Chapter 221: TAD Timeline Spotlight: The (Unitary) Republic of Mexico and the Mexican Constitution

"...Perhaps it was unsurprising that President Guerrero (who was not officially elected into office but assumed the position due to his status as the figurehead of the Mexican revolutionaries) sought to emulate the American Constitution and implement it upon Mexico. Due to the urgent necessity for a functioning government to unite the devastated and disjointed regions of former New Spain, the first Mexican president and representatives from every province (called the Republican Junta) were set to officialize a Mexican Constitution heavily influenced by, if not nearly the same as, the Constitution of the United States. However, on August 12th of 1824 (three days before the proposed Mexican Constitution was officialized), a pair of letters arrived at Mexico City directly addressed to President Guerrero. One letter was from President Joseph Crockett, and the other was from legendary American revolutionary and former president Samuel Kim. The letters were different, yet they both carried similar messages that have led historians to suspect the sitting president and the former president contacted one other before shipping the letters off.

In President Crockett's letter, he congratulated President Guerrero on his successful revolution and Mexico's independence. As promised by Samuel Kim, who acted as the de facto American ambassador during his meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs Guadalupe Victoria, the American president assured that the United States was ready to provide monetary and industrial aid for Mexico. In fact, by this time, a bill (Consent Executive Order #70: The Mexico Aid and Relief Act, known as 'MARA') to provide such aid was being debated upon in Congress, causing splinters within the Frontier Party and the Democratic Party. Indeed, only after President Crockett and his allies in Congress listed several tangible and important reasons why the aid was necessary did Congress move to pass the bill. He argued that an unstable and fractured Mexico would create a 'dangerous situation' for settlers trekking west, potentially bringing about war in the border territories. Additionally, he pushed the narrative that allowing an aspiring republic to fail, when said republic bordered the United States, was 'completely unacceptable, which was only going to delegitimize America as the Bastion of Democracy." Even after the president's arguments, the various political parties debated on this issue for weeks. The Union Party, the most anti-isolationist party in the United States, was the first to support the bill and, eventually, convinced the other parties to pass it. However, President Crockett's letter stated as if American aid was guaranteed at the time of its writing, which was far from the truth. Even so, the lie was 'necessary' for the next part of his letter, which would determine Mexico's future.

The Sixth American President appealed to the Mexican president to 'carefully implement a republican government' and 'take his time to craft a Constitution that would befit the new nation, instead of adopting the American Constitution.' He reasoned that the American Constitution was adopted by rebelling colonies that were 'completely different than that of New Spain, with very different histories, necessities, and circumstances.' While President Crockett believed that many Americans would be flattered and pleased to learn that Mexican revolutionaries looked upon America with high regard, he emphasized the importance of an independent Constitution written for the Mexican people's necessities and circumstances. As he famously stated in the middle of his letter:

"It is difficult to craft and design a document to create a new nation under one common Law. Even our Founders, who many in America believe were beyond ordinary men, struggled for over a year to craft our Constitution. Nonetheless, the people of Mexico during your Revolution have suffered more than the people of the United States during the American Revolution. It is imperative to create a document that can reassure those that have lost everything that your new nation can bring about the changes and reforms fit for the former colony of New Spain, instead of a document fit for Fifteen Colonies and Territories that were once under British rule and escaped unmolested by war and chaos."

With that remark, President Crockett suggested something astonishing to President Guerrero: a unitary republic with several compromises to prevent massive disorder and unite the new nation. It was a shocking suggestion to the Mexican president who sought to establish a federal republic to appease the various regions that spanned the proposed Republic of Mexico and the masses. Indeed, the shock from the suggestion was tremendous to the Guerrero and the Republican Junta, as the only unitary republic in existence was Haiti (which only occupied a small, southwestern portion of Hispaniola, a tiny nation compared to the Mexican state). President Crockett believed that a federal structure in Mexico was unnecessary and potentially determinantal to the Mexican Republic's future growth, as each province would attempt to take priority over the other provinces. He reasoned that Mexico needed a strong government from the start to keep order and rebuild the nation, especially in the face of a major economic crisis. Unlike the Fifteen Colonies and Territories that rebelled against Britain, New Spain was devastated and contained a tiny middle-class population with a declining economy. Its already weak economy, which relied heavily on silver exports, was shattered during the Mexican War of Independence. Additionally, while the War of Independence had united the colony against Spain, that unity was beginning to show strain and wear after the long War of Independence. A weak central government was the last thing Mexico needed, as President Crockett stated in his letter.

There were several good reasons why a unitary Mexican Republic was viable in President Crockett's mind. The first was the independence crisis in Yucatan and Central America. Yucatan, which was primarily populated by Mayan natives and other native ethnic groups, sought to distance themselves from Mexico City after the Comanche Massacre in northern Mexico. The Comanche tribe was a fierce raiding tribe that dominated present-day southwestern United States, quarreling with numerous neighboring tribes and states throughout its history. Due to an Indian treaty between the United States and the Comanche tribe in 1819, the Comanche looked to the south for new raiding targets as America was considered 'off-limits.' As such, from 1819 to 1823, the Mexican revolutionaries fought against Comanche raiding parties constantly. Dozens of settlements were razed, and thousands of Comanche Indians lost their lives before then-General Guerrero led a military expedition to put down the Comanche 'savages' (as he mentioned in his journal) himself. The Northern Expedition into the Comanche territory led to the destruction of a dozen Comanche villages and the death of over five thousand Comanche men, women, and children. This incident made headlines in the United States, but unfortunately, many major newspapers portrayed the Comanche as 'brutal and violent' savages that were much worse than the disliked Sioux Indians. Before the Indian treaty of 1819, the Comanche raided numerous newly erected American settlements and killed many settlers, which had turned the American public's opinion against them. As such, Guerrero faced little repercussions for his actions and continued to receive aid from American citizens until the end of the Mexican War of Independence...

While the American public may have remained apathetic to the Massacre, the Mayan people in Yucatan and the surrounding provinces were struck with fear. While the information about the Northern Expedition was suppressed, rumors circulated throughout the nation about the vicious murders carried out by Guerrero's soldiers against natives. Regardless of the actions carried out by the Comanche tribe itself, many Native Americans in the Yucatan Peninsula (especially its political leaders, such as Yucatan Governor Juan María Echeverri) believed that Guerrero planned to suppress and even eliminate the native population in Yucatan and Chiapas (another province with a significant Native population). Combined with the fact that Yucatan was not affected by the Mexican War of Independence (creating a disconnect between Yucatan and the rest of Mexico) and the independence sentiments in Central America (due to political and economic differences with Mexico City), Yucatan representatives formally 'withdrew' from the Republic of Mexico and declared the Federated Republic of Yucatan on June 21st of 1824. The representatives from Chiapas followed just a week later and joined the Republic of Yucatan. And three weeks after Yucatan's independence, Central America declared independence as well, forming the Federal Republic of Central America. With urging from Samuel Kim and members of the Republican Junta (many of them which believed that the regions were not worth starting a war over and sought to avoid further strain on the fragile Mexican nation), President Guerrero reluctantly allowed them to depart from Mexico peacefully. However, he crushed a rebellion in Valladolid after a group of local elites attempted to secede due to Guerrero's supposed radicalism...

Interestingly, the independence of Yucatan and Central America presented an opportunity for the Republican Junta. As the nation was much more reduced in size, even the furthest province (at the time, Zacatecas) was only a few weeks walking distance to the proposed capital site of Mexico City. Additionally, with many of the northern provinces pledging full loyalty to Gurrero himself, the Mexican president had a golden opportunity to centralize the nation under his command (and pass on a strong, central government to future generations). The northern provinces served as Guerrero's support base during the initial stages of the Mexican War of Independence, and Guerrero's Northern Expedition protected numerous communities from Comanche raids in the border provinces. Combined with the capital city being in Mexico City (which was towards the central part of the proposed republic), the Junta slowly realized that President Crockett's suggestions were sane and reasonable. Especially so since America aid was due to arrive (in the minds of the Junta), and a strong central government would have the authority to distribute the aid effectively to the hardest-hit regions.

Adding on, the Catholic Church was still a sacred and powerful institution in Mexico. While Guerrero sought to create a secular republic, he recognized the necessity for an amendable relationship with the Church, as it had the proper resources to assist in the reconstruction and reform efforts. A centralized republic would have the power to keep the Church in line and the strength to wrestle control away from it eventually. Additionally, he sought to rein in the monopoly of the consulado over the regional markets and the plantation owners that controlled a vast swathe of land in the nation. With no powers beyond the central provinces, a weak federal government would be unable to carry out the dramatic reforms necessary to fix the nation. The final event that sealed his decision to establish a unitary republic was Samuel Kim's letter. He assured that he would support any republican government that Mexico created and promised $1 million in monetary aid, with no strings attached. In addition to this, he also offered to create a branch of his company, American Enterprises, in Mexico to begin the former colony's journey to industrialization and infrastructure efforts to create irrigation canals for farms and railways to connect major towns. And on top of all this, he offered to send engineers to Mexico to revitalize the silver mines and add steam engines to increase productivity. The promises of aid from the American government and Kim's guarantees pushed the Junta to accept and implement President Crockett's suggestions, as they believed that a unitarian republic would be able to hold together with American support. Of course, until it was able to stand on its own.

And so, a new Constitution was written from scratch. Drafts of the Constitution were released in intervals to keep the expecting population at bay while the Junta crafted a set of laws suitable for Mexico. Inspirations were taken from the American Constitution, such as the various Amendments under the American Bill of Rights (Freedom of Speech, Freedom of the Press, universal male suffrage). However, there were additional provisions to create a local 'flavor' to the Constitution. The racial caste system from the colonial era was abolished, and the Catholic Church became the official religion of the Republic of Mexico, though freedom of religion was guaranteed. One interesting aspect of the Mexican Constitution was an important emphasis on education, as Mexico's literacy rate was low compared to America's literacy rate. The Constitution declared that public education would be offered without cost as soon as possible, as 'an Educated populace [was] critical to the continuance of this Republic.' A unicameral Chamber of Deputies was established as the Legislative Branch of the Mexican Republic's government, which had already existed after the fall of Mexico City to allow provinces to file grievances against Guerrero and the Junta. The Supreme Court of Mexico was designated as the highest court of the land, while the President was the executive (with checks and balances similar to that of the American government).

With that, the Republic of Mexico was officially 'born' on December 22nd of 1824, just days before Christmas was celebrated across former New Spain. Many elites fumed at some of the guarantees made in the new Constitution (such as universal suffrage and the abolishment of the racial hierarchy) and promises made by Gurrero himself (who was already working on passing land reforms to slowly loosen the grip of elite families from owning much of the land in the nation, establishing trade with America and other nations, and taking out loans to alleviate Mexico's financial problems temporarily). However, much of the nation sighed in relief and rejoiced at the formation of the national government. Various provincial governors grumbled at the sudden establishment of a unitary republic, but the only violent rebellion was in Valladolid, which was quickly crushed by the newly formed The Republic of Mexico Army (filled with former revolutionaries under Guererro's command, and later on would serve in the Anglo-American War). Guerrero's popularity ensured him being elected to lead the nation during its first six years(as the Mexican Constitution designated a single, six-year term for each president). With American aid on its way and (some) stability, the Republic of Mexico was finally able to inspect its economic situation and turn the declining economy around...

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