republic · Mesoamerica and the Caribbean

First Mexican Republic

1823 CE – 1835 CE · capital Mexico City

Mexico's first federal republic, created by the Constitution of 1824 and torn by coups between liberals, conservatives and Santa Anna.

Origins

After the fall of the First Mexican Empire, a constituent congress adopted the federal Constitution of 4 October 1824, modelled partly on the United States and the Spanish constitution of 1812. It created the United Mexican States, with nineteen states and four territories, and Guadalupe Victoria, a hero of the independence war, became the first president.

Rule and society

Catholicism remained the sole permitted religion, and the army and church kept their legal privileges. Politics was dominated by rival Masonic lodges and military revolts: only Victoria completed his term. Vicente Guerrero abolished slavery in 1829, the year Santa Anna defeated a Spanish reconquest attempt at Tampico. Valentín Gómez Farías launched anticlerical reforms in 1833, and the treasury depended on customs revenue and foreign loans.

Decline and legacy

Antonio López de Santa Anna turned against the reformers in 1834, and in 1835 a conservative congress replaced the federal system with centralist laws, the Siete Leyes, creating the Centralist Republic of Mexico. The change helped provoke the Texas Revolution.

Lineage

First Mexican Empire 1821 CE – 1823 CEFirst Mexican RepublicCentralist Republic of Mexico 1835 CE – 1846 CE

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Cite this page
APA
The Epoch Institute. (2026). First Mexican Republic. In The Epoch Institute States Register. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/first-mexican-republic
MLA
“First Mexican Republic.” The Epoch Institute States Register, The Epoch Institute, 2026, https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/first-mexican-republic. Accessed .
Chicago
The Epoch Institute. “First Mexican Republic.” The Epoch Institute States Register. 2026. https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/first-mexican-republic.
Harvard
The Epoch Institute (2026) ‘First Mexican Republic’, The Epoch Institute States Register. Available at: https://the-epoch-institute.org/state/first-mexican-republic (Accessed: ).

Last reviewed October 2026Random state ↻