna returned to the presidency in 1839. To consolidate his position, he attempted to muzzle the press, referring to reporters as “a race of delinquents” and urging state governors to “take the most energetic measures available. . . to purse and apprehend” those responsible for all “seditious” printing.71
Neither Santa Anna nor any other Mexican could effectively govern. Between 1839 and 1847, there were twenty-one presidencies, with Santa Anna repeatedly returning to the National Palace. Since presidents came and went with such frequency, none could reshape Mexico. A new constitution, promulgated in 1843 in an attempt to correct the flaws in the two previous constitutions, failed to provide stability.72
During these revolving presidencies, ceremony replaced substance. In 1842, Santa Anna staged an elaborate funeral parade to Santa Paula Cemetery, where his severed leg was solemnly interred. He also established a holiday of national sacrifice on the anniversary of the day he lost his leg. The next year, Santa Anna was serving as president when the new constitution was proclaimed. A day-long round of parades, processions, and speeches, a Te Deum, and a bull fight were capped by filling the fountains of the Alameda park with sangria so the poor could celebrate publicly while the wealthy held private parties.73
An 1844 coup ousted Santa Anna, who had fallen out of favor due to the bankrupt state of the treasury, his despotic measures, excessive military spending, and the lack of progress on retaking Texas, which was the rationale for increased taxes. Mobs then invaded the Santa Paula Cemetery, destroyed the cenotaph marking the resting place for Santa Anna’s leg, and gleefully dragged the leg through the streets.74
Santa Anna continued to swirl into and out of the presidency, and, when his fortunes plummeted, into exile. He assumed personal command of the army facing the U. S. forces during the Mexican—American War. With Mexico’s defeat and its loss of New Mexico and California, Santa Anna again went into exile.
Following the Mexican—American War, Mexico hit a low point. Losing half its territory demoralized the nation, Yucatan was in rebellion, there were revolts in the heartland, and the Apache and Comanche raided far into northern Mexico and took refuge north of the newly established U. S.—Mexican border. Communications remained poor, and little industry had developed.
This formed the backdrop for a victorious conservative rebellion in 1852. Conservatives claimed that embracing foreign ideas such as federalism and rejecting Mexico’s Spanish heritage had resulted in the moral and political disintegration of the nation. The victors wanted to create a government modeled on the old colonial order and saw Mexico’s defeat in the Mexican—American War as validation of their views. They also felt that economic growth required a strong central
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Government.
In March 1853, given the power vacuum, eighteen of the twenty-three state legislatures voted to select Santa Anna as president. He returned to the presidency, established a military dictatorship, and promised stability. On this basis, most of the elite backed him. All state legislatures and most town councils were abolished. Santa Anna governed without a constitution and became a monarch in all but name, assuming the title of “His Extremely Serene Highness.” During one eight-month period, military spending accounted for 93.9 percent of the government budget. In trying to resurrect the old colonial model, Santa Anna reestablished compulsory payment of agricultural tithes to the Church.76
His Extremely Serene Highness tolerated no political dissent and exiled those who refused to kowtow to him, including the liberal governor of Oaxaca, Benito Juarez. In 1854, John Black, the American consul in Mexico City, commented on the Santa Anna administration: “There is no doubt generally speaking that it is the most unpopular government that has ever existed in this country since their independence, although nothing dare be said against it.”77
Santa Anna’s final administration did improve highways, reform the judicial system, and promote education. Medals were given to outstanding educators. Visiting Spanish poet Jose Zorrilla wrote that all bandits had been caught and executed, leaving only Santa Anna to rob.78
Once again, dictatorial control imposed by Santa Anna led to revolt. Juan Alvarez, who had fought royalists in the area now forming the state of Guerrero, led the rebellion. From 1820 to 1862, Alvarez controlled this area, maintaining a political fiefdom. During this period, he protected Indian land rights and provided tax relief. Those he protected formed his power base.
The rebels’ March 1854 manifesto became known as the Plan of Ayutla. It promised the removal of Santa Anna, the writing of yet another constitution, and constituting the nation “in a stable lasting manner” to guarantee individual liberty.79
Some of the rebels’ proclamations were more radical. They accused Santa Anna of having resurrected the “oligarchic” ruling class that had murdered Guerrero and that was sucking Mexico’s blood dry. The rebels emphasized the need for a political system that included all of Mexico’s citizens, not the just wealthy Creoles.
Santa Anna’s intemperate spending for government and the military made inevitable the imposition of new taxes, which further undermined him. These taxes fell on, and alienated, landholders and the Church. By the early 1850s, many moneylenders had invested in factories and sought stability and access to national markets. When they realized that Santa Anna could not guarantee these, they supplied funds to Alvarez. At the same time, thousands in small towns and villages rallied against Santa Anna in the hope that the Plan of Ayutla would allow the restoration
Of federalism.80
In August 1855, as his elite support crumbled and the heterogeneous coalition of creoles, Indians, and mestizos opposing him continued to grow, Santa Anna resigned and went into exile, sailing on a warship named Iturbide. In 1874, he was allowed to return to Mexico, where he died two years later impoverished and nearly forgotten.81
The rebels’ 1855 victory represented the triumph of the periphery over the center, of militia units over the regular army, and of the countryside over the city. A broad coalition facilitated victory, and like all such alliances, once it had accomplished its original purpose, it required some sorting out to determine its direction. What distinguishes the Ayutla movement from other uprisings of the period was that its triumph ushered a new political generation into power. This group would radically change existing political structures.82
In the early nineteenth century, Santa Anna used his impressive political talents to repeatedly assume the presidency. One of the keys to his success was his ability to appear to be above partisan interests in a bitterly divided environment, to be beholden to no faction, and to assume power reluctantly. Santa Anna understood the importance of propaganda in a way none of his antagonists did. He and his followers converted his campaigns into epic legends and his questionable triumphs into dazzling victories. His political longevity did not result from military prowess, since his defeats outweighed his victories. However, his showering the military with promotions, pay raises, pensions, and prestige during each of his administrations facilitated his repeated return to power. Finally, his strong regional base in Veracruz gave him control over the Veracruz customs receipts, upon which the national government depended.83
At the end of his final presidency in 1855, many held Santa Anna responsible for Mexico’s impoverishment, its being decreased in size by half, and its being overwhelmed by economic woes and profiteering. As a result, Santa Anna has joined the man he helped depose, Iturbide, in Mexico’s pantheon of anti-heroes.84
However, Mexico’s early nineteenth century ills were more of a reflection of the times than of Santa Anna, who occupied the presidency for a total of less than six years. Almost all other Spanish American republics experienced similar shake-out periods. The collapse of colonial control led to a power vacuum that Santa Anna repeatedly filled. In a similar manner, caudillos filled power vacuums from Guatemala (Rafael Carrera) to Argentina (Juan Manuel de Rosas).85
World History
