Mexico, Centralist Republic of
Years: 1835 - 1846
The Centralist Republic of Mexico (Spanish: República Centralista de México), or in the anglophone scholarship, the Central Republic, is officially the Mexican Republic (Spanish: República Mexicana)
It is a unitary political regime established in Mexico on October 23, 1835, under a new constitution known as the Seven Laws after the repeal of the federalist Constitution of 1824.
Mexican conservatives attribute the political chaos of the federal era to the empowerment of states over the federal government, 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 see the solution to the problem as abolishing the federal system and creating a centralized one, reminiscent of the colonial era.
Federalism had given a range of powers to Mexican states, their legislatures and municipalities.
It is favored by the states outside the center of Mexico.
Those favoring a centralized state are the conservative urban elites.
Mexican conservatives see federalism as a failure and Mexico not prepared for such a system.
They consider the ideal form of government as a centralized, administrative republic, with the states losing power to the central government.
Conservatives with the support of the Mexican army create the Central Republic, which lasts eleven years, 1835–46.
The unitary regime is formally established on December 30, 1836, with the enactment of the Siete Leyes.
However, the Seven Laws prove unworkable and are abandoned four and a half years later, and replaced by a military dictatorship under Antonio López de Santa Anna.
On August 22, 1846, acting President José Mariano Salas issues the decree that restores the Constitution of 1824 and, with this, the return to federalism.
The conservatives' attempt to impose a unitary state produces armed resistance in regions that had most favored federalism.
Centralism generates severe political instability, armed uprisings and secessions: The rebellions in Zacatecas, the Texas revolution, the separation of Tabasco, the independence of Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas that form the Republic of the Rio Grande, and finally the independence of the state of Yucatán.
The Centralist Mexican Republic is governed by eleven presidents.
None finish their term before the Republic's dissolution.
During this period there are 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.