Sin Perdón

By David R. Stevens

While fire-eaters, both North & South, fanned controversial flames into open, armed hostilities, the political situation south of the 1860 US-Mexico border also quickly deteriorated.  Prior to opening shots at Fort Sumter, Liberal Republican President Benito Juárez wrested power away from the clerical Conservatives who had held the country in a oppressive grip since before Spain’s embarrassing evacuation.  Juárez’s election, and subsequent persecution, prompted affluent expatriate Conservatives to flee to Europe, where, as political refugees, they gained the sympathies of France’s Napoleón III.  Seeing the turmoil brewing in the US, Napoleón, backed by some of Europe’s most influential bankers, gambled and embarked on a mission of regaining a foot-hold on the western continent that had been lost since the publication of the US’s Monroe Doctrine. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Styx books
• Release date: Sep 27, 2016
• ISBN: 9781533738240

David R. Stevens

Although Sin Perdón is the author’s first book to go to publication, there are about eight works, currently in progress, “waiting in the wings,’ at various stages of completion. All the author’s books, including Sin Perdón deal loosely with that most devastating, critical period in American History when over 600,000 men, women, and children perished in the multi-faceted conflict – many issues of which were never really ‘resolved,’ but still haunt and plague U.S. politics, today. The author’s total ‘civil war knowledge’ (from the public school system) could be summed-up in three phrases: “the South had slaves;” “the North didn’t like it;” ‘the North invaded the South and ‘forced the issue,” (resulting in the ‘freeing’ of 3 million enslaved people – which, in fact, these peoples were never ‘freed,’ as they are still depended on a hand-out in order to survive). Equally, all ‘peripheral connections’ with that American conflict were virtually unknown.

Book preview

For heaven’s sake, let us sit upon the ground,

And tell sad stories of the death of kings: -

How some have been deposed, some slain in war,

Some haunted by the ghosts they have deposed;

Some poisoned by their wives, some sleeping killed;

All mudered – for within the hollow crown

That rounds the mortasl temples of the king

Keeps Death his court; and there the antic sits,

Scoffing his state, and grinning at his pomp, -

Allowing him a breath, a little scene

To monarchize, be feared, and kill with looks;

Enfusing him with self, and vain conceit,-

As if this flesh, which walls about our life,

Were brass empregnable, - and humored thus,

Comes at the last, and with a little pin,

Bores through his castle walls and – farewell, King!

Shakespeare, Richard the Second

CHAPTERS

I.  Mexico Under Spanish & Roman Rule (1820-1860)

II.  The Un-Holy Triumvate

III.  European Allies in Mexico & Subsequent Rupture

IV.  French Intervention & Regency (1862-1865)

V.  The Maximilian Empire (1864-1865)

VI.  The End of French Intervention

VII.  Maximilian’s US Sanctioned Murder

VIII.  Epilogue

IX.  Miscellaneous Related Documents

Bibliography

Chapter One

Mexico Under Spanish & Roman Rule

(1820-1860)

Hernando Cortéz arrived in Mexico on Good Friday, 1519, with a fleet of eleven ships, over 700 soldiers, ammunition, seven cannons, and less than twenty cavalry.  Authorized by the captain-general of Cuba to reconnoiter the area with a view to begin trade with the natives, Cortéz burned his ships as his men trembled aghast as their sole mode of transportation went up in smoke and vanished into the wind.  With a little more than 1,000 volunteers for his overland invasion, Cortéz marched 300 miles inland to face a foe of two million.  Through different twists of treachery, the Aztec ruler was captured while the nation was systematically annihilated.  Cortéz had come ‘for the Glory of God’ and to bring the true faith to a pagan people.  For the next 300 years, Spain flooded the country with Roman Catholic priests and missionaries, intent on civilizing and evangelizing the native peoples of the New World.  In truth it was a concerted effort to eradicate all things related to indigenous cultures.  As far as Spain was concerned, Mexico existed solely for the aggrandizement of Spain.  Anything departing the country went solely to Spanish ports.  Casts of wine, silk, tanned hides, silver, and billions of dollars’ worth of gold exited the country through the ocean port of Vera Cruz. (1)

With the arrival of the conquistadores, the various populations of the former Mesoamerican kingdoms were unified under the rule and theocratic monarchy of Spain.  Early attempts at establishing a decentralized feudal society gave way to a centralized aristocratic authority. (2) There were four distinct classes of people inhabiting Mexico: First, Spanish-born, who held important positions with viceroy at the top.  Second were the Creoles, people of Spanish descent who were born in Mexico.  Third were the Indians who were perceived to be ignorant (no rights, no education, no land, no money, and an attitude of que sera sera pertaining to the wrongs inflicted on them by the invading Spaniards).  Last were the mestizos, descendants of Spanish soldiers and Indian women, (no Spanish women were authorized to accompany Cortéz’s expedition).  Mestizos were the most dangerous as they possessed the keen intellect and thought patterns of the Spaniards along with the hair trigger, impulsive, mindless violence of the Indians. (3) Throughout the colonial period, a distinctly Mexican national identity was emerging among the mestizos and Creole inhabitants of New Spain.  By the 19th Century, Spain’s mercantile trade policies and its discrimination against native-born Mexicans in colonial business and administrative affairs fostered widespread resentment and the desire for a greater autonomy.  Subsequently, by 1810 with the Age of Enlightenment and the influence of the Napoleonic Wars, a break with Spain was eminent. (4)

Once Cortéz had achieved his goals of conquest at a tremendous cost to his troop strength, those remaining demanded what they had come for, wealth and prestige.  Having lost practically all of the tangible wealth his forces had stolen from the city, Cortéz resorted to a practice that had already been tried successfully in the Caribbean, namely that of land and people grants. Granting, a Spanish institution of Roman origin, ensured subordination of the conquered peoples and the use of their labor by the colonizers. At the same time, it was a means to reward the subjects for services rendered to the Spanish crown.  While the conquered people were required to provide tribute and free labor to the grantee, the latter was responsible for their welfare, assimilation into Spanish culture, and their Christianization, of course.  Social status among the grantees came in direct correlation to the actual size of the land grants.  The larger the grant, the larger the amount of tribute and free labor the grantee could expect, thus increasing his potential for wealth and prestige.  However, this new source of power caused authorities in Spain to be concerned since there was always the potential for one or more of the new feudal lords to obtain more authority on the peninsula. Therefore, a royal decree abolished land grants by the early 1700s, which was confirmed by subsequent decrees in 1720 and 1721. (5)

Spain realized early on that the significant distances in traveling between Spain and Mexico would eventually prove to be a deterrent in settling legal matters and disputes stemming from unfulfilled labor obligations and failure to pay tribute, not to mention lack of communication.  Thus, a judicial body consisting of four judges was established in Mexico City, which also held executive and legislative powers.  However, even with the establishment of this legislative body, there had to be a head that would have the full power and weight of the royal crown.  Subsequently, control of this burgeoning bureaucracy was designated to Antonio de Mendoza, who became the first viceroy of New Spain in 1535-1550.  Viceroys enjoyed a certain measure of autonomy from the mother country but frequently came into conflict with the legislative body that reported directly to the crown.  The concept of viceroyalty reached its apex by the end of the 17th century when Spanish power extended from northern Mexico to Panama and included the Caribbean islands. (6)

The socio-economics of Spain in the 17th century were as follows: In order to prevent competition among individual producers in the colonies, Spain placed heavy limitations and strict restrictions on the colonial economy.  Mexico, therefore, was required to supply raw materials to Spain, which would refine or manufacture finished products to be sold at a steep profit back to the colonies.  The entire purpose behind New Spain was the aggrandizement and enrichment of mother Spain.  With the perpetual growth of haciendas and plantations and as European acquisition of land encroached upon indigenous villages, entire groups of natives fled to larger towns to avoid forced labor.  Enter the introduction of African slaves.  Found mainly in the central areas of New Spain, they shared the same fate as the mestizos and other indigenous groups.  Although Africans were given a separate status, constant contact with Spain had to be maintained in order to continue their intense assimilation into the Spanish culture. (7)

Colonial society with its distinct strata of individuals was determined by race and wealth.  Three main groups, which consisted of the upper class or European/American-born whites, mestizos, and natives, all had specific privileges and obligations in colonial society, the greatest of which was the right to be tried by one’s peers.  Merchants, the church, the military, and the bureaucracy all enjoyed this set of privileges.  Membership in the upper class was reserved only for whites, specifically Spanish-born whites who moved to the colonies.  American-born whites often tended to marry Spanish-born whites for reasons of upward social mobility.  Lower classes consisted of a mixture of poor whites and natives, each having a different set of privileges and obligations.  Protected from the Roman Catholic Inquisition, indigenous groups were required to pay a head-tax and could not own property.  They were, however, the primary beneficiaries of a socialized medical program and education.  Mestizos and poor whites often competed for the same jobs but were never considered for positions in the colonial administration, which was reserved specifically for Spanish-born whites.  The sole unifying force in a society divided by race and wealth was the Roman Catholic Church.  Clergy were required to provide social services and education to rich and poor alike and function as a buffer in social conflicts. (8)

By the eighteenth century, all the wars in its colonies and strife within had exacted a tremendous toll on Spain.  The first Bourbon king, Charles III, sought to effect structural changes in the government and economy by centralizing power in the monarchy.  Outlying colonies also received the attention of the new king as their economies and defenses were built up.  Particular attention was focused on the mining endeavors of northern Mexico and trade sectors.  Commerce, previously monopolized by merchants in old Spanish ports, was liberalized. This allowed other Spanish ports to trade with the colonies but not without a price.  Higher taxes and stricter military supervision became necessary.  With the reforms, additional military and governmental positions were created.  Thus, a new population of fresh Spanish blue-blood migrated into the colonies. (9)

While the US was experiencing its revolution in 1776, the seeds of rebellion and revolution began to grow within the various lower classes in Mexico.  Poor criollos, mestizos, and Mexican-born whites envied the rich Spanish-born whites.  To neutralize the blatant discrimination practiced by the upper classes, criollos and mestizos demonstrated an intense pride in things Mexican.  Open rebellion and revolution were averted mainly because criollos were intensely religious and had been taught by the Roman Catholic Church to believe in the sovereignty of the Spanish crown.  Then came the conquest of Spain by Napoléon Bonaparte who placed his French brother Joseph on the Spanish throne after Charles IV abdicated.  Those Spaniards who disagreed with the arrangement, declared Ferdinand VII, Charles IV’s son, as their accepted monarch.  News of the turmoil reached the colonies and pitched their tenuous condition into further disarray as no one knew which reigning king was the legitimate ruler of the colonies.  Hoping to capitalize on the upheaval, one of the viceroys who had earlier befriended and supported the criollos when they proposed a junta to govern the peninsula made a bid to become king of the new country.  However, the Spanish-born whites, perceiving the damage that could come of unbridled fraternization between the criollos and the administration, orchestrated a coup d’etát in 1808 that resulted in the establishment of a weak puppet-ruler. (10)

For the next eleven years, civil war, a byproduct of the complete breakdown of Spanish authority in the colonies, raged across Mexico.  On September 16, 1810, a 57-year-old criollo, Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla (no relation to the Hidalgo in the following pages), emboldened his listeners from the pulpit to dispense with Spanish occupiers.  Intense dissatisfaction with the disparity of the practices of Spanish-born whites and anti-criollo discrimination at every level were important focal points for discontent.  With the French occupying Spain, the government’s legitimacy was called into question, not only on Europe’s mainland but also a few thousand miles away in New Spain.  A rebellion under this context would no longer be considered a challenge to the paternal crown and the religion that it defended. (11)  In Father Hidalgo y Costilla’s small home in Dolores, mestizos, criollos, and Spanish-born whites gathered to discuss economics and social concerns.  From these humble beginnings, the movement of dissention grew that eventually defined Spanish domination of politics and economic life in New Spain. Thus, 300 rag-tag, barefoot congregational followers grew to a 14,000-person mob bearing clubs, slings, and machetes.  They seized upon the barricaded Spaniards at San Miguel, butchering and slaughtering them.  The men, women, and children, complete with provender, marched to Celaya to wreak more vengeance.  Now twenty thousand strong, they advanced on Guanajuato where more Spaniards were hiding in the communal grain warehouse.  Not a single Spanish soldier escaped.  Growing to eighty thousand, the mob marched on Mexico City where the Spanish viceroy sent out royal soldiers to intercept them.  After the two forces met, the battle was a draw.  For whatever reason, Hidalgo pulled his forces back after the engagement at Monte de las Cruces and did not take Mexico City.  With that action, his force began to fade into the tall evergreens, eventually moving toward Texas.  The Spanish royal guard mounted another attack, ambushed and captured Hidalgo in Monclova, Coahuila, tried him under the Orders of the Holy Roman Inquisition (finding him guilty of heresy and treason); and executed him by firing squad.  After mutilating his body, the pious Spaniards beheaded him as a warning to other would-be insurgents, (12) spearing his head and placing it upon the grainhouse in Guanajuato where Hidalgo had realized a lopsided victory. (13)

Father José María Morelos Pavón who possessed military knowledge and experience followed Hidalgo.  Conducting hit-and-run guerilla warfare, Morelos exasperated the Spanish.  Convening a congress in Chilpancingo (present day Guerrero), Morelos declared independence from Spain.  Major points in Morelos’ document were popular sovereignty, universal male suffrage, the abolition of slavery and forced labor, the end of government monopolies, an end to corporal punishment, and the adoption of Roman Catholicism as the official religion of Mexico. (14) Even with Morelos’ strategic move to encircle Mexico City whereby he cut off communication to the coast, the mother-country in her last throes sent in veterans of the peninsula campaign to break the seizure of Mexico City, capture positions in the surrounding areas, invade Chilpancingo, and hunt down Morelos.  Captured in 1815, he also faced a firing squad.  Giving candy and sweets to the executioners, Morelos requested they aim for his heart and not mar his face.  He died in 1815. (15)  One of the Spanish royal guards who was dispatched to locate the guerillas was Augustín Iturbide.  Ambition got the better of Iturbide, however, and he was able to rally the uncontrollable guerilla mobs, which accepted him as their chieftain. 

With the two figureheads of the revolution dead and fearing the threat of violent Spanish military reprisals, the zeal of the majority of the criollos turned to apathy.  The irregular armies of Hidalgo and Morelos begrudgingly realized that acquiescence to Spanish authority was the better part of valor until a more convenient time for independence could be found. (16)  It was at this precise juncture that the last remaining Spanish viceroy (Juan Ruiz de Apodaca), feeling the situation was finally under control, met with Iturbide and sailed for Spain. The last of Spanish rule was at an end. (17)

Iturbide attempted to enforce his Plan de Iguala, which guaranteed privileges, religious monopoly, union and equality to criollos and Spanish-born whites as well as independence from Spain. A transplanted European monarch would govern them (18) by a ‘democratic’ constitution.  Although it was pleasing to both loyalists and patriots alike, constitution delegates could not agree on anything.  Perhaps thinking of himself, Iturbide left a loophole in the treaty that allowed for the possibility of a criollo to assume the position of Mexico’s leadership if a suitable European monarch was not to be found. (19) Iturbide’s loyal but impatient soldiers took to the streets, declaring him Augustín I.  In July 1822, he was crowned emperor of Mexico. (20)  Without the support of his guerilla-backers who Iturbide attempted to pay in worthless paper money, however, he was forced to flee to Italy when they turned against him. 

Returning to Mexico a year later via London, Iturbide was captured, placed before a wall, and shot to death by a firing squad led by a former officer of his army. (21) From the enforced stability of a church backed state government to the chaotic ruin that was to become Mexico, instability reigned supreme.  Three hundred years of cobblestoned roads, carefully and meticulously maintained under Spanish rule, were overgrown and virtually impassible within twenty years of the last Spaniard’s departure. (22) Corruption and government theft caused many foreign businesses to depend on their own countries’ ministers and ambassadors for protection. (23) Billions of dollars in gold had traversed good roads from the interior of Mexico to the coastal ports of Acapulco and Vera Cruz.  After the Spaniards departed, only hoofed animals could make the trip. (24)

Smuggling and banditry became Mexico’s main industries. (25) Not a road was safe from bandits.  On a typical trip, passengers traveling on stagecoaches could easily get robbed multiple times before arriving at their destination, many times having even their clothing stolen. (26)

Descendents of Spaniards and Indians, both fiercely proud, distrusted anyone not in their inner circle of friends or family.  With only self-preservation and self-aggrandizement being pursued, there could be found little room for patriotism or love of country. (27)

In 1835, Anglos residing in Texas at the invitation of the Mexican government rebelled against the treatment they were receiving at the hands of the Mexicans.  Santa Ana responded by wiping out the last surviving man in an old Spanish mission. (28)

King Louis Philippe sent his son, Prince de Joluville, to mount a third expedition at Vera Cruz.  One in particular involved the robbery of a French pastry chef.  After a French cannon volley crashed into the old San Juan d’Ulua fortress, the prince and landing party went ashore to raise the French flag and gain assurances of restitution to the wronged pastry chef.  That accomplished, they took their leave, thus ending the Pastry War.  Santa Ana, who had been asleep, came out brandishing his sword at the retreating French who responded with a few well-scattered shots.  One found its mark and shattered Santa Ana’s leg, causing a surgeon to have to amputate it.  A national hero, Santa Ana had forced his right to be back in power again. (29)

From the 1820s to the early 1860s, there were approximately seventy-two revolutions or changes of government in Old Mexico, representative of thirty-six different forms of government in approximately forty-three years.  There were approximately fifty changes of president with politics running the entire gamut between dictatorship and total anarchy.  This accounted for the unprecedented and hitherto unsurpassed 140 military coups.  During that timeframe, a small minority existed, numbering some one million who favored the concept of a ruling monarchy.  These party members were of direct European or Latin descent.  The remaining seven million of the population were contrived of a mixture of Negroes, native Indians (descendants of the Aztecs or other warring groups) or a mixture of both (commonly known as mestizos).  Unfortunately, as with many second and third world countries, the majority was in a debased state with few among them possessing any education or opportunity for sophisticated discourse.

Having been a Spanish colony up until 1810, Mexico was governed by a fanatical iron-fisted clergy who declared that Catholicism was the official and exclusive religion of the land.  The Papal Hierarchy, since the days of Gregory the Great, never abandoned the claim that the church was by right and appointment of God himself the only proper representative on earth.  As such, the church was the supreme power on earth, and in the person of the sitting Pope in Rome, the rightful sovereign of all sovereigns with all others outside its domain considered heathens or heretics to be subdued or exterminated.  The church considered itself endowed with the power to overthrow every government on earth, whether republican or empirical, which refused to bend to its will.  With such exclusion, the church, cloaked in fanatical government protection, controlled not only the political affairs of Old Mexico but also the very conscience of its populace. In turn, the governing party bestowed many benefits or privileges on the church and its adherents, one being that a special court martial comprised of church authorities, however biased, would try errant priests and soldiers.  Such special services, or ‘privileges,’ did not come cheaply.  The church, therefore, depended on the piety of its devout followers for the furtherance of its control.  It was estimated that in Mexico over one-third of the entire nation’s wealth had found its way into the church’s hands. (30) Had it not been for the church’s armies, which were maintained to do the bidding of the corrupt wealthy land-owners and clergy, the Clerical (or Reactionary) Party composed of some of Spain’s oldest aristocratic families, would have ceased to be a political obstacle of any importance.

In addition to its tremendous wealth, the church also maintained huge tracks of land for which there was no official record; hence no taxation of said properties to bolster the distressed coffers of the fledgling republic.  Furthermore, the church was not subject to any laws that were imposed on the republic.  Non-Catholic immigrations to Mexico were curtailed.  Up until 1810, the church held this power without any significant revolts or uprisings.  All power and authority were in the hands of the Spaniards, and no local, Mexican-born authorities had any say in matters politicos.

When the indigenous clergyman, Father Miguel Hidalgo, and a parish priest, José María Morelos who was a guerilla leader and revolutionary, made their appearance on the world stage, the time was ripe for ideas of independence, self governing rule, and liberal thought to sweep away old customs and conservative politics around the world. These ideas were experienced in Spain with trickle-down effects being felt in Mexico. The result was a particularly sanguinary war from 1810 to 1821, which pitted the rural peasants and mestizos against the ruling clergy and Spaniards.  From 1810-1811, the country was under the ‘administration’ of the Generalissimo of the American Armies.  The period between 1811-1813 saw the Supreme Governing Junta of America, also referred to as the Supreme Junta of the Nation, in control.  A generalissimo of the North American armies in charge of the executive was shortly in power from 1813-1814 while a mere executive power ruled in 1814.  Several ineffective ‘presidents’ had their time at bat during 1814-1815, after which a non-functioning executive commission was in place from 1815-1817.  There soon followed a president of the Provisional Governing Junta in 1821, a president of the Regency of the Empire in 1821-1822, a president of the Constituent Congress in 1823, and presidents of the Supreme Executive Power from 1823-1824.

Of course, the clergy had much to lose.  In spite of the liberal ideas sweeping the world, local clergy fully supported Spanish rule since it secured their lucrative life style and personal wealth.  Following the war, the clergy attempted with fresh vigor to re-instate the stranglehold of the church by propagating the absolute power of Spain.  Because it would have to be accomplished by force, a standing army was required.  Such military might was gathered and formed the loyalist ranks.  This undertaking was offered to the Creole, Agustin Iturbide, whose sole function was to unite the Spaniards and natives under the old rule.  However, 286 years of Spanish rule came unraveled when Iturbide supported his Plan of Iguala (crafted and presented by the church, in collusion with himself and Santa Ana), which in effect, declared Mexico free from Spanish rule.

Having been subjugated for so many years, everyone desperately craved a return to a certain manliness and machismo.  With reason, they sought out bombastic arrogant fellows to be their glorious leaders.  When it was determined that they were but mere mortals rife with many faults and deficiencies, the people rebelled, causing their once gallant leaders to flee for their lives or face the very real possibility of certain death before a firing squad. (31)

Spanish viceroy O’Donoju accepted the proposals presented in the Plan of Iguala, which included the acceptance of foreign rule (providing that such a ruler hailed from Spain).  It was agreed that the crown of Mexico should be offered first to Ferdinand VII, and in case of his refusal, to the Archduke Charles of Austria. Next in line was the Infante of Spain, Don Carlos Luis, and then to Don Francisco Paulo (all of whom are direct relatives of both Maximilian and Charlotte, as we shall soon discover!)  When the ‘delegates’ from Mexico came calling at Miramar Castle, it was not a spontaneous decision on their parts.  The roots of this plan reached back to the 1821 Plan of Iguala).  Subsequently, the Mexican embassy was sent to Spain, and the crown was first offered to Ferdinand who had no intention of ‘purchasing’ a crown that he already considered his own and had fought long and hard to preserve.  Consequently, any Spanish prince who entertained the thought of accepting the crown would have been the subject of abject scorn.  That one rejection resulted in Spain’s losing her richest colony.

Later Santa Anna would give full powers to Señor Gutierrez de Estrada, one of the original callers at Miramar Castle, to entreat the courts of Paris, London, Vienna, and Madrid to establish a monarchy in Mexico, which would be under the control of a European prince.  Estrada consequently offered the crown to the Frenchman, Duc de Montpensier, who as history would prove, made a very wise decision in declining the offer.  However, the Crimean War and Santa Ana’s fall from power all but halted the negotiations for a crown prince from Europe.  Once the negotiations in Europe resumed, it became clear that the US was making advances on Mexico.  Estrada, still intent on enticing a European prince to govern Mexico, now saw his endeavors gravely compromised. (32) By 1859, with the European proposal still being kept alive by the clergy and its strongest supporters, Miramón was able to approach the French emperor again.  By that time he had decided on his ‘choice’ for the assignment, the son of one of the previous contenders, Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian.

Iturbide declared himself the first emperor of Mexico, taking the name Agustin I. His lavish coronation was modeled after that of Napoléon I.  During his reign, Ituribe temporarily annexed Central America to his empire.  However, by 1824, the United Provinces of Central America declared their independence with the exception of the small territory of Chiapas, which chose to cast its lot with greater Mexico.  Abject poverty throughout the country worsened, and after three years of a tumultuous reign, Iturbide was ushered from his throne, placed before an adobe-wall, and shot down before a firing squad. (*Of course there is some division of thought on these sequence of events.  According to author Sara Yorke Stevenson, Santa Anna raised the flag of revolt against his benefactor in 1823.  Iturbide abdicated, was given a pension of twenty-five thousand dollars, and was escorted voluntarily to exile to the seacoast by a guard of honor).  Thereafter, Santa Ana would have his hand in almost every revolution until an old Indian general (Guerrero governor General Alvarez) conquered his forces.

After nearly three hundred years of Spanish rule on the North American continent, Napoléon Bonaparte invaded Spain, making his brother Jerome king of that country.  The extended dominion of Spain in the New World was termed New Spain and encompassed the entire area from the southernmost tip of South America to the Canadian border and from what are now both coastal boundaries of the US.  However, conveniently enough, Jerome sold a large portion of the now conquered Spanish empire to Napoléon who turned right around and resold it to the US.  That one large track of land (the Louisiana Purchase) would spell the beginning of a long effort by the United States to ‘acquire’ much of the original Spanish colony.  Old colonists in New Spain grew restless at being under the reign of a ruling Frenchman and subsequently declared their independence on 16 September 1810.

However, freedom from Spain came at a very high price.  Whereas they were no longer subjugated by Spain, the majority of Mexico’s eight million purebred Indian inhabitants were now more than ever under the even more unyielding, determined, fanatical, and tyrannical rule of the church.  Clerics became more powerful and wealthy.  Those who fully supported the system and gave liberally of their wealth were granted special privileges.  Powerful, conservative, white landowners and corrupt generals gripped the majority of the country’s real estate.  Before, the Mexican church had received its orders from the Catholic Church in Spain, and there had been no direct communication with the Holy See in Rome. Of course, following Mexico’s independence, the Pope acknowledged the country’s legitimacy and sent his nuncio.  With the clergy still controlling the country, the church’s grip on Mexican affairs became even stronger, controlling both secular and religious aspects alike.  The church was not subjected to what few local laws there may have been.

It goes without saying that the stronger the church and clergy became, the stronger the opposition from the have-nots became.  More than thirty-three years of bloody fighting was a direct result of the antagonisms between these two groups.  Michel Chevalier, a well-known European author and political economist, attempted to garner support for the European-held belief that Mexico, which provided a foothold for European economical and commercial interests in the New World, would face annexation by the US if the existing government did not undergo a serious reorganization.  Chevalier also supported and propagated the idea that Roman Catholicism was the energy and initiative of all the Latin races, and without it they would be reduced to a subordinate rank in the world.  He cleverly tied this belief into the fact that many Mexicans loathed and despised the Spaniards after many years of maltreatment and abuse. The French became the alternative worthy of bringing stability and salvation to the New World republic.

By 1821, this opposition took on the form of the Liberal Party.  As the Liberal Party grew in strength and numbers, it prepared for the time when it could completely overthrow the political and religious fetters that had bound Mexico for centuries.  Mexican independence was won in 1821 during a convincing win in Nacogdoches. A young Juan Almonte, the New Orleans educated son of a parish priest (Jose Morelos) and an Indian woman (Brigida Almonte), had allied himself with Vicente Guerrero and was present during the decisive battle.  Then followed a florid career for this young son of a Catholic priest.  Juan Almonte’s father was captured, defrocked, and shot as a traitor in December 1815 while Juan was still a young boy.

By 1824, Almonte had been appointed part of the Mexican legation to Great Britain and credited with being instrumental in finalizing Mexico’s first commercial agreement with that ‘foreign’ country.  By 1830, Almonte had been elected a congressman, but his philosophies, beliefs, and criticism against President Anastasio Bustamante forced him into hiding.  As editor of his newpaper, El Atleta, he had expressed his opposition to allowing foreign intervention in Mexico. 

In 1833, Santa Ana was elected president of the republic, and the following year Almonte joined forces with him.  Santa Ana sent Almonte to Texas the following year to conduct an unbiased review of the status of the territory.  His aim was to determine the colonists’ loyalty to Mexico and to sound out their increasing rumblings of independence.  Although Almonte filed an impressive report, over-stating the Texas colonists’ loyalty toward Mexico as well as a favorable account of their economic development, it is believed that Colonel Pedro Ellis Bean influenced the majority of the report.  Colonel Bean, a family friend, had overseen Almonte’s education in New Orleans.  Three years later, Almonte became Santa Ana’s personal secretary and confidential advisor.

The US President sent Louisiana Senator John Slidell (D-LA) to Mexico as a special envoy (plenipotentiary extraordinaire) to convince the government that all previous treaties would somehow become null and void.  Simply stated, the US’s push toward the west dictated they would be.  Slidell, whose command of both the French and Spanish languages was legendary, established early on that the US government would not only be unyielding in its requirements of Mexico, but if it was not receptive to Ambassador Slidell’s mission, the US would be forced to resort to more convincing measures.

Unfortunately, the US ambassador to Mexico (Wilson Shannon) had previously departed Mexico under less than glorious circumstances for reasons stemming from these same property issues.  It astounds the imagination that the US could actually believe that Mexico would be receptive to this new line of insensitive and calloused reasoning and allow all previous acts of US aggression against Mexico be unaccounted for, forgiven and forgotten.  Not only that, the US acted as if its previous transgressions against Mexico were not of great consequence and that Mexico should not be making such a big issue of it.  With the opposition lurking at every corner and threatening his very existence, Jose Joaquin de Herrera chose to deal secretly with Slidell and the Americans, ultimately to his own ruin.  His administration closed at the end of the year as that of Mariano Paredes opened with both administrations under the veil of suspicion of treason for dealing privately with the US.  After many months of attempting to gain an audience with either the president or his minister and being trumped by a Mexican congress, which interpreted its governing guidelines according to the letter of the law, Slidell demanded his passports and returned to the US.  Whereas he felt he had been thwarted in his mission to cede the northern portion of Mexico to the US, nevertheless, he counseled the President that the Mexicans should be taught a lesson for daring to stand up against such a powerful adversary as the US.  If Mexico would not give away its land, then the US had every right to go to war with its southern neighbor and take it by force.

Mexican laws did not allow for much wiggle room when it came to negotiating with the Americans.  Even Ambassador Shannon recognized the fragile and limited characterizations of the Mexicans’ negotiating capabilities.  He said as much when he reported to Washington:

...many intelligent Mexicans privately entertain and express opinions favorable to the amicable arrangement of the difficulties...But there are few who have the boldness to express these opinions publicly, or who [would] be willing to stem the current popular prejudice by undertaking to carry them out. (33)

The Mexican constitution itself prohibited the transfer of sovereign territory to another country.  Furthermore, amendments in 1824, which were approved in 1847, actually disqualified the sitting president from signing any manner of peace agreement or treating with foreign powers.  So the Texas problem was two-fold:  First, the Texas colonists had been invited by the Mexican president to colonize a portion of the country as long as they adhered to the teachings and doctrine of the one true church (Roman Catholicism) and refrained from any sedition or rebellion against the government of Mexico), and second, the annexation of Texas to the United States.

For the Mexican government, the first problem was fairly easy to combat: Reincorporate by force what was legally Mexico’s.  The rebellion by the Texicans (or Texians) was illegitimate.  Regardless of the recognition that the territory of Texas enjoyed from other countries, the conflict as the Mexican government saw it was internal.  It was very similar, indeed, to the situation that the US itself would experience a few years later with the southern states’ determination to form their own government.  The US’s reaction to such a separation was identical to Mexico’s reaction to the separation of Texas.  Texas was seen as Mexico’s buffer between itself and the hungry US.  Therefore, when Mexico learned that Texas had signed a treaty with the US, it viewed such action as hostility to its own government and a latent declaration of war.  It was only after the US invited Texas to join the other states in the Union that Mexico severed all diplomatic relations with the US, recalled its ambassador (Almonte), and began making preparations for an armed conflict. 

Why? Because the US had violated one of its own treaties with Mexico (accepted and ratified in 1824) wherein the sovereignty of Mexico over that portion of real estate was acknowledged and accepted.  Fundamental principles of international law had been violated.  Mexico had other issues to be concerned about as well.  With the loss of Texas, its other holdings to the north were also in jeopardy of being lost.  Therein, the entire security of the country would be placed on a most serious and critical level.

With those ends in mind, the Herrera administration was accepting of the plan for Texas to gain its independence with the stipulation that it was not annexed to the US.  Two ensuing camps, the moderates and the purists, had one thing in agreement.  They would attack Texas, not the United States, in an attempt to keep Texas for itself.  But when the US Congress issued a proclamation on 4 July 1845 that Texas had been accepted into the Union and annexed to the US, the Herrera administration had no choice but to mobilize its federal troops to protect its northern borders.  This was justified by adherence to the integrity of the treaties of 1828 and 1836 whereby the US recognized the original borders of Mexico.  Furthermore, Mexico’s honor and integrity were at stake.  The whole world was watching.  It had witnessed the actions of the US and had listened to the reclamations of the Mexican republic.  Mexico could not be perceived as weak on the world stage.

However, due to the impediment of speedy notifications, etc., the US state department and Secretary Buchanan were operating under the premise that Mexico would not act aggressively if Texas chose to secede.  That was the last message that US agent William Parrot had shared with Buchanan a month earlier.  This was confirmed in October 1845 when Mexico’s foreign relations minister, Manuel de la Peña y Peña, notified US consul John Black that although seriously aggrieved by the US’s actions regarding Texas, which rightfully still belonged to Mexico, it would be willing to entertain the idea of a special US envoy possessing full capabilities who would be able to settle the on-going dispute in a peaceful, reasonable and respectable way. (34) This meant favorable to the Mexican republic’s way of thinking (ie: returning to the previously agreed upon territorial boundaries).  However, they were anticipating an ad hoc commissioner who would come to initiate a negotiation and not arrive with pre-conceived demands and stipulations regarding the limits of the country’s borders.

It was into this setting that the US President glibly sent John Slidell to redraw the proposed boundaries of northern Mexico, namely the general terrain feature created by the ambling Rio Grande and the addition of the California and New Mexico territories.  Slidell was adamant in his demands, growing increasingly angry that Manuel de la Peña y Peña refused to refer to him by his authorized title.  It was soon very plain to see that the US had stacked the deck in such a manner that Mexico would be provoked to draw first blood, thus justifying military forces encamped on the disputed territory between the Rio Grande and Nueces River to engage the Mexicans.

Less than a week after a fuming Slidell departed Mexico, General Zachary Taylor and his troops crossed the Nueces River and camped just north of the Rio Grande.  Such action was interpreted by the Mexican government as a complete disregard for territorial sovereignty and a blatant, aggressive attack on the integrity of the treaty of 1828.  Polk knew what Mexico’s most probable reaction would be because even prior to the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma, he had already approached the US Congress for authorization to declare war on Mexico.  Mexico, he accused, had crossed over the US-Mexico border and shed American blood on American soil, completely disregarding the fact that the battles occurred a few hundred miles inside of Mexican territory, which was not even under dispute. (35) Polk defended his position as being in the interests of national security.  However, the seizing of California and New Mexico in the process only proved to the Mexicans that the US was not concerned about protecting the security of the homeland but rather desired to extend its grasp on all the territories that lay between the east and west coasts.

Most Mexicans believed that their only option was to go to war with the US.  Contrary to what is taught in US textbooks, the Mexican republic never declared war on the United States.  What Mariano Paredes did proclaim, however, follows:

Article 1. The government, in the natural defense of the nation, will repel the aggression initiated and sustained by the United States of America against the Republic of Mexico, having invaded and committed hostilities in a number of the departments making up Mexican territory.

Article 3. The government will communicate to friendly nations and to the entire republic the justifiable causes which obliged it to defend its rights, left with no other choice but to repel force with force, in response to the violent aggression committed by the United State. (36)

Mexico was merely defending itself against an aggressive neighbor that arbitrarily decided to invade its acknowledged sovereign territory.  This is borne out by the fact that when General Taylor attacked the city of Matamoros, the US government had already blockaded Mexican ports. Captain John Fremont was carrying California while Colonel Steve Kearny occupied New Mexico and California.

By August 1846, Polk was petitioning Congress for an additional two million dollars (a tidy sum in the 1800s) to defray the costs of the war and to make adjustments to the border with Mexico.  When the printed copy of Polk’s speech reached Mexico, the daily newspaper "El Republicano stated, A war started for such motivation was unjust and barbaric, and those responsible should be considered the enemies of humanity."  It continued:

A government...that starts a war without a legitimate motive is responsible for all its evils and horrors. The bloodshed, the grief of families, the pillaging, the destruction, the violence, the fires, and its works and its crimes...Such is the case of the U.S. Government, for having initiated the unjust war it is waging against us today. (37)

Following Emperor Agustin I’s abdication (murder), the political situation and Mexican economy grew progressively worse.  In 1836, Santa Ana lost the vast portion of northern Mexico to Sam Houston following the battle at the Alamo and subsequent battle at San Jacinto.  Almonte, who by this time had become a colonel in the staunchly republican Mexican army, was present for both battles.  Following the defeat of the Mexican forces at San Jacinto, Almonte emerged from a stand of trees just after sundown with approximately 250 remaining Mexican soldiers to avoid being slaughtered by the crazed, screaming American survivors who had taken to using their rifles as clubs.  The Americans indiscriminately bashed and slashed a mesmerized enemy with bowie knives.  Never before had the Mexican soldiers witnessed a foe that fought in such an undignified manner.  Unable to speak English, the Mexican soldiers were at a loss when given orders by the conquering Texans.  The latter, unable to speak any Spanish, were elated when it was determined that Colonel Almonte could speak English very well and was credited with saving the life of Santa Ana.  Under the terms of the capitulation, Almonte returned to the Mexican capital.  He found it in shambles and Bustamante seated in the rightful place of his undisputed leader, Santa Ana.

In 1840, Almonte became Bustamante’s minister of war and has been credited with suppressing a rebellion by one of his former colleagues, General Jose Urrea.  Allegedly, Almonte adhered to the sitting president when General Urrea and Farias pronounced Bustamante’s administration terminated and theirs as the legitimate power.  With the pronouncement, Almonte chanced to be in the street when he encountered General Urrea at the head of some columns of insurgent soldiers.  General Urrea demanded Almonte’s sword in surrender, declaring that President Bustamante had been arrested.  Almonte instead drew his sword and cut his way through the unprepared rebels, arriving at the citadel where he concerted his efforts, which led to the suppression of the rebellion.

However, a few months later Bustamante’s administration was overthrown, and Santa Ana returned to power.  During the interim, Colonel Almonte whose previous salary was still unpaid, supported himself by lecturing in the Mexican capital on scientific topics.  This continued until after Santa Ana returned to the presidency and Almonte was appointed as minister to the United States.

Not learning anything from his defeat, Santa Ana led Mexican forces into another war with US forces in 1846, after which he was the responsible party for losing almost half of Mexico’s vast holdings to the US.  In 1853, Santa Ana entered into a shady deal with US state department envoy, Nicholas P. Trist (under US President James K. Polk), and ‘sold’ 77,000 square miles of additional Mexican real estate for a paltry sum of $10 million.  The Gadsden Purchase, as it became to be known, was located in southern New Mexico and Arizona. Santa Ana subsequently pocketed the majority of the proceeds.  When the US Congress passed the bill authorizing the annexation of Texas, Almonte stated, America had committed the most unjust act in history with her annexation schemes, and he demanded the return of his passports. Diplomatic intercourse with the US was terminated, and Almonte returned to Mexico about the same time that the US ambassador to Mexico, Shannon, retired from the Mexican capital. In 1855, some of his countrymen had had their fill of Santa Ana and affected his removal from power.

As has been stated in Mexico’s own "El Siglo XIX, the entire separation and annexation of Texas was utilized by both sides as an opportunity to justify, enhance, tear down or revive the reputations of important figures and political parties, and above all, as an excuse to justify any type of revolutionary movement. (38) The opposition press saw efforts to annex Texas as weakness and treason on the part of the government. 

Between 1846 and 1856, Almonte was minister to Great Britain (1846), the United States (1853), and back to Great Britain (1856). Traveling to Great Britain by way of Havana, Cuba, where he spent considerable time consorting with the exiled dictator, Santa Ana, Almonte raised the anxiety of Herrera’s new administration by the visit.  His mission subsequently revoked, Almonte was recalled to Mexico.  However, he stopped in Havana on his return trip and again visited with Santa Ana.  Refusing to travel onward to Mexico, Almonte remained in Cuba until he accompanied Santa Ana who was recalled to Mexico by a conspiracy born of the American president.

Convinced that Santa Ana could be bought to turn against his own people, President Polk forgave Santa Ana’s shortcomings and transgressions, granted him amnesty and hired him to lead a counter-revolt comprised of revolutionaries and US soldiers under General Zachary Taylor.  It was hoped that Santa Ana would utilize his influence in favor of a lopsided treaty that he had previously been involved with, namely the expansionism of Manifest Destiny, which favored the US.  However, Santa Ana turned against Polk and General Taylor and subsequently suffered immensely under the attacks of the vastly outnumbered Americans who got the upper hand by utilizing superb tactics in such legendary locations as Buena Vista and Cerro Gordo. 

Previously, General Taylor had seemed to be numerically superior until General Scott, invading from the south through Vera Cruz with a panzer movement on Mexico City, demanded (and received) a great portion of Taylor’s troops.  During this time frame, Mexico’s congress had passed legislation that made it a high crime of treason if Mexican citizens and government officials consorted with the Americans.  After his resounding repeated defeats and in an effort to buy more time to recover and restore his decimated troop strength, Santa Ana proposed a treaty of his own. After the battle of Cerro Gordo, he proposed the US would pay $10 thousand down with one million to follow for the area containing Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California, and Colorado.  Naturally, Santa Ana could not ‘treat’ directly with Trist given the nationwide suspicions that he was the traitor who had embroiled Mexico in the war with the Yankees.  About this time, the US Congress passed another bill with a three-million-dollar price tag attached for the US President to reach a treaty of peace, boundaries, and borders with Mexico. Trist was authorized to negotiate with the Mexican government.

The Mexican newspapers, of course, could not be restrained as they observed the absurdity of the transforming events.  "El Diario del Gobierno" took issue with the following:

[The peace] that could be established right now between the Republic of Mexico and the United States would be ignominious for the former, and would lead to so much discontentment toward other nations and such negative impacts within the country that Mexico would soon become a stage for war once again, and would disappear from the list of free and independent nations. (39)

However, the deal fell through, and General Scott was forced to take Mexico City by storm, conquering Santa Ana’s military at Contreras and Churubusco.  Santa Ana again requested a lull in the fighting to renew negotiations for peace.  Trist again toiled for two weeks while Santa Ana gathered more re-enforcements and war material.  Talks again broke down and General Scott pushed onward toward Mexico City, coming up against Chapultepec Castle (which would be repaired under Maximilian in later years), where a particularly vicious resistance occurred.  (It should be noted here that Chapultepec was the equivalent of the US’s West Point or VMI.  Many, if not most, of the academy’s soldiers that US military personnel were waging war against were teenage cadets between the ages of thirteen and twenty.  It is truly astounding that it is a capital crime to gun a child down in the streets of any city in the USA, but it was an accepted fact of battle to wage war against a highly motivated group of military academy students who wanted nothing more than to zealously protect the honor and integrity of their school, even after being ordered by their commander to fall to the rear.  Have you ever wondered where the refrain From the Halls of Montezuma in the US Marine Corps song came from?  Montezuma, one of the first Aztec chiefs, built Chapultepec, which later became the Mexican military academy.  It was this citadel, with its wide spacious halls that was assaulted by US marines under Robert E. Lee).  Scott then divided his troop strength and took Mexico City.  Although they had anticipated a house-by-house military engagement, there was practically no resistance as the city surrendered to American forces.

Then followed approximately two months of US imposed martial law until another treaty could be negotiated.  During this time, a semblance of local government was formed.  In the middle of peaceful negotiations, dispatches arrived from Washington condemning the cessation of hostilities and ordering General Scott to resume the fight.  Scott and Trist, however, refused to obey the order and continued to sue for peaceful negotiations.  What was born out of their efforts has been referred to as the Guadalupe- Hidalgo Treaty.  On 2 February 1848 the US agreed to pay approximately $15 million to defray costs stemming from complaints and grievances against the Mexican government (for damages sustained during their years of instability and unrest) for which Mexico would recognize the newly proposed border of the Rio Grande as the line of demarcation between the two countries.  Thus, Mexico ceded a vast majority of its northern land holdings to its North American neighbor.  The US Senate subsequently ratified the new treaty on 10 March 1848.

Although most Americans have not heard Paul Harvey’s "Rest of the Story" regarding the US’s aggressive war against Mexico, the Guadalupe-Hidalgo Treaty that Nicholas Trist brokered with the conquered Mexicans by order of the US State Department was painful, shameful, and undignified for both sides of the negotiation table.  Trist would later tell a colleague:

Could those Mexicans have seen into my heart at that moment, they would have known that my feeling of shame as an American was far stronger than theirs could be as Mexicans.  For though it would not have done for me to say so there, that was a thing for every right minded American to be ashamed of, and I was ashamed of it, most cordially and intensely ashamed of it. (40)

The war would eventually cost the United States over $100 million and end the lives of 13,780 US military personnel.  Following the end of hostilities, Santa Ana would lose his place in the presidency and would eventually be requested to resign his position in the military as well.  Unfortunately for the US, the training that US military personnel gained while fighting Mexican forces propelled many of the officers toward stellar (and some, not so stellar) careers in the War Between the States a few years later.  Had there been no war between the US and Mexico, it can be argued that there may have never been an armed conflict in the US of brother against brother.  General Zachary Taylor capitalized on his war hero status to propel him to the US presidency in 1848.  Ironically enough, it was a Democrat (Polk) who encouraged a war that led to a Whig (Taylor) winning the White House.

Mexican-American societies were formed after the American hostilities against Mexico in direct response to the atrocities committed by US troops occupying the territories annexed by the US following the war.  Initially, the societies consisted of home guard units, but they gradually evolved into social societies as stability returned.  These societies in turn contributed large sums of money and material to the Mexican constitutional government to aid in its consuming fight against Mexican imperial monarchy. (41)

Even though the war against Mexico enjoyed preliminary popularity in the US, there were significant anti-war movements especially in the New England States.  One of the anti-war supporters was former US President John Quincy Adams.  Abolitionists against the acquisition of Texas directed much of the anti-war sentiment since Texas had entered the Union as a slave state.

During the early months of 1856, Ignacio Comonfort served as Mexico’s president.  On 1 January 1856 a newly enacted tariff lowered duties and reduced the list of prohibited articles to eighteen.  A constitutional convention met, with the Provisional Organic Statute being the result.  A month later measures against the church began with the suppression of the Jesuits by governmental decree.

In 1857, the Liberal (Reform) Party was legally able to overturn the entire system.  While formerly the press had been severely censored, now there was freedom.  Run-away slaves (both American as well as Mexican) seeking refuge in Mexico would now be protected.  Unrestricted non-Catholic immigration was encouraged.  The military would be subjected to civil authorities and not utilized solely as a strong-arm of the church.  With the seizure and nationalization of church holdings, the Liberal Party tied-up over $200 million-dollars-worth of property (by nineteenth century standards).  In 1857, a new federal constitution was drafted, which many believe mirrors fairly closely those ideals presented in the U.S Constitution.  The new Constitution, which superseded the Organic Statute, was to become effective on October 16th.

The federal (and Congressional) Constitution of 1857 may have initially been a "constitution to end all constitutions."  However, for the next few years it remained a shifty, uncertain, vague and disjointed document causing more unrest and lack of trust among all concerned.  Whereas the American Confederate states were seeking to gain more recognition for state’s rights, the Reform Liberals were seeking to remove the rights of each disjointed state and give them to a centralized government.  The new constitution also did away with the concept of two houses (legislative and executive), and proposed only one house with the perception being that one strong house was better than two weak houses.  The new Constitution of 1857 represented a combination of previously presented constitutions as set forth by the "Lerdo Law, Juárez Law, and Iglesia Law."  Similar to the United States Constitution, the Mexican Constitution detailed the concept of equality, freedom of press, speech, and assembly.  Furthermore, slavery and titles of nobility were abolished.

Perhaps the one article that caused the most division was that of freedom of religion.  Although not specified as the state religion, Roman Catholicism was generally understood to be the religion of choice.  But as the debates swirled on the legislative floors with each side of the issue waxing eloquently, the final result was that no vote was taken regarding religious freedom.  The majority of the delegates voted to have the article removed entirely from the Constitution.

After being unanimously elected chief justice of the Mexican Supreme Court (a position that placed him automatically next in line for the presidency), Benito Pablo Juárez Garcia became the most outspoken liberal under the new constitution.  Born of Indian parents in San Pablo Guelatao, Oaxaca, Juárez was orphaned at the age of four when both parents died.  As a boy, Juárez had occasion to wait tables.  One of his patrons was none other than Santa Ana. (42) Although he was left a rather modest inheritance, Juárez was sent to reside with an uncle who did not place much emphasis on education.  The result was that Juárez grew up speaking the Spanish language incorrectly.  At the age of twelve, Juárez traveled to the capital city of Oaxaca where, under the tutelage of a former Franciscan monk (Antonio Salanueva), he rapidly devoured all subjects taught, graduating from the seminary in 1821.  Ironically enough, Juárez would eventually turn his back completely on the church that had invested so much in him and would become an ardent leader against its abuses.  Juárez left the seminary where he was studying theology and gave himself completely to the study of law, being admitted to the bar in 1834.  As he progressed up the ladder of politics, Juárez’s positions included an alderman board member (1831) and state assembly deputy (1833).  In 1836, he found himself in prison due to an abortive coup against the conservative church government.  Elected constitutional governor in 1847, he strengthened national defenses during the war with the invading Americans.

Also in 1847, Santa Ana found himself in the position of constantly fighting off suspicions from his critics and opposition considering his treasonous nature.  Newspapers proclaimed that he had sold-out to the Americans.  During the turbulent period now under consideration, Santa Ana filled the position of Mexico’s presidency four times.  Juárez, resentful of having served Santa Ana as a waiter, logically changed his feelings for the erstwhile president. 

Santa Ana, always intent on assuming the presidency, threatened to invade the southern city of Oaxaca.  However, Juárez prevented the passage of Santa Ana and his escort at Tehuacan.  Thus, Santa Ana abandoned, at least for a time, the prize of the Mexican presidency.  But he would not forgive (nor forget) the opposition of the impertinent little Indio.  From 1849 to 1852, Juárez served Oaxaca again as governor and managed to liquidate the eighteen-year state debt, leaving a cash-surplus of $50,000 in the treasury.  Santa Ana reappeared in 1853 and avenged himself for Juárez’s previous opposition by arresting him and finally banishing him to New Orleans, Louisiana, for about two years where he worked in a cigar factory. (43) Santa Ana, sensing another coup, contacted the fanatical, exiled Gutierrez de Estrada (1853) to be on the lookout for an appropriate European monarch to take up the reigns of power in Mexico.  But while the European search was being conducted, General Alavrez appeared on the scene, forcing Santa Ana to flee for the final time into exile.  After hearing that General Alvarez was leading revolutionary forces from Acapulco and that his friend Alvarez was in power, Juárez set sail from New Orleans to offer his assistance, joined Alvarez’ forces in Acapulco, and accompanied him to recapture the Mexican capital in 1855.  Juárez was first made a glorified clerk before being