Plan of Casa Mata
The Plan of Casa Mata (Spanish: Plan de Casa Mata) was formulated to abolish the monarchy in Mexico and to establish a republic.
In December 1822, Antonio López de Santa Anna and Guadalupe Victoria signed the Plan de Casa Mata on February 1, 1823, as a start of their efforts to overthrow Emperor Agustín de Iturbide. Iturbide had formulated the Plan of Iguala in 1821, which united insurgents and royalist forces and Mexico's independence in September 1821. The plan called for a constitutional monarchy, and when no European monarch presented himself as a candidate, the Mexican Congress proclaimed Iturbide as Emperor of Mexico in May 1822. Commanding the country like he had commanded the army, he dissolved the Congress and ordered dissidents to be imprisoned.
Several insurrections arose in the provinces, which were choked by the army, except for the one headed by Santa Anna in Veracruz, because this military man had an agreement with General Echávarri, who commanded the imperial forces that fought Santa Anna. By agreement of both, the Plan de Casa Mata was proclaimed on February 1, 1823. This plan did not recognize the First Mexican Empire and requested the meeting of a new Constituent Congress. The insurrectionists sent their proposal to the provincial delegations and requested their adhesion to the plan. In the course of only six weeks, the Plan de Casa Mata had arrived at remote places, like Texas, and almost all the provinces had been united to the plan.
When a provincial delegation accepted the Plan de Casa Mata, it withdrew its obedience toward the imperial government and assumed a sovereign attitude within its province. Agustín de Iturbide was isolated without more support than Mexico City and some fractions of the army, he installed the dissolved constituent Congress again, abdicated the crown. He left the country in March 1823, for Italian exile with the promise of a 25,000 peso annual payment if he remained there. The 1824 Constitution was adopted the following year.
See also
Further reading
- Anna, Timothy. The Mexican Empire of Iturbide. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press 1990.
- Benson, Nettie Lee. "The Plan of Casa Mata." Hispanic American Historical Review 25 (February 1945): 45-56.
- Hamnett, Brian R. Roots of Insurency: Mexican Regions, 1750-1824. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press 1986.
- Robertson, William Spence. Iturbide of Mexico. Durham: Duke University Press 1952.