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Agustín de Iturbide


Place of birth: Valladolid

Biography

Agustín de Iturbide was born in Valladolid (present-day Morelia, Michoacán). His father, José Joaquín de Iturbide was Spanish whilst his mother, Josefa de Aramburu belonged to a well-established criollo family from Michoacán.

At the age of fifteen, Iturbide dedicated himself to look after some lands, and he went on to join the provincial militia in Valladolid soon after.

In 1805 he married Ana María Huarte. He was in Mexico City when Viceroy José de Iturrigaray was deposed and imprisoned following the September 1808 coup that was orchestrated by the Spanish community in the capital of New Spain.

Although he offered his services to the government that was set up as a result of the golpe, it appears that he knew of and was loosely involved in the 1809 conspiracy of Valladolid, instigated by José Mariano Michelena which had as its main purpose to bring about the independence of Mexico.

However, once the War of Independence (1810-21) broke out, like so many other criollos, news of the violence Miguel Hidalgo unleashed on the Bajío (Guanajuato and Michoacán) led him to side with the Royalist forces.

He proved himself a particularly effective Royalist Commander and counterinsurgent acquiring notoriety for never having lost a battle.

The reestablishment of the 1812 Cádiz Constitution in 1820 and the Profesa conspiracy this inspired in Mexico City, which had as its main aim to prevent the Magna Carta from being implemented in New Spain, brought him into close contact with Viceroy Juan de Apodaca who placed him at the head of the Army of the South with the grade of Brigadier as a reward for his absolutist sympathies.

For several months, Iturbide’s forces tried to track down and defeat the insurgent guerrillas established around Teloloapan (Guerrero) but were unable to do so.

With no end to the war in sight and in the wake of the 1820 re-introduction of the liberal 1812 Cádiz Constitution, on 24 February 1821, after entering into correspondence with the insurgent chieftain Vicente Guerrero Iturbide drafted and launched the Plan of Iguala which ultimately brought the War of Independence to an end with the rather vague promise of Three Guarantees – religion, independence, and union – (i.e., that Roman Catholicism would be the official religion; that Mexico would be independent; and that all Spaniards could continue to live unharmed in Mexico enjoying equality before the law).

The Plan pleased the Church by guaranteeing the defense of Catholicism as the sole religion of the new nation. It pleased the insurgents who by then knew that they could not win the war on their own. And it appeased the Spanish population in Mexico by guaranteeing their peaceful permanence in the country as integral members of that union.

Consequently, Iturbide, taking his cue from Guerrero, succeeded in bringing insurgents and royalists together, even if they opted to unite for very different reasons. Iturbide thus sealed the Independence of Mexico, by leading his newly-formed Army of the Three Guarantees into Mexico City, 27 September 1821, the day of his birthday.

Given that Spain refused to recognise the independence of Mexico (and would not do so until late 1836), and that the Bourbon dynasty refused to accept the offer of placing one of the royals on the Mexican throne (as proffered in the Plan of Iguala and the Treaty of Córdoba of 24 August 1821), Iturbide accepted Sergeant Pío Marcha’s demand that he be crowned Emperor on 18 May 1822. Consequently, Iturbide became Emperor Agustín I on 19 May with the coronation being held on 21 May.

The first Mexican Empire (1822-1823) was to prove ephemeral, however. In a matter of months, Agustín I succeeded in alienating a significant number of supporters. His centralist policies clashed with the federalist impulses of the Provincial Deputations created by the 1812 charter. His absolutist tendencies met with fierce opposition both from Congress (which he closed down on 31 October 1822 after locking up nineteen congressmen on 26 August) and from the Junta Instituyente that replaced it.

His economic policies were also disastrous. Having abolished the unpopular taxes imposed by Madrid he found the national treasury unable to satisfy the hunger for promotion and rewards the Army of the Three Guarantees expected to be lavished with.

The new taxes that were imposed proved profoundly unpopular. The fact that the pronounced dire straits of the Empire, compounded by the destruction inflicted by the eleven-year civil war and by the trade embargo Spain and its European allies imposed on the independent country, did not stop Iturbide and his family from becoming ostentatiously rich on government funds, resulted in many of his former supporters turning against him.

The pro-Spanish subjects of the Empire, known as borbonistas, became affronted as well, since they wanted a Bourbon to rule the Mexican Empire. On 2 December 1822, General Antonio López de Santa Anna, with the crucial support of General Guadalupe Victoria launched the first Plan of Veracruz (a modified second Plan of Veracruz would be issued on 6 December 1822) demanding the re-establishment of the closed down Congress and the creation of a republic.

Once the government troops sent to besiege the port of Veracruz turned against Iturbide and seconded the rebels issuing the Plan of Casa Mata (1 February 1823), it became apparent that the Emperor’s days were numbered. Iturbide abdicated on 19 March 1823 and went into exile in Europe where he spent most of his time in Italy and Britain. Upon return from exile, he was executed in Padilla, 19 July 1824.

Following his death, although Iturbide was initially depicted as a tyrant who had betrayed the ideals of independence, the memory and commemoration of his patriotic achievements changed with time to the extent that by the 1830s he was seen as the true Father of Independence.

Subsequently, such a vision would be corrected in the wake of the mid-century reform period, and to this day, Iturbide is presented by Mexican officialdom as a minor player, despite the fact that he was the one who, in effect, brought about the independence of Mexico.

Leader of
Plan de Iguala (24 February 1821; Iguala, Guerrero)

Author of
Plan de Iguala (24 February 1821; Iguala, Guerrero)

Signatory of
Tratados de Córdoba (24 August 1821; Córdoba, Veracruz)
Acta de Independencia (28 September 1821; Ciudad de México, México D.F.)