Centralist Republic of Mexico

República Mexicana
Mexican Republic

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1835–1846

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Motto
The country is First!

Anthem
Himno Nacional Mexicano

Capital

Mexico City

Government

Presidential republic

President

- 1846

José Mariano Salas

Legislature

Congress

- Upper house

Senate

- Lower house

Chamber of Deputies

History

- October 23, 1835

1824 Constitution repealed

- March 2, 1836

Independence of Texas

- August 22, 1846

1824 Constitution restored

Mexico

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The Mexican Republic (1835-1846) was a presidential republic in Central America.

Background

The Centralist Republic of Mexico (Spanish: República Centralista de México), or in the anglophone scholarship, the Central Republic, officially the Mexican Republic (Spanish: República Mexicana), was a unitary political regime established in Mexico on October 23, 1835, under a new constitution known as the Seven Laws after conservatives repealed the federalist Constitution of 1824. Two presidents would predominate throughout this era: Santa Anna, and Anastasio Bustamante.

Mexican conservatives attributed the political chaos of the federal era to the empowerment of states over the federal government, the participation of non-elite men in the political system through universal male suffrage, rebellions, and economic stagnation to the weakness of the federal government. Conservative elites saw the solution to the problem as abolishing the federal system and creating a centralized one, reminiscent of the political system during the colonial era.

The political and economic chaos that had marked the First Republic, however, continued well throughout the Centralist Republic. Infighting among the conservatives resulted in administrations continuing to be interrupted by successful military coups, and another centralist constitution known as the Bases Orgánicas would be attempted in 1843. Significant political and military agitation for the restoration of the federalist system continued as well. The period was marked by multiple secession attempts across Mexico, including the loss of Texas and Yucatan, and two international conflicts: the Pastry War, caused by French citizens' economic claims against the Mexican government, and the Mexican–American War, as a consequence of the annexation of Texas by the United States.^[1]