After the fall of the First Mexican Empire, the governing Supreme Executive Power proclaimed the republic, setting Mexico on a republican, federal state-building path that culminated in the 1824 constitutional order.
The Acta Constitutiva de la Federación Mexicana was approved, formally expressing the states’ intent to unite as a representative federal republic while a full constitution was finalized.
Mexico’s first national constitution as an independent state was ratified, defining a representative, popular federal republic (and maintaining Roman Catholicism as the official religion).
Guadalupe Victoria began governing as Mexico’s first president under the new constitutional order (initially in an interim capacity), helping consolidate the early federal republican executive.
Congress designated a federal capital district centered on Mexico City, separating it from the surrounding State of Mexico—an important institutional step in building federal governance.
Vice President Nicolás Bravo backed the Plan de Montaño, a conservative pronunciamiento seeking (among other aims) to curb Masonic political influence and change the cabinet—highlighting instability in the new republic.
Government forces under Vicente Guerrero defeated the Montaño revolt; Bravo was captured at Tulancingo, reinforcing (temporarily) federal authority over military pronunciamientos.
Indirect federal elections selected Manuel Gómez Pedraza, but the result was contested and soon destabilized by rebellion and pressure on Congress—showing how fragile early republican electoral legitimacy could be.
Following annulment of the contested election, Vicente Guerrero assumed the presidency, marking a major shift in national leadership amid intense federalist–centralist conflict.
Spanish forces under Isidro Barradas attempted to reconquer Mexico but were defeated in the campaign culminating at Tampico, bolstering the republic’s international and domestic standing.
The Plan de Jalapa pronunciamiento—supported by Vice President Anastasio Bustamante—rejected Guerrero’s government and helped initiate a conservative takeover, underscoring the republic’s coup-prone politics.
The government created the Banco de Avío (associated with Lucas Alamán) to finance industrial development—an early attempt at national economic modernization during the First Republic.
With Santa Anna absent from the capital, Vice President Valentín Gómez Farías exercised effective control and pursued major 1833–1834 liberal reforms aimed at reducing military and church privileges, intensifying polarization.
Santa Anna broke with the liberals, moved against Gómez Farías’s reform program, and dissolved Congress—accelerating the transition away from the federal constitutional system.
Congress named Miguel Barragán acting president during the political shift toward centralism, as pressure mounted to dismantle the 1824 federal framework.
The Bases de Reorganización de la Nación Mexicana were approved, ending the federal system and repealing the 1824 constitutional order, marking the effective end of the First Mexican Republic.
First Mexican Republic (1824–1835)
