Prosperity of the years 1825 and 1826.—The new government was now acceptable to the Mexican people. The administration of Victoria was popular, and measures were maturing for cementing the union of states, and for consolidating the public liberty. Much was done, also, to stimulate the industry of the people. The prospect of public peace, order, and liberty in Mexico, was such as to attract thousands of emigrants from the United States and from Europe. Wealth, and comfort, and honors, were held out as a reward of virtue and enterprise. But the pleasant vision soon vanished, and this ill-fated country was again the theatre of turmoil and contention.
Election of a President in 1828.—Victoria's term now expiring, a new president was to be chosen; among the prominent candidates for which office were General Guerréro, and Gomez Pedraza, then secretary of war. The canvass resulted in the choice of Pedraza; but the friends of Guerréro soon set up a claim in his favor, alleging that, in taking the votes, he was defeated solely by fraud.
At the session of the new congress in January, 1829, the house of representatives proclaimed Vincent Guerréro to be duly elected president, on the constitutional ground that he had the majority of the legal votes. General Bustamente, who had been supported by the partisans of Pedraza, was declared to be duly elected vice-president; and in organizing the new administration, Zavala, then governor of the state of Mexico, was appointed secretary of state, and General Santa Anna, secretary of war.
Usurpation of Bustamente.—Soon after the declaration of congress in favor of the election of Guerréro, that body passed a resolution investing him with dictatorial powers, in anticipation of an invasion by Spain, to recover possession of Mexico. The Spanish army of four thousand five hundred men, sent for that purpose, were defeated, and compelled to retire. The continuance of his extraordinary power was now no longer necessary; yet Guerréro continued to exercise it, and in a manner and for purposes not contemplated. This brought upon him the censure of Bustamente and others, who saw in his measures a desire to perpetuate his dictatorship. Yet, on the 11th of December, Guerréro resigned his dictatorship into the hands of congress, and retired to his estate. Bustamente immediately assumed or usurped the presidency, pretending that he was actuated solely by a desire to restore the constitution, which had been violated in the elevation of Guerréro to the presidency. The latter now fled to the mountains, but circumstances, in the spring of 1830, seeming to favor an attempt to regain his lost authority, he embarked in the enterprise, and the whole country was again in arms. He was, however, unsuccessful, and falling into the hands of his opponents, he was condemned as a traitor, and executed in February, 1831.
Defence of the Federal Constitution.—The measures of Bustamente directly tended towards the establishment of a strong central government, as those of Guerréro had been in favor of a perpetual dictatorship. On the ground of Bustamente's procedure in his government, Santa Anna, in 1832, placed himself at the head of the garrison of Vera Cruz, and, as a pretext for revolt, demanded a rëorganization of the ministry. His declarations were in favor of the constitution and the laws, and consequently rallied the friends of the federal system to his support. War soon began to rage, and it was not until nearly a year, that an accommodation was made, when it was agreed that Pedraza should be restored to the government. He was accordingly restored, and by means of his favorable notice of Santa Anna, now his friend, but formerly his enemy, he exerted such an influence, that the latter was elected his successor in 1833. Gomez Farias was chosen vice-president. The federal system was now apparently rëestablished under the new administration.
Proceedings of Santa Anna—a Central Republic Established.—From the first moment of Santa Anna's accession to the presidency, he was inflamed with a desire for dictatorial power. He seized an opportunity to desert the federal republican party, and joined the centralist faction. By a military order, he dissolved the constitutional congress in May, 1834, and in January, 1835, he assembled a revolutionary and aristocratic congress, which deposed the vice-president Farias, and elected General Barragan, a leading centralist, in his place. About the same time, through the influence of Santa Anna, the constitution of 1824 was abolished by congress, as were also all the state constitutions and state authorities, and a central republic was established in its place. So violent a measure proved unacceptable to several of the states. Zacatecas submitted, and declared for centralism. "The torch of liberty was now extinguished in the republic, and military despotism fully established." No! it was not quite extinguished. One Mexican territory, Texas, with her by fifty thousand bold inhabitants, chiefly emigrants from the United States, was ready to resist the dictates of a usurper and a despot. Santa Anna felt at once the importance of reducing Texas, and of defeating the Americans or driving them from the country. He made the attempt with an army of eight thousand men, but when he supposed that his object had been attained, he was suddenly attacked at San Jacinto, by General Houston, who routed his troops, and took him prisoner. This occurred on the 21st of April, 1836. After being a prisoner several months, he was permitted to return to Mexico, where, in the mean time, his authority as president had been superseded, and where he passed several years in obscurity, on his own hacienda (farm).
Texans Flying to Arms.