State of Guatemala

Origins

Guatemala, centre of the old Captaincy General, became one of the five states of the Federal Republic of Central America under the constitution of 1824, with its own head of state and assembly in Guatemala City, which was also the federal capital until 1834.

Rule and society

The state was the main battleground between liberals and conservatives. Mariano Gálvez, head of state from 1831, introduced civil marriage, the Livingston penal codes, land grants to foreign colonists and a head tax. When cholera struck in 1837, rural Maya and ladino communities rose under Rafael Carrera, who took Guatemala City in 1838. The western highlands broke away as the State of Los Altos until Carrera crushed it in 1840.

Decline and legacy

After the federation dissolved, Guatemala acted as a sovereign state under conservative governments dominated by Carrera, in alliance with the church. On 21 March 1847 Carrera formally declared it the independent Republic of Guatemala.