JALAPA PLAN: BACKGROUND, MOTIVES, DEVELOPMENT AND PROTAGONISTS - HISTORY - 2024

The Jalapa Plan was an insurrection that occurred in Mexico in 1829 to overthrow the government headed by the military Vicente Guerrero. It was based on the publication of a document, formulated in early December in Jalapa by General José Ventura Melchor Múzquiz and by the military man at the service of the Spanish crown, José Antonio Facio.

The pronouncement occurred in Jalapa, which is currently a city known as Xalapa-Enríquez, capital of the state of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave. Other important figures, such as the vice president of the time Anastasio Bustamante, were also protagonists of this insurrection. Partly because when the government questioned itself and declared itself illegitimate, Busdamente took Guerrero's post.

Portrait of Anastasio Bustamante. Source: General Archive of the Nation., via Wikimedia Commons.

Background

Mexico has lived in multiple political conflicts since Guadalupe Victoria was chosen as the first president that the country had as a Federal Republic. He came to office after Mexico supported the overthrow of Agustín de Iturbide.

Once at the head of the national executive, he overcame four years of government with riots and rebellions. Therefore, an electoral process was organized to choose his successor. The contest was carried out by Manuel Gómez Pedraza and Vicente Guerrero, being representatives of the conservatives and liberals respectively.

Vicente Guerrero was the favorite, but lost the election by the vote of only two people. Once the news was known, the mutiny of the Acordada occurred, led by Vicente Guerrero himself, who did not accept the electoral results. As a result of the riots, Pedraza left the country and the Congress of Mexico was in charge of electing the President.

The results of the 1828 elections were then annulled and Guerrero was appointed to the post of President, whose mandate began on April 1, 1829. The country's conservative society was not very satisfied with what happened in the country and began to work on the Jalapa Plan.

Reasons

The main reason for Guerrero's opposition to make the Jalapa pronouncement was based on the fact that the Guerrero government was not constitutional. Also, some historians claim that it was a fight between liberals and conservatives.

For the group that led the Jalapa pronouncement, the decision taken by the country's Congress lacked legality. The reason they presented was that the political institution had no power to accept the resignation of Gómez Pedraza or to annul the vote that occurred in his favor.

The authors of the Jalapa Plan claimed that Guerrero simply did not respect the rights of others. By appropriating executive powers they accused him of being a dictator. They claimed to be concerned about the path to absolutism due to the despotic ideas and actions of the military.

Development

Once Vicente Guerrero was proclaimed president of Mexico, he made some decisions so that his appointment would not have so many detractors. He decided to add to his work team Anastasio Bustamante, a renowned conservative who held the position of vice president.

From that moment, Bustamante worked to overthrow the government. In July the first attempts against Guerrero began to be developed, with Isidro Barradas first being the one who faced military forces.

In silence, Bustamante kept working in favor of forming a centralist republic. It was in November that the first insurrections of the military corps began. It first occurred in the Campeche garrison.

Characters like Antonio López Santa Anna and Bustamante, part of the Guerrero government, pretended to be against and condemn it, when they really helped prepare the opposition movement. 20 days later another group mutinied, this time in the Toluca battalion that was in the city of Jalapa.

Finally, Múzquiz and Facio pronounced Jalapa's plan to take advantage of the mutiny of the two military groups. Meanwhile, other military bodies were showing their support for the pronouncement during the month of December. Bustamante was left in charge of the army and Guerero, with no other option, had to resign from the presidency of Mexico.

From January 1, 1830, Anastasio Bustamante held the position of President of the Republic, taking charge of forming a new government cabinet. On February 4, Guerrero was definitively declared incapable of governing the country.

Consequences

This insurrection was one of the most cautious and studied movements in Mexican political history. Armed conflicts did not cease in the country and fights continued throughout the 11th century, although almost always the crises centered on problems between bourgeois groups struggling to occupy positions of power.

Articles

The Jalapa Plan was a publication that consisted of a first part in which the different reasons that motivated the insurrection were exposed. Then, a series of articles were presented that functioned as clauses that had to be fulfilled.

Article 1

The Jalapa plan exposed that it was an obligation of the Mexican army to defend the federal pact.

Article 2

Full compliance with all previously established laws was required.

Article 3

The resignation of the president was requested. This article also demanded the restitution of Congress.

Article 4

He stated that all public officials who did not have the support of the people should be removed from their positions.

Article 5

He delved into the role of the army. It was reaffirmed that the military groups must obey the elected authorities.

Article 6

It was about more roles of the military groups. It was emphasized that the army was the guarantor and defender of peace and order in the Mexican territory.

Article 7

Two important figures within the government were chosen to ensure that the requests were heard and fulfilled. Anastasio Bustamante and Santa Anna were then chosen to lead the pronouncement.

Article 8

A support plan was created in case Bustamante and Santa Anna publicly refused to command the Jalapa plan.

Article 9

Finally, the Campeche insurgents were asked to join in the demands made in the Jalapa plan.

Important characters

After the independence of Mexico, the political groups were denominated as Yorkinos and Scots. The former had the support of the United States, which wanted Mexican policy to favor their interests. The Scots defended the ideas of the peninsular Spaniards who came to the country more.

Anastasio Bustamante, the most important leader of the pronouncement, was a Yorkino like Vicente Guerrero. In addition, there were José Ignacio Esteva and Lucas Alamán, who were in charge of promoting the insurrection movement in the area of ​​the country's capital.

José Antonio Facio and Múzquiz, in charge of pronouncing the Jalapa plan, were more of Scottish ideas.

The plan in the end brought together different characters with different ideologies. Centralists were united as was the case of Lucas Alamán, with politicians who were in favor of a federalist government, as was the case of Luis Cortázar or Esteban Moctezuma.

Renowned Mexican journalist and politician Carlos María Bustamante was also part of the Jalapa plan. He was in charge of writing long articles that were published in La voz de la Patria explaining his support for the plan. María Bustamante explained the importance for the people of being able to rebel.

References

1. Fowler, W. (2016). Independent Mexico.
2. Fowler, W. (2010). Santa Anna of Mexico. Lincoln, Neb.: University of Nebraska Press.
3. Fowler, W. (2000). Tornel and Santa Anna. Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.
4. Kourí, E. (2004). A Pueblo divided. Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press.
5. Rodríguez O, J. (1992). Patterns of contention in Mexican history. Willington, Del.: Scholarly Resources.