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"Today I assume several important tittles and several important responsabilities, as I become the new Emperor. However, I'm above all a Mexican man, who fights for the wellbeing of his fatherland, for the wellbeing of his people and for God's will. That's the major responsability every patriot shares"
-Agustin II, Emperor of Mexico.
While South America only seemed to go from crisis to crisis, and from war to war, Mexico still lived its golden age.
The Empire was growing economically and militarily, and with Colombia stumbling during the Grand Crisis, they became the continent’s second largest economy just after the United States in 1843. However, that year a tragedy reached the Empire. Agustin I, Emperor of Mexico, King of Guatemala and Gran Duke of Texas, had died.
The Emperor, the father, protector and liberator of La Patria and the Mexican people, was a very beloved figure through Mexico and even the rest of Latin America. A Colombian newspaper dealing with his death even claimed that he was the second most beloved Libertador, after Miranda of course. The mourning, it’s said, lasted months. Still, from the Mexican Imperial Palace bells chimed and the people could hear a man yelling while waving the Imperial Flag: ¡El Emperador ha muerto! ¡Larga vida al Emperador! Indeed, after the death of his father, crown Prince Agustin Jeronimo, now known as Agustin II ascended to the throne of the Mexican Empire.
Agustin Jeronimo, Crown Prince of the Mexican Empire, Duke of Monterrey and Knight of the order of Guadalupe.
Agustin II was just a little boy when the Independence Wars started, becoming the Crown Prince (Principe Imperial) of the Mexican Empire upon his father’s ascension to the throne. He studied in Ampleforth College in England, with his father giving him a letter that told him to “be a good son, a good brother, a good patriot who will be able to perform with dignity the charges the Divine Providence assigned [him]”. He would then stay a time in Colombia, meeting important figures such as Miranda, Santander and Bolivar. Miranda even offered honorary Colombian citizenship to him. In his personal life, it was rumored he had sired a daughter with a Peruvian woman (fact proved in 1921). Nonetheless, he married Louise Marie Thérèse d'Artois, the daughter of Charles Ferdinand, Carlos X’s son and thus the granddaughter of the French King in 1839 when she was twenty years old. Agustin II was her senior by twelve years.
The marriage, a political one (reportedly, though they were friends, the couple lacked romantic feelings for each other) managed to both legitimize the Mexican Monarchy in the eyes of the world and tie it to France, giving it a valuable ally. They would have four children, three daughters and one son, who became Crown Prince Carlos Augusto de Iturbide-Borbón (born 1842, a few months before Emperor Agustin I’s death)
Though most of his time as Crown Prince was spent in foreign countries, Agustin II would often visit his motherland, touring Mexico City and other important centers such as Monterrey. He, like his father, was a beloved figure and thus, even though the mourning was greater, his coronation was widely celebrated. Representatives from France, the United Kingdom, Colombia, the United States, La Plata and Brazil attended. The most prominent ones being the Emperor of Brazil Don Pedro II (who reportedly told Agustin II that becoming an Emperor of any nation was the worst possible fate), Colombia’s President Esteban Cruz and American President William Henry Harrison.
Louise Marie Therese d'Artois, Empress of Mexico.
The political situation in Mexico was stable. Following the Imperial Treaties, Agustin I was able to behave in a more absolutist manner, and thus the Mexican General Elections of 1842 saw few changes, with Urrea remaining as Prime Minister. The nation was flourishing, but there still were problems to resolve when Agustin II became Emperor.
The main problem within the Empire was in the Kingdom of Guatemala, that is, Central America. The area had been given certain liberties and reform had taken place, but that wasn’t enough. The Mayan majority there often rose up in open revolt, with movement aimed at Mayan Restoration and secession common. The area proved to be a headache for Mexico, and most importantly a giant money drainer. The other big problem, as always, was the United States.
In the American elections of 1844, the Democrat Party’s candidate, Lewis Cass won over the Liberal Party’s candidate, the incumbent president William Henry Harrison. Cass was a strong proponent of state sovereignty, believing that states should be the ones to decide on questions such as slavery. Thus, he didn’t want the Congress to intervene in Dixie, which infuriated the abolitionist north.
Cass had served beforehand as a US military commander during the war of 1814, and after that as governor of several territories he managed to acquire via treaties with the Native Americans. Lewis was a strong supporter of Indian Removal, supporting the Indian Removal Act that nonetheless failed to pass due to opposition from the then President Webster. During the election, he managed to ally with former candidates van Buren and Adams, on the basis of their common goal of finally passing an Indian Removal Act. Henry Clay, one of the most prominent politicians of the age, rallied against this. Clay was himself a racist, even describing Native Americans as lower forms of life, but even he thought that removing them was going too far. Some historians say his change of perspective was provoked for his brief visits to Colombia and Mexico. The passing of such a disgusting act was thus stopped for a second time, with help from northern pro-abolitionist elements in both main parties. This, however, would cause deep divisions in both.
When it comes to economics, the Cass administration was successful in continuing and expanding on the economic recovery Webster had started. The US economy continued growing at a very fast pace. He also stopped the efforts to industrialize the South, instead trying to expand its cotton industry yet more and supporting commercial relations between states. This ended making several states, such as New York, intimately related to Dixie when it came to economics.
In foreign policy, Cass took a much harsher stand when it came to the southern neighbor. He didn’t hide American ambitions over the Mexican North, and that damaged relations between the two nations greatly. Still, trade between the Empire and the US grew, though France remained as Mexico’s main provider of industrial goods. Unfortunately, that meant that Mexico’s industry didn’t grow that much during the age. When it comes to the northern neighbor, Cass preferred to not provoke the British in any way and thus quietly accepted British ownership of the territories lost in the War of 1814. There was a dispute with the British over the Oregon territory, but Cass decided that relations with the United Kingdom needed to be repaired and thus offered them special commerce deals, especially in cotton, while letting the Oregon issue be an elephant in the living room he wouldn’t pursue.
The American forces remained pitiful, but some effort to strengthen them in the frontier with Mexico was made. The Mexican Imperial Army was still far more powerful and better organized and trained, but the United States had far better logistics and supply capacity.
Summarizing, Cass’ presidency was a time of grow and stability for the United States. During his presidency he repeated his promises of finally manifesting America’s destiny, but both he and the War Hawks knew that Mexico was under France’s protection. But things changed.
We can’t delve too deeply into France’s situation. The country had been having problems since 1843 when a Constitutional Crisis started because King Carlos X tried to turn France into an absolutist monarchy once more. France had been until them a constitutional monarchy where Bonapartists and Liberal elements had ruled over parliament. Napoleon’s influence could still be felt. Carlos X didn’t like the state of France in the sightless and tried to suspend free press and arrange a new parliament under his complete control. The parliament refused and thus the crisis started. We shall explain it in more detail later, but the important part for Mexico was that at the end of the crisis Carlos X had lost his throne and the Bourbons were not in the French throne any more.
Agustin II was concerned because France had been Mexico’s main ally and trading partner, and main deterrent for America against war with his Empire. He didn’t really care for Carlos X as a person (one of his letters describing him as “an old man trapped in old ways”) but there was someone who did inside the Empire: Empress Louise, Carlos’ granddaughter. Even when the Mexican Prime Minister General Urrea didn’t approve, the Mexican government released an official statement denouncing France’s change of regime. Agustin II dismissed Urrea as Prime Minister due to this, and Daniel Jacome, a Mexican industrialist with French ties became the new head of government. Jacome wasn’t favored by the high ranking military men of the Empire and, being a part of the Federal-Liberal coalition instead of the National Patriotic Party’s plurality his government was weak, the only reason he was able to govern at all being the endorsement by the Partido Imperial Monarquico (Imperial Monarchic Party), a tiny party that nonetheless gave him a tiny majority.
In the United States, which had since a while decided that European affairs were not their business, the only interest the French crisis sparked was centered in the fact that Mexico was now ally-less. Then newly elected President Cass didn’t want to immediately start a war against the Empire though, judging (correctly) that such a conflict would be difficult and would probably results in thousands of casualties. His “secret speech” to the War Department (whose War Hawks demanded a war) underlined the fact that a war with Mexico wouldn’t be like going against Indian raiders but against the modern Army of a modern state. Still, he continued with his anti-Mexico rhetoric and tried to pass an Army expansion act, which ultimately failed due to concerns by both the Mexican and British Empires. One thing he did manage was expanding the US Navy Southern Main Base in Louisiana, which became the most important American Navy port.
Mexico, on the other hand, didn’t really want war with the US, but it did manage to expand its military. Jacome’s government also focused in settling another long-forgotten territory: California. He was mostly unsuccessful due to distance, except for the capital, Yerba Buena which became a minor city. Relations between the Empire and the Federation continued to go south during the following years.
The American 1848 saw Cass win a reelection in what’s one of the most controversial elections, since Cass lost the popular vote but won thanks to the electoral college, and then only by a couple of votes. The second Cass administration mostly continued with the policies of the first, not being able to pass any laws due to an Opposition controlled Congress. In Mexico, the General Elections of 1846 allowed Jacome to finally get a working majority and thus secured his post as Prime Minister. Things went on stably in both countries, even though Mexico failed to secure a new Great Power protector.
Yerba Buena, California.
In 1850 though, things changed when Cass was assassinated. His second term had been going smoothly until a minor finantial crisis, the Panic of 1849 started in January of that year. An unemployed man named Thomas Burnet who was unhappy with the crisis and blamed Cass for it killed him when Cass attended to a theater function.
The situation was unprecedented and the United States Constitution was vague about what to do. It stated that that the Vice President would “act accordingly” in case the President was unable to fulfill his duties. However, the people disagree in whether that meant the Vice President would become president or acting president, and whether he could serve the remainder of the President’s term or if elections had to be held. The Supreme Court decided that the Vice President would become the new President upon taking an oath, but the Liberal controlled Congress refused to accept Cass’ Vice President, William Orlando Butler as new President. Butler thus only became acting President and the emergency elections of 1851 were called.
This ended up backfiring in the Liberal Party, as most people, angry with this movement of theirs, decided to vote Democrat instead, allowing the Democrat Candidate, James K. Polk, to win. Polk promised two things: a strong hand towards the British and finally acquiring the Mexican north.
From left to right: President James K. Polk and Prime Minister Eduardo Castillo.
The Mexican elections of 1850 were thus dominated by the issue of what to do in regards to the United States and how to act upon their explicit threat of war. National Patriotic Party won a majority and Jacome left his office to Eduardo Castillo, an Imperial Army General and Baron of Veracruz who had nonetheless never commanded any unit. Castillo tried to negotiate with the Americans, making it clear that Mexico wouldn’t cede any territories. The United States on the other hand was wary of directly declaring war without a casus belli. (Un)fortunately, that casus belli came when Americans became a majority in the Duchy of Texas and asked annexation and the Mexican government refused to allow this, putting down a rebellion that tried to secede and join the US. This gave the US the excuse it needed.
In April 17th, 1851, President Polk asked Congress to declare war in the Empire of Mexico. In April 29th, the Primer Regimiento de Infanteria de Tejas was attacked by an American regiment. The Mexican-American War had started.
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