Territorial evolution of Mexico

Main article: Political divisions of Mexico

Mexico has experienced many changes in territorial organization during its history as an independent state, especially as the territorial boundaries of Mexico were affected by presidential and imperial decrees. One such decree was the Law of Bases for the Convocation of the Constituent Congress to the Constitutive Act of the Mexican Federation, which determined the national land area as the result of integration of the jurisdictions that corresponded to New Spain, the Captaincy General of Yucatán, the Captaincy General of Guatemala, and the autonomous Kingdoms of East and West. The decree resulted in the independence from Spain.

Organizations

Subdivisions by intendancies

Agustín de Iturbide, first Emperor of Mexico.

During the consummation of the Independence of Mexico, part of the territorial organization of New Spain was integrated into the new nation of the Mexican Empire. Added to this were the Captaincy General of Yucatán and the Captaincy General of Guatemala (whose annexation was a strategy to counteract the Spanish crown). This yielded Mexico's largest land area as an independent nation.

Guadalupe Victoria, First President of México.

Subdivisions by states and territories

During the structuring of the Republic, territorial and legal changes were made reaffirming the Catholic Church's status as the only religion for Mexicans. Also, the new nation developed a popular and representative federal republic that recognized the sovereignty of the States constituting the federal union.

Subdivisions by departments

The liberal government of Antonio López de Santa Anna, influenced by the conservatives, ratified the Seven Laws by presidential decree, establishing a new territorial court, replacing the federal states by departments whose governors and legislators would be selected by the President. This break from federalism brought Mexico to the most turbulent and unstable era in its history.

Subdivisions by imperial departments

Maximilian I, Last Emperor of Mexico.

During the Second Mexican Empire, Emperor Maximilian I of Mexico made a new division of national territory.

The territorial divisions throughout the history of Mexico have generally been linked to political change and programs aimed at improving the administrative, economic, and social development of the country. On 3 March 1865, one of the most important decrees of the government of Maximilian, the first division of the territory of the new Empire, was issued; it was published in the Journal of the Empire on 13 March of that year. The reorganization was accomplished by Manuel Orozco y Berra (1816–1881) and was made according to the following rules;

• 1.- The total land area of the country will be divided into at least fifty departments.
• 2.- Whenever possible, natural boundaries will be used for the subdivision of the departments.
• 3.- The surface area of each department will take into account the terrain, weather, and all elements of production; so that, eventually, the departments will hold an equal number of inhabitants.

The development of this division was of great importance; because geographical features and projected future development were taken into account for the delimitation of the jurisdictions, local communication and business would be greatly improved.

The territorial division of the Second Mexican Empire was used for a short period because of the Empire was overthrown in early 1867 with the execution of Maximilian I of Mexico. The Federal Republic and its former division were restored in that year.

Clarifications

Several of the former borders of the states and territories in northern Mexico remain unclear. The northern border of Sonora, for example, is described in various ways, either as the Gila River or the Colorado River. The list of acts is not affected by this confusion, but the associated maps can be, so one should consider the following uncertainties and omissions: Some of the borders of states in the north and northeast Texas before independence and the Mexican Cession. The actual territorial extent of the territory of Santa Fe de Nuevo México. The exact date that the division between Durango and Chihuahua stopped being a straight line. Several minor adjustments to the border with the United States, including the Chamizal dispute which are not specified. The Republic of Baja California and Republic of Sonora; proclaimed by the American filibuster William Walker in 1854, they were never more than a declaration and are not shown on the maps. The following maps do not show the separation of Zacatecas (1835) and Tabasco (1841-1842) who never became independent republics and never proclaimed as such. The following maps do not show the claim of Mexico on part of the former British Honduras, today Belize.

The Centralist Republic

The Seven Constitutional Laws

Map of the Centralist Republic (1836-1846) with the changes enacted in the Seven Laws and separatist movements generating by the dissolution of the Federation.

By the law of October 3, 1835, the centralist system was introduced in the country. The entities that formed the Republic so lost their freedom, independence and sovereignty, being entirely subordinate to the central government.

The Seven Constitutional Laws were enacted on December 30, 1836. The sixth discussed the territorial configuration in its first and second articles. Shortly thereafter the Eighth Organic Base, a separate body from the Seven Laws, was enacted. The first article stipulated that the country would be composed of many departments, corresponding to the previously existing states except that:

1. Coahuila and Texas were separated into two different departments.

2. The Colima Territory would be integrated into the Michoacan Department.

3. The Tlaxcala Territory would be integrated into the Mexico Department.

4. The Federal District was eliminated.

According to the above, the new territorial division was composed of 24 departments. That territorial composition, initially temporary, was regarded as final until 30 June 1838, by law of that date.

This period created a great political instability that began in regional problems and conflicts between the center and the states of the country. Rebellions were raised in several places among which distinguished.

• Zacatecas was the first state to declare itself against centralism in the so-called 1835 Revolt in Zacatecas, which was quickly extinguished. As punishment for his rebellion, part of the territory of Zacatecas was split off and turned into the Aguascalientes Territory.

• The Texas region of the state of Coahuila and Texas declared its independence from Mexico on October 2, 1835, forming the Republic of Texas.

• Coahuila, Nuevo León and Tamaulipas declared themselves independent of Mexico on January 17, 1840 as the Republic of the Rio Grande. The Republic was never truly independent, since the rebels were quickly overthrown. The Republic was dissolved on 6 November 1840.

• Yucatán, which had joined to the federation under the condition of Federated Republic, declared its independence in 1840 (officially on October 1, 1841); this historic event resulted in the birth of the second Republic of Yucatán, which returned permanently to the nation in 1848.

• Tabasco, due to conflicts with the new centralized system, declared independence from Mexico on 13 February 1841 and returned to the nation on December 2, 1842.

On August 22, 1846, due to the war with the United States, the Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1824 was restored. There remained the separation of Yucatan, but 2 years later Yucatan definitively rejoined Mexico.

The Basis for Administration of the Republic

Map of Mexico between 1853 and 1856 during the Basis for the Administration of the Republic until the promulgation of the Constitution of 1857.

A change in the governance of the country was determined by the Decree of 22 April 1853, which from that moment recognized the Basis for the Administration of the Republic as the fundamental law for the reorganization of government.

In this precept, in the first and second articles, the Section of Internal Governance, the independence and sovereignty of states were abolished, although the name "states" was retained.

In the third article districts, cities or towns that had been separated from the states and divisions to which they belonged were returned to their original conditions. This excluded Aguascalientes, which continued to be considered a district of Zacatecas.

In a statement the Ministry of War, on September 21, 1853, it was decided that states would instead be called departments.

Changes in the territorial division, according to the code above, were:

1. Decree of May 29, 1853, establishing the Territory of Tehuantepec, its capital city at Minatitlan.

2. Decree of October 16, 1853, establishing the Territory of the Isla del Carmen.

3. Decree of December 1, 1853, establishing the Territory of Sierra Gorda, its capital city at San Luis de la Paz.

4. Decree of December 1, 1853, adding the district of Tuxpan to the Department of Veracruz.

5. Decree of December 10, 1853, redesignating the District of Aguascalientes as a Department.

6. Decree of February 16, 1854, creating, despite the centralist system, a kind of Federal District.

7. Decree of July 20, 1854, approving the Treaty of Mesilla, which amended the border with the United States of America through the loss of territory of Chihuahua and Sonora.

Plan of Ayutla

The Plan of Ayutla was a political statement proclaimed on March 1, 1854 in Ayutla, Guerrero, intended to end the presidency of Antonio López de Santa Anna.

The plan was revised in Acapulco, 11 March 1854, in its second article respecting, in principle, the territorial division and just convened a representative from each Department and Territory.

The Provisional Organic Statute, known as Lafragua Code was promulgated on May 15, 1856 and provided the legal basis for governing the country in the interim between the Plan of Ayutla and Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1857. That document left open a later choice for federalism or centralism, but encouraged federalism because it called the entities that formed the Republic States. Thus, in its 2nd article, it retained the previous territorial division, determining the existence of 22 states, the District of the capital and 6 territories.

The Constitution of 1857 was a liberal constitution drafted during the presidency of Ignacio Comonfort, who was sworn in on February 5, 1857. The Constitution contained the essence of that of 1824 (the federal character of the state and the democratic system of representative and republican government), but established freedom of religion, ending the domain of the Catholic Church as the sole and official religion of the country, and set out in Article 43 the parties making up the federation: 24 states, 1 federal territory and the Federal District known as the Valley of Mexico today Mexico City. The territories of Sierra Gorda, Tehuantepec and Isla del Carmen and Nuevo Leon as an independent state disappeared.