The provinces generally believed that sovereignty had reverted to them when the Iturbide regime ceased to exist.
Jaime E. Rodriguez O., 199295
Much of the instability of the early republic resulted from the Mexico City elite’s attempting to concentrate power in the capital. Opposing them were the provincial elites who felt that shifting power from Madrid to Mexico City was only a marginal improvement over colonialism. This later group wanted regional centers, not the old viceregal capital, to exercise power. The conflict between Mexico City and Guadalajara, which had long chafed under control from the viceregal capital, was especially pronounced.96
Those desiring devolution of power to regions were known as federalists. They assumed they were victorious when the 1824 Constitution placed extensive power, including electing the president, in the hands of state governments. However, powerful interests representing Mexico City—the centralists—were far from vanquished. Beginning in late 1823, the federal government began sending military forces against state governments, especially those in Puebla and Jalisco, which appeared to pose the greatest challenge to centralized power. The centralists also imposed themselves by interpreting the meaning of federalism in a manner that favored centralized control.97
Even after the scrapping of the 1824 Constitution, federalists remained more numerous then the centralists. However, since they were never unified, their strength did not match their numbers. This permitted the centralists to increase their strength by abolishing state militias, increasing the strength of the federal army, and allying with the Church.98
The center’s efforts to reassert hegemony over all aspects of government in the early republic became the major cause of political turmoil. The regional elites, which opposed this reassertion, derived much of their influence from ties to town-based groups in their region. Nothing indicates that the federal government was more socially enlightened than state or local governments in this period. The federalists attempted to thwart centralizing efforts by: 1) maintaining control of revenue sources, 2) fracturing the political power of the center by separating the Federal District from the State of Mexico, 3) expelling the Spanish who were seen as a major source of the central elite’s power, and 4) maintaining state-controlled militias.99
The 1824 constitution created a de jure federalist system. However, federalism lasted only five years since centralism was so deeply rooted, as was the tendency to depend on the will of a single man. During the Victoria and Guerrero administrations, the states never acted in concert against the center, state militias were unable to confront the central government’s army, and the clerical and militaryfueros lent strength to centralism. Because Guerrero had taken the presidency by force, he was left with little political support among moderates who might otherwise have sustained him. The radicals, who had organized the coup that put him into power, were unable to keep him in office. He did not build an organized base of support during his short administration. As a result, Guerrero’s federalist administration was easy prey to a centralist coup. Once in power, centralists used the state to solidify their control.100
World History
