Anastasio Bustamante

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Anastasio Bustamante
4th President of Mexico
In office 1 January 1830 – 13 August 1832
Vice President	Pedro Vélez
Preceded by	José María Bocanegra
Succeeded by	Melchor Múzquiz
In office 19 April 1837 – 20 March 1839
Preceded by	José Justo Corro
Succeeded by	Antonio López de Santa Anna
In office 19 July 1839 – 22 September 1841
Preceded by	Nicolás Bravo
Succeeded by	Francisco Javier Echeverría
2nd Vice President of Mexico
In office 11 June 1829 – 23 December 1832
President	Vicente Guerrero José María Bocanegra Pedro Vélez Himself Melchor Múzquiz
Preceded by	Nicolás Bravo
Succeeded by	Pedro Vélez
Personal details
Born	Anastasio Bustamante y Oseguera (1780-07-27)27 July 1780 Jiquilpan, New Spain
Died	6 February 1853(1853-02-06) (aged 72) San Miguel de Allende, Mexico
Nationality	Mexican
Political party	Conservative
Signature

Anastasio Bustamante y Oseguera (Spanish pronunciation: [anasˈtasjo βustaˈmante]; 27 July 1780 – 6 February 1853) was a Mexican military general and politician who served as president of Mexico three times. He participated in the Mexican War of Independence initially as a royalist before siding with Agustín de Iturbide and supporting the Plan of Iguala.

Bustamante was a member of the Provisional Government Junta, the first governing body of Mexico. After the fall of the First Mexican Empire, his support for Iturbide was pardoned by President Guadalupe Victoria. The controversial 1828 general election sparked riots forcing the results to be nullified, as a result, Congress named him Vice President while the liberal Vicente Guerrero was named President. Bustamante's command of a military reserve during the Barradas Expedition in 1829 allowed him to launch a coup d'état ousting Guerrero.

During his first term as president, he expelled US Minister Joel Roberts Poinsett, issued a law prohibiting American immigration, and returned the conservative statesman Lucas Alamán to power. Opponents of his regime proclaimed the Plan of Veracruz in 1832 ultimately forcing him into exile.

The Texas Revolution gave Bustamante the chance to return to Mexico and smoothly reassume the presidency in early 1837. Refusal to compensate French losses in Mexico resulted in the disastrous Pastry War in late 1838. Bustamante briefly stepped down in 1839 to suppress a rebellion led by José de Urrea. Relations with the United States were restored and treaties signed with European powers. Further rebellions forced him into a second exile in 1841. Bustamante returned in 1845 and participated in the Mexican–American War. He spent his last years in San Miguel de Allende where he died in 1853.

Early life[]

His father, José María, worked hauling snow from the volcanoes of Colima to Guadalajara but was able to provide his son with a good education. At 15, the younger Bustamante entered the Seminary of Guadalajara. When he finished, he went to Mexico City to study medicine. He passed his medical examinations and then went to San Luis Potosí as director of San Juan de Dios Hospital.

In 1808, he entered the royal army as a cavalry officer under the command of Félix María Calleja. In 1810, General Calleja mobilized the army to fight the rebels under Miguel Hidalgo, and Bustamante participated on the royalist side in all the actions of the Army of the Center. During the War of Independence, he rose to the rank of general. He supported royalist-turned-insurgent Agustín de Iturbide and the Plan of Iguala.

When Iturbide was declared emperor of Mexico, Bustamante continued his support, as did many other conservative elites, who saw centralized, monarchical government as the optimal government for independent Mexico.^[1]

First Empire[]

On 19 March 1821, in support of Agustín de Iturbide, a personal friend, Bustamante proclaimed the independence of Mexico from Spain at Pantoja, Guanajuato. A few days later, he removed the remains of the 1811 insurgent leaders from the Alhóndiga de Granaditas in Guanajuato and had them buried in San Sebastián cemetery.

Iturbide named him commander of the cavalry, second in command of the Army of the Center, and a member of the governing junta. The Regency named him field marshal and captain-general of the Provincias Internas de Oriente y Occidente, from 28 September 1821. He fought and defeated a Spanish expeditionary force at Xichú.

At the fall of the Empire in 1823, he joined the ranks of the federalists for which he was arrested and confined at Acapulco, but President Guadalupe Victoria again put him in command of the Provincias Internas.

President[]

First term[]

First Presidency of Anastacio Bustamante[2]
Office	Name	Term
Foreign and Interior Relations		1 Jan 1830 - 11 Jan 1830
	Lucas Alaman	12 Jan 1830 - 20 May 1832
	21 May 1832 - 14 August 1832
Justice and Ecclesiastical Affairs		1 Jan 1830 - 7 Jan 1830
		8 Jan 1830 - 17 Aug 1830
	18 May 1832 - 14 Aug 1832
Treasury		1 Jan 1830 - 7 Jan 1830
Rafael Mangino	8 Jan 1830 - 14 Aug 1832
War and Marine	Francisco Moctezuma	1 Jan 1830 - 13 Jan 1830
	José Antonio Facio	14 Jan 1830 - 19 Jan 1830
	20 Jan 1832 - 14 Aug 1832

The In December 1828, under the Plan de Perote, Congress named him vice-president of the Republic under President Vicente Guerrero. He took possession of this office on 1 April 1829 but soon was at odds with Guerrero. On 4 December 1829, in accord with the Plan de Jalapa, he rose against Guerrero, driving him from the capital. On 1 January 1830, he assumed the presidency on an interim basis. Congress declared Guerrero "incapable of governing."

In-office, Bustamante removed employees not having the confidence of "public opinion." He instituted a secret police force and took steps to suppress the press. He exiled some of his competitors and expelled US Minister Joel Poinsett. He was involved in the kidnapping and execution of his predecessor, Guerrero. He supported the industry and the clergy.

Those and other policies stimulated opposition, especially in the states of Jalisco, Zacatecas, and Texas. In 1832, a revolt broke out in Veracruz. The rebels asked Antonio López de Santa Anna to take command. When their immediate demands were met (the resignation of some of Bustamante's ministers), they also demanded the president's ouster. They intended to replace him with Manuel Gómez Pedraza, whose 1828 election had been annulled.

Bustamante turned over the presidency to Melchor Múzquiz on 14 August 1832 and left the capital to fight the rebels. He defeated them on 14 August at Gallinero, Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato, and then returned to fight Santa Anna, who was nearing Puebla. After two more battles, the three candidates, Bustamante, Santa Anna, and Gómez Pedraza, signed the Convenios de Zavaleta (Agreements of Zavaleta)(21–23 December), by which Gómez Pedraza was to assume the presidency and hold new elections. Bustamante was to go into exile, which he did in 1833.

Second term[]

While in exile in France he inspected military and medical facilities. He returned to Mexico in December 1836, as he had been called back by President José Justo Corro to fight in the War of Texas Independence. However, once he was back in the country, Congress declared him president (17 April 1837).^[3]

With the treasury exhausted and the army depleted by a series of revolts, Bustamante was limited in his military response to crises. France issued an ultimatum on 21 March 1838, and on 16 April, it began blockading Mexico's Gulf ports. The French declared war on 27 November 1838 (the Pastry War), bombarded San Juan de Ulúa, and occupied Veracruz (5 December).

Around the same time, Guatemalan general Miguel Gutiérrez invaded Chiapas. Bustamante temporarily left the presidency from 20 March to 18 July 1839 to campaign against rebel General José Urrea in Tamaulipas. Santa Anna and Nicolás Bravo served as president during his absence.

Third term[]

He became president again on 9 July 1839 and served until 22 September 1841. During this term, the first Spanish diplomatic representative to Mexico, Ángel Calderón de la Barca y Belgrano, arrived. The boundary between Yucatán and Belize was established. Treaties were signed with Belgium and Bavaria, and relations with the United States were re-established.

On 15 July 1840, General Urrea escaped from prison and led a force against Bustamante in the National Palace. Bustamante resisted, but the next day, he was forced to flee, accompanied by 28 dragoons. During the siege, artillery destroyed the southeast corner of the Palace. He did not relinquish the presidency, however.

Around then, a revolt broke out in Yucatán.

In August 1841, Santa Anna and Paredes, the military commanders of Veracruz and Jalisco, launched a new rebellion against Bustamante. He turned the government over to Francisco Javier Echeverría on 2 September 1841. Echeverría lasted only until 10 October, when Santa Anna returned to the presidency.

Later career[]

Bustamante again went into exile in Europe, spending time in France and Italy. His aide-de-camp José María Calderón y Tapia and his nephew Andrés Oseguera accompanied Bustamante in Europe. He traveled widely and sought medical treatment, taking the waters at Contrexéville, France. He returned to Mexico in 1845 to offer his services in the crisis with the United States. He was the President of the Chamber of Deputies in 1846.^[4] Later that year, he was named general of an expedition to defend the Californias from the United States, but he was unable to reach California for lack of resources. In 1848, he suppressed rebellions in Guanajuato and Aguascalientes.

He lived the rest of his life in San Miguel de Allende, where he died in 1853 at the age of 72. His heart was placed in the Mexico City Cathedral's chapel of San Felipe de Jesús, alongside the ashes of Emperor Iturbide.

See also[]

• List of heads of state of Mexico

References[]

Sources[]

• Andrews, Catherine. "The Political and Military Career of General Anastasio Bustamante, 1780–1853," PhD diss., University of Saint Andrews, UK, 2001 OCLC 230722857.
• (in Spanish) "Bustamante, Anastasio", Enciclopedia de México, vol. 2. Mexico City, 1996, ISBN 1-56409-016-7.
• (in Spanish) García Puron, Manuel, México y sus gobernantes, v. 2. Mexico City: Joaquín Porrua, 1984.
• (in Spanish) Orozco Linares, Fernando, Gobernantes de México. Mexico City: Panorama Editorial, 1985, ISBN 968-38-0260-5.
• Macías-González, Víctor M. "Masculine friendships, sentiment, and homoerotics in nineteenth-century Mexico: the correspondence of Jose Maria Calderon y Tapia, 1820s–1850s". Journal of the History of Sexuality, vol. 16, 3 (September 2007): 416–35. doi:10.1353/sex.2007.0068