Eagles and Empire
The United States, Mexico, and the Struggle for a Continent
Chaper One
THIS YOUNG MAN WILL LIVE TO MAKE HIS COUNTRY WEEP
(1783-1823)
The history of Mexico since 1822 might accurately be called the history of Santa Anna's revolutions. . . . His name plays the major role in all the political events of the country, and its destiny has become intertwined with his. —Lucas Alaman
Lieutenant General Don Juan de O'Donoju landed in Vera Cruz on July 30, 1821. His job was to implement the Spanish Constitution of 1812, but he turned out to be the last Spanish viceroy of New Spain.
The city was under siege by a small army of insurgents, led by a former royalist officer—New Spain had risen up against Old Spain, because the Criollos (Creoles, native-born descendants of Spaniards) objected to that liberal constitution. Government might be nominally imposed by the king back in the Iberian Peninsula—implemented by native-Spanish officers known as Peninsulares, in America more commonly called Gachupines (an insult suggesting foppishness)—but their numbers were small. The real power was in t ...
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