Plan of Ayutla
The Plan of Ayutla was the 1854 written plan aimed at removing conservative,
Dissent against the Santa Anna dictatorship
After Mexico's defeat in the
During this chaos, José María Tornel and Juan Suárez y Navarro founded the Santanista party. The Santanistas believed that Mexico should be ruled by a strong dictator who would create a centralized state that would emphasize the importance of the Catholic faith. Conservative politician and historian Lucas Alamán stated that the Church was "the only tie left that unites the Mexican people."[5] The Santanistas hoped that exiled President Santa Anna would be that strong dictator. The Santanistas, with help from the radical puros and the military, overthrew the moderado Mariano Arista.[6] Santa Anna arrived in Veracruz on 1 April 1853, and he took office upon reaching Mexico City on 20 April.[7]
Upon taking office yet again, Santa Anna took measures to improve the army, hoping to create a standing army of 90,000 men.
Plan of Ayutla is drafted
By the beginning of 1854, Santa Anna had secured control over most of Mexico. The southern state of Guerrero, which was ruled by General Juan Álvarez, remained outside of his control. Due to its difficult terrain, the province was naturally shielded from the capital. Álvarez was angered by Santa Anna's pro-Spanish policies, such as hiring Spanish mercenaries, and by the central government's confiscation of Guerrero's public lands. The government also planned to build a highway from Mexico City to Acapulco, which threatened Álvarez's regional autonomy.[16] Angered by Álvarez's disloyal behavior, Santa Anna sent General Pérez Palacios to seize Acapulco, and Álvarez similarly prepared for war.[17]
Colonel Ignacio Comonfort, one of Álvarez's subordinates, pressed for a plan to be written, as he wanted to win over public opinion and to add an idealistic angle to the planned rebellion.
The notable supporters of the Plan of Ayutla included Pedro Hinojosa, Juan Álvarez, exiles of the Santa Anna regime Benito Juárez, Melchor Ocampo, José María Mata, and Ponciano Arriaga,[23] as well as Ignacio Comonfort, Miguel Lerdo de Tejada, Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, and José María Jesús Carbajal.
Revolution of Ayutla
Revolution of Ayutla | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
Revolutionaries | Santanistas | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Juan Álvarez Ignacio Comonfort |
Antonio López de Santa Anna Félix María Zuloaga |
Álvarez's forces initiated 19 months of guerrilla warfare and civil unrest against Santa Anna. The rebels were aided by the exiles in New Orleans, who sent them weapons.[24] This uprising is termed the Revolution of Ayutla (1854−1855), since it entailed not just a narrow political goal of ousting the dictator, but a more thorough change in political direction via armed warfare. The Revolution of Ayutla brought a new generation of younger men into active national political life, a "generation of giants" including military men: Comonfort, Santiago Vidaurri, Epitacio Huerta, and Manuel García Pueblita; as well as radical liberal intellectuals, Ocampo, Arriaga, Guillermo Prieto, and Juárez.[25] In the summer of 1855, Juárez returned to Acapulco from exile to serve as a political ally of Álvarez.[26]
Alvarez had success in mobilizing forces in Guerrero, many of which had formed paramilitary units during the
The war continued without major battles or decisive victories. The government's most significant success was Colonel Félix Zuloaga's victory at El Limón on 22 July.[31] However, the rebellion proved impossible to suppress and, on 18 January 1855, Zuloaga surrendered after being besieged at Tecpan.[32] By April, the rebels were making progress in most parts of Mexico, but especially in Michoacán, which prompted Santa Anna to lead one last offensive into that province on 30 April 1855.[33] The rebels retreated instead of engaging Santa Anna's army, and, unable to crush them, he eventually returned to Mexico City.[34] When Mexico City denounced Santa Anna, he abdicated on 12 August 1855 and fled into exile. Álvarez's forces marched into the capital with a "brigade of rustics called Pintos (ferocious warriors so called because in earlier times, they wore face paint).[35] In the capital there was widespread popular support for the Revolution of Ayutla, with people gathering in the Alameda Park and waiting hours to sign a document in support of Mexico City for the revolution.[36] Álvarez then assumed the office of President of Mexico. Once the rebels occupied Mexico City, they confiscated all of Santa Anna's property so as to recoup the indemnity from the Gadsden Purchase that Santa Anna's regime had squandered.[37]
Aftermath
The Plan paved the way for
Soon afterward, Comonfort, who had succeeded Álvarez as President, convened a Congress to draft a new Constitution.
Objecting to the new Constitution's anticlerical elements, Pope Pius IX opposed it.[45] Domestic Conservatives and the Mexican Catholic Church also opposed La Reforma and the 1857 Constitution in the Plan of Tacubaya. This would soon prompt an open civil war, known as the War of the Reform or Three Years' War (1858−1860).
See also
- Plans in Mexican history
- Liberalism in Mexico
- List of wars involving Mexico
- Second Federal Republic of Mexico period
- Index of Mexico-related articles
References
- ^ Robert J. Knowlton, "Plan of Ayutla" in Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture, vol. 4, p. 420. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 1996.
- ^ Erika Pani, "Revolution of Ayutla" in Encyclopedia of Mexico, vol. 1, p. 119. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn 1997.
- ISBN 0826321704.
- ^ Wasserman, (2000). Everyday Life and Politics in Nineteenth Century Mexico, p. 110.
- ISBN 9780803211209.
- ^ Fowler, (2007). Santa Anna of Mexico, pp. 295–296.
- ISBN 0837174597.
- ^ Johnson, The Mexican Revolution of Ayutla, 1854–1855. p. 17.
- ^ Johnson, The Mexican Revolution of Ayutla, 1854–1855, pp. 21-22.
- ^ Roeder,(1947). Juarez and his Mexico, pp. 103–105.
- ^ Johnson,(1974). The Mexican Revolution of Ayutla, 1854–1855 p. 23.
- ^ Johnson (1974). The Mexican Revolution of Ayutla, 1854–1855, p. 25.
- ^ Johnson. The Mexican Revolution of Ayutla, 1854–1855, p. 20.
- ^ Fowler, Will (2007). Santa Anna of Mexico, p. 311.
- ^ Fowler,(2007). Santa Anna of Mexico. pp. 308–309.
- ISBN 0837174597.
- ISBN 0837174597.
- ISBN 0837174597.
- ^ Roeder, Ralph (1947). Juarez and his Mexico. New York: Viking Press. pp. 118.
- ^ Roeder, Ralph (1947). Juarez and his Mexico. New York: Viking Press. pp. 109.
- ^ [1]"Memoria Política de México". www.memoriapoliticademexico.org. Retrieved 2017-04-23.
- ISBN 0837174597.
- ^ Walter V. Scholes, Mexican Politics During the Juárez Regime. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press 1957, pp. 3–4.
- ISBN 0195031504.
- ^ Pani, "Revolution of Ayutla", p. 119.
- ISBN 0195031504.
- ISBN 9780803211209.
- ^ Pani, "Revolution of Ayutla", p. 120.
- ISBN 9780803211209.
- ^ Pani, "Revolution of Ayutla", p. 120.
- ISBN 0837174597.
- ISBN 0837174597.
- ISBN 0837174597.
- ISBN 9780803211209.
- ^ Paul Vanderwood, "Betterment for Whom? The Reform Period: 1855-1875" in The Oxford History of Mexico, Michael C. Meyer and William H. Beezley, eds. New York: Oxford University Press 2000, p.372.
- ^ Pani, "Revolution of Ayutla", p. 120.
- ISBN 9780803211209.
- ^ Wasserman, Mark (2000). Everyday Life and Politics in Nineteenth Century Mexico: Men, Women, and War, 103-104
- ^ Roeder, Ralph (1947). Juarez and his Mexico. New York: Viking Press. pp. 125.
- ISBN 0195031504.
- ^ Roeder, Ralph (1947). Juarez and his Mexico. New York: Viking Press, 133.
- ISBN 0826321704.
- ^ Roeder, Ralph (1947). Juarez and his Mexico, 138-139.
- ^ Wasserman, Mark (2000). Everyday Life and Politics in Nineteenth Century Mexico: Men, Women, and War,104.
- ISBN 0195031504.
Further reading
- Fowler, Will. Santa Anna of Mexico. Lincoln, NE: University of Nebraska Press, 2007.
- Johnson, Richard A. The Mexican Revolution of Ayutla, 1854-1855: An Analysis of the Evolution and Destruction of Santa Anna’s Last Dictatorship. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1974.
- Knowlton, Robert J. "Plan of Ayutla" in Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture, vol. 4, p. 420. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons 1996.
- Meyer, Michael C. and William L. Sherman. The Course of Mexican History: Second Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983.
- O'Gorman, Edmundo. "Antecententes y sentido de la revolución de Ayutla" in Plan de Ayutla. Conmemoración de su primer centenario. Mexico City: UNAM 1954.
- Pani, Erika. "Revolution of Ayutla" in Encyclopedia of Mexico. Chicago: Fitzroy Dearborn 1997, pp. 119–21.
- Roeder, Ralph. Juarez and his Mexico. New York: Viking Press, 1947.
- Vanderwood, Paul. "Betterment for Whom? The Reform Period: 1855–1875" in The Oxford History of Mexico, Michael C. Meyer and William H. Beezley, eds. New York: Oxford University Press 2000, pp. 371–396.
- Wasserman, Mark. Everyday Life and Politics in Nineteenth Century Mexico: Men, Women, and War. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Press, 2000.
External links
- Spanish Wikisource text of Plan de Ayutla - In Spanish.
- Text of the Plan of Ayutla - In Spanish