We explain what the Mexican Constitution of 1824 was, what the system of government it proposed was like and what its characteristics were.
The Constitution of 1824 was promulgated after the fall of the Iturbide Empire.
What is the Mexican Constitution of 1824?
The Mexican Constitution of 1824 was the magna carta of the mexican republicwhich was created that same year and was renamed the United Mexican States from then on. It came into force on October 4, 1824, after the fall of the First Mexican Empire, which had been presided over by Agustín de Iturbide.
This Constitution defined the Mexican nation as a federal popular representative republicfree and independent, whose only official and authorized religion was Catholicism. It was drafted by a General Constituent Congress convened in 1823 by a triumvirate that provisionally occupied the government after the abdication of Emperor Iturbide. The triumvirate was made up of Pedro Celestino Negrete, Nicolás Bravo and Guadalupe Victoria, and was called the Supreme Executive Power.
The federal system of government established in 1824 remained in force until the repeal of the Constitution in 1835, when it was replaced by a centralist regime whose legal axis was the Seven Laws promulgated by interim president José Justo Corro in 1836. In 1846 the Constitution of 1824 was restored and in 1857 a new federal Constitution was promulgated.
See also: Mexican Constitution of 1917
History of the Mexican Constitution of 1824
Background
The Constitution of 1824 was inspired by the Constitution of Cádiz.
The Constitution of 1824 had a clear antecedent in the Constitutive Act of the Mexican FederationThis legal document served to formally commit the governments of the various sovereign states, which were formed after the dissolution of the First Empire of Mexico, to form a united, federal, representative nation with a division of powers. This document was signed on January 31, 1824 and contained the foundations of the future Constitution.
The Magna Carta was Inspired by the federal and representative model of the United States Constitution of 1787 and in some of the liberal provisions of the Cadiz Constitution of 1812, as well as in the Constitutional Decree for the Liberty of Mexican America of 1814 (also known as the Constitution of Apatzingán), which dictated popular sovereignty and the division of powers, but never came into effect.
Promulgation
After the First Mexican Empire was dissolved in 1823, the Supreme Executive Power was formed, which called a General Constituent Congress with the mission of drafting a Constitution that would grant the Mexican nation the unity it was losing and confer on it a republican form of government. Two tendencies were expressed among the sectors that participated in the meetings: federalist and centralist.
On January 31, 1824, the Constitutive Act of the Mexican Federation was signed, which established the bases of the republican and federal model. On October 4, 1824, the Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States was proclaimed.Although Guatemala had separated, the rest of the territory was made up of 19 states, four territories and a federal district. The federalist movement managed to impose its model of republic and the first president of the United Mexican States was Guadalupe Victoria, elected in indirect federal elections.
Repeal
The Constitution of 1824 was suspended during the presidency of Miguel Barragán.
The differences between the states that They prevented legal uniformity and facilitated non-payment to the federal government They inspired the idea that a unitary government was preferable to the current federalism.
In 1835, after winning the elections, The conservative forces proceeded to remodel the Mexican State in favor of a centralist model. During the interim presidency of Miguel Barragán, Congress suspended the federal order and in 1836 the Constitution of 1824 was replaced by the Seven Laws, which converted the federated states into departments administered by governors appointed by the national government.
These changes caused the outbreak of federalist movements and rebellions that led to the proclamation of independence of some statessuch as Texas (which remained independent until its annexation by the United States in 1845), Yucatán (which rejoined the Mexican nation in 1848), and, briefly, the Republic of Río Grande (which comprised Nuevo León, Tamaulipas, and Coahuila but existed for less than a year) and Tabasco (which rejoined Mexico in 1842).
Restoration
The border conflict between the Republic of Texas and the United Mexican States led shortly after to the US intervention in Mexico, a war that culminated in the loss of more than half of the Mexican territory at the hands of the United States and that was one of the reasons for the restoration in 1846 of the Constitution of 1824 by interim president José Mariano Salas.
This second federal republic was governed by the Constitution of 1824 until a new Constituent Congress promulgated the Political Constitution of the Mexican Republic in 1857.
Characteristics of the Constitution of 1824
Territorial planning
The Constitution of 1824 It ratified the independence of the Mexican nation from Spain and any foreign governmentand recognized as its own the territory that had belonged to the viceroyalty of New Spain, which in practice included the current territory of Mexico, California, New Mexico and Texas.
The territory was organized according to a federal model as follows: 19 sovereign states, four territories dependent on the center (which later became five) and the federal district based in Mexico City, which housed the executive, legislative and judicial branches of the federal government.
Government system
The proposed system of government was that of a federal representative republic.
The system of government established by the Constitution of 1824 It was that of a federal popular representative republicThe Mexican nation adopted the name of the United Mexican States because it contemplated the union of the free Mexican states in a federation that admitted the internal organization of each state and the participation of its representatives in the legislative chambers of the federal government.
The national republican government adopted the division of powers: executive power (whose highest authorities were the president and the vice president, elected by indirect federal elections), legislative power (a Congress with two chambers: deputies and senators) and judicial power (a Supreme Court of Justice, Circuit Courts and District Courts). In turn, Each state reproduced the separation of powers in its internal organization.
The federal government was responsible for foreign relations, defense, arbitration between Mexican states, and payment of the national debt, while tax collection was largely in the hands of the states.
This caused difficulties arising from the shortage of resources of the national government and It brought about tensions with conservative sectorswho advocated a centralist model, as they thought that a federation was a weak system that did not allow it to meet internal needs and external threats (for example, the danger of a Spanish reconquest).
Civil liberties
Catholicism was the only religion accepted by the Constitution of 1824.
Among the liberal measures enshrined in the Constitution of 1824 were: freedom of the press, the promotion of education and the opening of roads and canals. However, Some fundamental civil liberties remained restricted due to the military and clergy influence in Mexican society.
The abolition of slavery was not expressly included in the Constitution but was decreed in September 1829 by the then president, Vicente Guerrero. As for religious worship, the Constitution of 1824 recognized the Catholic, Apostolic and Roman religion as the only religion of the Mexican nation.and prohibited the exercise of any other.
Discrepancies between states
There were multiple tendencies within the Mexican federal system, whose vast territory and foreign influences constituted a challenge to the common understanding. The administration of ecclesiastical property, the payment of dues for the federal budget and the military contribution (“blood quota”) to the united army were matters of controversy and were often issues handled differently by the different states.
Yucatan, for example, proclaimed freedom of worshipwhich contravened the provisions of the federal Constitution, while Jalisco and Tamaulipas decreed government financing of the Church. Some of these discrepancies contributed to the weakness of the federal government and to the momentum gained by the promoters of centralism who in 1835 repealed the Constitution of 1824.
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References
- “Mexico” Parkes, H. et al. (2022) in Encyclopedia Britannica.
- “Constitutions of Mexico” Government of Mexico. Ministry of Culture (2017).
- “History of Mexico” von Wobeser, G. (coord.) (2014). Fondo de Cultura Económica