Agustín de Iturbide

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Agustín I
Constitutional Emperor of Mexico
Reign May 19, 1822 – March 19, 1823
Coronation July 21, 1822
Born 27 September 1783(1783-09-27)
Birthplace Valladolid, Michoacán
Died 19 July 1824 (aged 40)
Place of death Padilla, Tamaulipas
Predecessor Juan O'Donojú as Viceroy of New Spain
Successor Pedro Celestino Negrete, Nicolás Bravo and Guadalupe Victoria (interim triumvirate)
Consort Ana María Josefa Ramona de Huarte y Muñiz
Royal House House of Iturbide

Agustín Cosme Damián de Iturbide y Arámburu (September 27, 1783 – July 19, 1824) was Emperor of Mexico from 1822 to 1823.

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[edit] Early career

Iturbide was born in the city of Morelia, then called Valladolid, in the modern-day Mexican state of Michoacán. At the time it was part of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. He was the son of a Mexican mother and a Spanish father, who had migrated to Mexico shortly before his birth.

He was an able military commander and in 1816 was put in command of the Spanish forces in the north of Mexico.

He gradually grew more sympathetic to the Mexican cause, however, and began secret negotiations with rebel leader Vicente Guerrero. In 1820 Iturbide joined the rebels, taking most of his loyal army with him. The resulting army was known as the Army of the Three Guarantees. In February 1821 Iturbide and Vicente Guerrero issued the Plan de Iguala, calling for a unified, separate, and completely independent Mexico.

They succeeded in rallying the other rebels together and driving the Spanish royalists from the country. Iturbide became the head of the new government junta. In an historic mistake, he signed an agreement with the departing Spaniards that they could leave with the value of their land holdings in hard currency. As Spaniards held title to most of the best land in the country, this quickly depleted Mexico of all its currency; even silver church bells and gold altarpieces were melted down in an attempt to pay off the debts, and Mexico entered the world as a new nation in a state of bankruptcy.

[edit] Mexican Emperor

Iturbide was backed and influenced by conservadores (conservatives) who favored an independent Mexico with a monarch from one of the European royal families as head of state. When no European royals accepted Mexico's offer (as Spain still had hopes of taking Mexico back), Iturbide was persuaded by his advisors to be named Emperor in the manner of Napoleon I.

Iturbide did this with some genuine reluctance, since he sincerely believed in the Divine Right of Kings, and thought that as someone without royal blood he was unworthy. On the evening of May 18, 1822 he was proclaimed emperor by soldiers in the street. He appeared at his balcony and declined the honor without a resolution of Congress. Early the following morning Congress was assembled, and it voted 77-15 to name him emperor. On July 21, 1822, he was crowned "Augustus I, Constitutional Emperor of Mexico".

A painting of Iturbide.
A painting of Iturbide.

Iturbide attempted to run the nation as he had led the army, giving orders and commanding that those who disagreed with him be imprisoned. Opposition to his administration soon grew, and in 1823 various regional governors and military commanders, among them Guadalupe Victoria and Antonio López de Santa Anna, issued the "Plan de Casa Mata", calling for Iturbide's overthrow and declaring Mexico a Republic.

[edit] Abdication

On March 19, 1823, Iturbide abdicated under duress and eventually agreed to leave the country without a fight. In exchange for this, he was granted a pension, but was forbidden ever to return to Mexico, under penalty of death. He sailed to exile in Italy, then moved to London where he published his autobiography "Statement of Some of the Principal Events in the Public Life of Agustín de Iturbide". Despite the terms of his exile, which included the death penalty should he ever set foot in Mexico again, he decided to return and landed in Soto la Marina, Tamaulipas, on July 15, 1824, where he was immediately arrested and soon after shot by the local authorities in the town of Padilla.

In 1838, the Conservative government of Anastasio Bustamante moved Iturbide's body to the Cathedral in Mexico City and reburied him in splendor with the title of "National Liberator".

In 1865, Iturbide's grandson Agustín de Iturbide y Green was adopted and named heir by the nation's only other emperor, Maximilian I of Mexico.

[edit] Issue

Agustín was married on February 27, 1805 to Ana María Josefa Ramona de Huarte y Muñiz (1786 - 1861) they had 10 children:


[edit] See also

[edit] External links

Agustín de Iturbide
Born: September 27 1784 Died: July 19 1824
Regnal titles
New title
Independence from Spain
Empire declared
 Emperor of Mexico
May 19, 1822 – March 19, 1823		 Monarchy abolished
Vacant
Title next held by
Maximiliano I
Political offices
Vacant
Title last held by
Juan O'Donojú		 Mexican head of state
as Emperor of Mexico
May 19, 1822 – March 19, 1823		 Vacant
Title next held by
Guadalupe Victoria
Titles in pretence
New title — TITULAR —
Emperor of Mexico
March 19, 1823 – July 19, 1824		 Succeeded by
Prince Agustin Jerónimo
Coat of arms of the Second Mexican Empire (1864-1867)
Pretenders to the Mexican
throne since 1823
First Empire

Emperor Agustín I (1823-1824)
Prince Imperial Agustín (1824-1864)
Second Empire

Emperor Maximilian I (1867)
Prince Agustín (1867-1925)
Princess Maria (1925-1949)
Prince Maximilian (1949-)
See also House of Iturbide