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The Triangular Revolt in Mexico and the Fall of Anastasio Bustamante, August–October 1841*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

Michael P. Costeloe
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Extract

Anastasio Bustamante is one of the forgotten men of early nineteenth-century Mexican history. Like many of his contemporaries during the so-called age of Santa Anna – José Maria Tornel, Gabriel Valencia, Juan Nepomuceno Almonte, Mariano Paredes y Arrillaga, to name only a few – he has attracted scant attention of biographers and little serious study has been made of his long and eventful career. Yet Bustamante was in full control of the presidency, as president or vice-president, for a longer period in total than any president before Porfirio Díaz and he presided over crucial stages in the nation's development from colony to sovereign republic. By ideological conviction or political expediency – it is still not clear which – he came to be the figurehead of the conservative, traditionalist forces in Mexican society which struggled to preserve not only their economic control but also their religious, social and moral values against what they considered to be the destructive onslaught of increasingly fashionable and radical liberal ideas. Born in 1780 at Jiquilpan (Michoacán), son of Spanish parents, trained as a doctor, Bustamante fought for the royalist cause in the war of independence until he joined with Iturbide in the plan of Iguala (1821). Various important political posts followed and he first rose to supreme power in 1829 when, as vice-president, he successfully led a rebellion against president Vicente Guerrero.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Latin American Studies , Volume 20 , Issue 2 , November 1988 , pp. 337 - 360
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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References

1 ‘Representatión de la Escelentísima junta departmental de Chihuahua al Escmo. Sr. presidente de la república, pidiéndole auxilios y medidas contra la guerra de los bárbaros’, 1 March 1841, printed in El Cosmopolita, 17 March 1841.

2 The best analysis of the complexities of the financial situation is in Tenenbaum, B., The Politics of Penury. Debts and Taxes in Mexico, 1821–1856 (Albuquerque, 1986).Google Scholar

3 For a good discussion of the copper coinage problem, see Córdova, M. Gayón, ‘Guerra, dictadura y cobre. Crónica de una ciudad asediada (Agosto–Diciembre 1841)’, Histories, 5 (1984), pp. 53–65.Google Scholar

4 ‘Memorandum on the heavy additional internal duty levied on Foreign Manufactures’, 9 March 1841, Public Record Office (henceforth P.R.O.) F.O. 50, 150, f. 24.

5 For details of the Arista affair, see Potash, R. A., Mexican government and industrial development in the early republic. The Banco de Avío (Amherst, 1983), pp. 132–4.Google Scholar

6 Their protests were published in the newspapers: see, for example, one from Puebla in El Cosmopolita, 3 February 1841.

7 ‘Expositión dirigida al Escmo. Señor presidente de la república por el Escmo. Sr. D. Antonio López de Santa Anna’, 6 February 1841, in El Cosmopolita, 13 February 1841.

8 ‘Exposición dirigida al congreso de la nación por los fabricantes y cultivadores de algodón…’, published in Ibid., 13 February 1841.

9 Details on the tobacco industry are from Walker, D. W., ‘Business as usual: the Empresa del Tabaco in Mexico, 1857–1844’, Hispanic American Historical Review, 64 (1984), pp. 675–705.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

10 Tornel's representation to the chamber of deputies, written by him as the apoderado of the tobacco farmers of Orizava and Jalapa dated 12 February 1841, is in El Cosmopolita, 17 February 1841. He followed this with one to the senate: ‘Manifestación presentada a la cámara de senadores por el general José María Tornel, apoderado de las diputaciones de cosecheras de tabaco de las ciudades de Jalapa y Orizava’, in Ibid., 21 April 1841.

11 For analysis of their activities, see Tenenbaum, Politics of Penury; see also Hermosillo, M. Urías, ‘Militares y comerciantes en México, 1828–1846: las mercancías de la nacionalidad’, Historias, 6 (1984), pp. 49–69.Google Scholar Urías (p. 60) states that by July 1839, ‘gobierno, ejército, productores, el clero, el pueblo, todos estaban en poder de los comerciantes especuladores’.

12 The congressional session of 4 February 1841 when the state of the army was discussed is in el Cosmopolita, 10 March 1841.

13 These details regarding Morphy are from a report which the British Minister, R. Pakenham, sent to the Foreign Office, dated 9 October 1841, P.R.O., F.O. 50, 147, fols. 58–63.

14 According to Carlos María Bustamante, the merchants were said to have met in La Lonja, their exchange and club in the capital, where they plotted the revolt: see Continuación del Cuadro histórico. El gabinete mexicano durante el segundo período de Bustamante hasta la entrega del mando a Santa Anna (Mexico, 1985), 11, p. 131.Google Scholar Tenenbaum states that in due course the tobacco merchants provided Santa Anna with 100 troops and that Manuel Escandón and Lorenzo Carrera, both prominent entrepreneurs, discussed financial arrangements with him; Politics of Penury, p. 66.

15 ‘Representatión que el muy ilustre ayuntamiento de la ciudad de Guadalajara ha elevado a la Escma. junta departamental para que se sirva iniciar la derogación de la ley del 15 por 100’, 26 April 1841, in El Cosmopolita, 19 May 1841.

16 ‘Representatión dirigida por el comercio de Guadalajara al Escmo. Sr. general D. Antonio López de Santa Anna, suplicándole interponga sus respetos para con el soberano congreso nacional a fin de que derogue la ley del 26 de noviembre de 1839’, 20 April 1841 in El Cosmopolita, 19 May 1841.

17 A. Escobedo to Minister of Interior, 6 August 1841, Ibid., 21 August 1841.

18 El Cosmopolita, 14, 18 August 1841. This Mexico City newspaper compiled a day by day account of the events in Guadalajara. See also Bustamante, , Gabinete mexicano, ii, pp. 131–3.Google Scholar Bustamante, who lived in the capital, seems to have used the reports in El Cosmopolita for his own version.

19 El Cosmopolita, 18 August 1841. Bustamante gives the text of the Paredes plan, Gabinete mexicano, ii, p. 133.

20 A. Escobedo to Minister of Interior, 10 August 1841, in El Cosmopolita, 21 August 1841.

21 Bustamante, , Gabinete mexicano, ii, p. 133Google Scholar; ‘La junta departamental interina de Jalisco a sus habitantes’, 19 August 1841, in El Cosmopolita, 28 August 1841.

22 Both letters were published in Ibid., 25 August 1841.

23 Santa Anna to J. N. Almonte, 15 August 1841, in Ibid., 21 August 1841.

24 The editorial from El Censor was reported in El Cosmopolita, 21 August 1841.

25 J. N. Almonte to Santa Anna, 13 August 1841, Ibid., 21 August 1841.

26 Archivo del Senado, Actas secretas, julio a diciembre de 1841.

27 Unsigned letter from Mexico City, 14 August 1841 in Benson Latin American Library, University of Texas, Garcia Collection, Paredes y Arrillaga Papers, 140 (1). The letter has been printed in García, G., Documentos inéditos o muy raros para la historia de México (vol. 56, Mexico, 1974), pp. 12–14.Google Scholar

28 Pakenham to Palmerston. 14 August 1841, P.R.O., F.O. 50, 146, fol. 82.

29 Ibid.

30 Santa Anna to J. N Almonte, 24 August 1841, El Cosmopolita, 1 September 1841. Santa Anna's offer of mediation was described by Prieto as ‘la mediación de un lobo entre dos mastines que riñen’; Prieto, G., Memorial de mis tiempos (Mexico, 1948), ii, p. 40.Google Scholar

31 These details of events at Veracruz are from El Cosmopolita, 1 Sept 1841; Bustamante, , Gabinete mexicano, ii, pp. 135–6Google Scholar; Rivera, M., Historia antigua y moderna de Jalapa y de las revoluciones del estado de Veracruz (Mexico, 1959), viii, pp. 102–11.Google Scholar

32 Santa Anna to J. N. Almonte, 2 September 1841, El Cosmopolita, 6 October 1841.

33 Gifford to Palmerston, 2 September 1841, P.R.O., F.O. 50, 148, fols. 136–7.

34 The details given here of what happened in the capital during September and early October are based on accounts by several contemporary witnesses. Most, if not all, the newspapers ceased publication once fighting started on the streets of the city but the editors of El Cosmopolita, which closed down on 4 September, kept a day by day, at times hour by hour, diary which they later published from 6 October to 10 November 1841. Other, often vivid, eye-witness accounts are in Bustamante, Gabinete mexicano, ii; de la Barca, F. Calderón, Life in Mexico (London, 1970)Google Scholar; Malo, J. R., Diario de sucesos notables (1832–53) (Mexico, 1948)Google Scholar; Bocanegra, J. M., Memorias para la historia de México independiente, 1822–1846 (Mexico, 1892, 1897), ii, pp. 803–7Google Scholar; Prieto, G., Memorias de mis tiempos, ii, pp. 40–4.Google Scholar The precise details in these various sources differ slightly.

35 ‘Expositión que dirigió el Escmo. St. general en gefe de las tropas pronunciadas por el plan regenerador de la república al Escelentísimo Sr. D. Anastasio Bustamante’, 31 August 1841, El Cosmopolita, 4 September 1841. Valencia's plan is in Boletín Oficial, 6 September 1841.

36 For detailed report of the session, see El Cosmopolita, 4 September 1841.

37 Decree published by Luis Gonzaga Vieyra, governor of Mexico department, 4 September 1841. The Supreme Conservative Power was a fourth branch of government created in the 1836 Constitution and among its functions was that of deciding what was the popular will.

38 El Cosmopolita, 4 September, 6 October 1841.

39 There were forty issues of the Boletín Oficial and rather less of the Boletín de la Ciudadela which was issued at two to three days intervals; for what is probably a complete run of both, see García Collection, University of Texas, Gz.G927.04.M681.v5. Each publication contains the proclamations, letters, propaganda, etc. of both sides. Prieto says he wrote the Boletín Oficial; Prieto, , Memorial, ii, pp. 40–1.Google Scholar

40 See my article ‘A pronunciamiento in nineteenth century Mexico: 15 de julio de 1840’, Mexican Studies (forthcoming).

41 By far the best evocation of what it was like for civilians caught up in the conflict is in the vivid account given by Calderón de la Barca, Life in Mexico, pp. 410–32.

42 El Cosmopolita, 6 October 1841. Valencia also promised the foreign diplomatic corps and merchant representatives that he would try to avoid damage to their property; Calderon de la Barca, Life in Mexico, p. 417.

43 Many instances of damage to property and persons are noted by Calderón de la Barca. Among the more bizarre is one mentioned by Malo, Diario, p. 201: one Don Alvaro Muñoz had lost a leg as a result of a wound suffered in the July 1840 revolt and was again hit by a stray bullet, this time, in his wooden leg.

44 Bustamante, , Gabinete mexicano, ii, p. 141.Google Scholar Calderón de la Barca (p. 415) refers to ‘cartloads of copper’ supplie by ‘rich bankers’.

45 According to El Cosmopolita, the rebels held nineteen buildings and the government eighteen by 4 September. The buildings are listed in the issue of that date.

46 For the text of the Guanajuato pronunciamiento, see Ibid., 9 October 1841.

47 J. Alvarez to Minister of War, Ibid., 10 September 1841, 20 October 1841. Alvarez also wrote to Valencia telling him he would leave Acapulco and come to the capital, if needed; Ibid., 16 October 1841.

48 For the full text of the Plan of Perote, see Boletín Oficial, 17 September 1841. Almonte had written to Santa Anna on 4 September reprimanding him and reminding him of his duty as an army officer; letter in El Cosmopolita, 6 October 1841.

49 Bolelín Oficial, 12, 15 September 1841; El Cosmopolita, 9 October 1841. Malo attended the meeting of notables; Diario, p. 195.

50 El Cosmopolita, 13 October 1841; Actas Secretas, Archivo del Senado, 13 September 1841.

51 Bravo's proclamation is in El Cosmopolita, 20 October 1841.

52 Calderón de la Barca, Life in Mexico, p. 419.

53 The shortage of fodder is suggested by Bustamante, Gabinete mexicano, ii, pp. 210–11.

54 Calderón de la Barca, Life in Mexico, p. 426.

55 Ibid., p. 427.

56 For the full text of the Bases de Tacubaya and details of the negotiations and correspondence, etc., see El Cosmopolita, 23 October 1841.

57 Published in Ibid., 27 October 1841.

58 Ibid., 30 October 1841; Boletín Oficial, 2 October 1841.

59 The text of the Plan del Seminario is in Boletín Oficial, 2 October 1841.

60 For Canalizo's plan, see El Cosmopolita, 6 November 1841.

61 Calderón de la Barca, Life in Mexico, p. 430.

62 El Cosmopolita, 27, 30 October 1841.

63 Bustamante, , Gabinete mexicano, ii, p. 208.Google Scholar For the view of one of Santa Anna's officers who took part in the fighting, see ‘Memorias del Coronel Manuel María Giménez’, Garcia, , Documentos inéditos, pp. 59, 315–6.Google Scholar

64 El Cosmopolita, 10 November 1841. For the correspondence between Santa Anna and Bustamante, see the issue of 9 October 1841.

65 Pakenham to Palmerston, 10 June 1841, P.R.O., F.O. 50, 145, fols. 179–81.

66 For example, see El Mosquito Mexicano, 21 April, 12 May, 30 June, 17 July 1840.

67 V. Gómez Farías to M. González Cosío, 28 July 1838, García Collection, Gómez Farías Papers, no. 499.

68 Bustamante, , Gabinete mexicano, i, pp. 37–51.Google Scholar

69 Calderón de la Barca, Life in Mexico, p. 424.

70 Bustamante mentions the lack of money and adds that in the final days, most of the soldiers the president had left were drunk; Gabinete mexicano, ii, p. 211.

71 Pakenham to Palmerston, 3 April 1837, P.R.O., F.O. 50, 106, fols. 107–9.

72 The acting British minister wrote, ‘The conditions on which these men entered office were in fact the re-establishment of the federal system’; Ashburnham to Palmerston, 31 December 1838, Ibid., fols. 116, 158–63.

73 Walker, D. W., Kinship, Business and Politics. The Martínez del Río family in Mexico, 1823–1867 (Austin, 1986)Google Scholar; Tenenbaum, The Politics of Penury; Cardoso, C. (ed.), México en el siglo XIX (1821–1910) (Mexico, 1980).Google Scholar

74 ‘Representatión del muy ilustre ayuntamiento de Celaya’, 28 May 1841, El Cosmopolita, 19 June 1841.

75 Bustamante says their identities were well known but he does not reveal them; Gabinete mexicano, ii, p. 175. Paredes y Arrillaga later submitted accounts of his expenditure and stated that he had received 20,000 pesos from one Ignacio Ramírez of Guadalajara: see documents published in El Cosmopolita, 8, 22 January 1842.

76 According to Walker, , Kinship, Business and Politics, p. 110Google Scholar, it was Francisco Morphy but in his article ‘Business as Usual’, he says it was Tomás Morphy; Calderón de la Barca (p. 412), has ‘Don F. M. – a Spanish broker’; Bustamante, , Gabinete mexicano, ii, p. 131Google Scholar, refers to ‘un extranjero’; Malo, Diario, p. 193, has ‘Murfi, corredor español’.

77 Pakenham to Palmerston, 9 October 1841, P.R.O., F.O. 50, 147, fols. 58–63.

78 El Cosmopolita, 4 September, 13 October 1841.

79 According to Calderón de la Barca Valencia's plan attracted the support of ‘men of name, the Pedrazas, Belderas, Riva Palacio’, that is the federalists. It is noticeable that she refers to ‘his party’: Life in Mexico, p. 415.

80 Bancroft, H. H., History of Mexico (San Francisco, 1887), v, p. 229.Google Scholar Calderón de la Barca suggests that there were major differences of opinion between the generals with Paredes furious with Valencia, accusing him of having ‘ruined his plan’. Life in Mexico, p. 427.

81 Barca, Calderón de la, Life in Mexico, p. 32.Google Scholar

82 Pakenham to Palmerston, 9 October 1841, P.R.O., F.O. 50, 147, fols. 97–107.