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Manuel Gómez Pedraza y Rodríguez
b. 1789 or 1790 [1]
d. 14 May 1851, Mexico City |
| Title: |
Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos (President of the Mexican United States) |
| Term: |
26 Dec 1832 - 1 Apr 1833 |
| Chronology: |
26 Dec 1832, recognised as the holder of the office of President of the Mexican United States in accordance with an agreement signed at Zabaleta 23 Dec 1832 (ratified by the parties 25 Dec 1832 and 26 Dec 1832) [2][3] |
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26 Dec 1832, took an oath of office, session of the Consejo de Gobierno (Council of Government), Puebla [4] |
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1 Apr 1833,
expiration of term |
| Biography: |
| Joined the Spanish Colonial Army at an early age; fought against the insurgents at the head of the army of the loyal of Potosi (los fieles del Potosí); participated in the capture of José María Morelos; quickly rose in ranks and was promoted to lieutenant colonel by 1821; elected to the Cortes of the Spanish monarchy as a deputy for the Province of Mexico (1821-1822); travelled to Spain and took his seat on 9 May 1821; was granted leave of absence to return to Mexico for health reasons (4 Dec 1821); appointed military commander in the Huasteca and later as military commander of Mexico City; sent to Puebla to suppress a revolt and assumed the office of supreme political chief of the Province of Puebla (1824); appointed first governor of the State of Puebla and briefly occupied the office in 1824; while staying in Puebla, he was elected (3 Mar 1824) governor of the State of Mexico; unable to take office, he submitted his resignation which was accepted 14 Sep 1824; appointed minister of war and marine (1825-1828) by President Guadalupe Victoria; ran for the office of President of the Mexican United States in 1828 and emerged as the most likely winner before the returns were officially certified; was challenged by partisans of Vicente Guerrero backed by the radical Yorkinos and Antonio López de Santa Anna who had proclaimed the Plan de Perote (16 Sep 1828); liberal revolts all over the country and barracks revolt in the capital forced him to flee Mexico City (3 Dec 1828); withdrew his claim to the presidency (27 Dec 1828) and asked for permission to leave Mexico; was allowed to depart and sailed for England in the spring of 1829; visited European countries and returned to Mexico in 1830; was forced to move to the United States where he published a manifesto (1831) defending his position as legitimate president; was recalled to Mexico by Santa Anna who had rebelled against the government of Anastasio Bustamante; disembarked in Veracruz (5 Nov 1832) and was proclaimed constitutional president in a number of state; recognised as President of the Mexican United States by an agreement signed at Zabaleta (Convenio de Zabaleta) and took an oath of office in Puebla (26 Dec 1832); entered Mexico City on 3 Jan 1833; served the last three months of the term to which he had been elected in 1828; lost the congressional vote (26 Jan 1837) on selection of candidates for presidential election; unsuccessful candidate (1838) to the Supreme Conservative Power (Supremo Poder Conservador); occupied the office of minister of relations in the Three-Day Ministry (13 Dec 1838 - 15 Dec 1838) appointed by President Bustamante in attempt to restore federalism; was named a member of the Junta de las representantes suplentes de los Departamentos (1841) as a representative for Querétaro; served as minister of internal and external relations (1841) with President Santa Anna; elected a member of the Congreso Constituyente from the department of Mexico (1842); president of the Congreso Constituyente (30 Jul 1842 - 31 Aug 1842); imprisoned on charges of plotting a revolt (1843); released under the terms of an amnesty (13 Jun 1843); elected to the Camara de Senadores (1843-1845); emerged as an opposition leader and a vocal critic of the Santa Anna-Canalizo government which was toppled 6 Dec 1844; unsuccessfully contested presidential election in 1845, failing to win a vote by departmental assemblies; defeated in the presidential election of 1846 decided by the Congreso Nacional Extraordinario, receiving one out of three votes cast by the delegation of Veracruz; member of the Council of Government (Consejo de Gobierno) appointed by José Mariano de Salas (20 Sep 1846); elected to the Camara de Senadores (1848-1851) and served as its president (30 Apr 1848 - 31 May 1848; 30 Apr 1849 - 31 May 1849); received one vote of the state (Michoacán) at presidential election of 1850; held the post of director of the Monte de Piedad (1848-1851). |
| Biographical sources: "La Obra política de Manuel Gómez Pedraza, 1813-1851" (México, D.F. : Instituto Mora, Acervo Histórico Diplomático de la Secretaría de Relaciones Exteriores, 1999); "Los gobernantes de México: Galería de biografías y retratos de los vireyes, emperadores, presidentes y otros gobernantes que ha tenido México, desde don Hernando Cortes hasta el C. Benito Juarez", by Manuel Rivera (Mexico: Imp. de J. M. Aguilar Ortiz, 1872-1873), 2 vols. (web site: vol. 1, vol. 2); obituaries: El Universal, No. 911, 15 May 1851, p. 4; El Siglo Diez y Nueve, No. 864, 14 May 1851, p. 4. |
| Elections: |
| Candidate |
Votes (1 Sep 1828) * |
| Manuel Gómez Pedraza y Rodríguez |
11 (–) |
| Vicente Ramón Guerrero Saldaña |
9 |
| Trinidad Anastasio Francisco de Sales Ruiz de Bustamante y Oseguera |
6 |
| José Ventura Melchor Ciriaco de Eca y Múzquiz de Arrieta |
2 |
| Ignacio López Rayón |
3 (2) |
| Juan Ignacio Godoy |
1 (2) |
| Luis Cortazar |
1 |
| José María Valentín Gómez de la Vara y Martínez Farías |
1 |
| José Ignacio Esteva |
1 |
| Lorenzo Zavala |
1 |
|
| * The numbers in parentheses are given for those candidates whose votes were excluded or changed in the report of the canvassing committee approved by the Congreso General 9 Jan 1829. All votes cast for Manuel Gómez Pedraza were nullified and the votes from Zacatecas were awarded to Godoy. |
| Source of electoral results: Correo de la Federación Mexicana, No. 243, 30 Jan 1829, p. 2; Colección de las leyes 1829-1830, p. 2; Historia parlamentaria, 5:318; full report of the canvassing committee is found in Bocanegra, 1:506-517. |
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| [1] |
It appears that the baptismal record of Gomez Pedraza is lost and the date of his birth cannot be confirmed. His biographers assert that he was born either in Querétaro, Querétaro, or Soto la Marina, Tamaulipas in 1789 or 1790. According to his marriage certificate, he was 34 at the time of his marriage (17 Mar 1823). In a formal statement made before a judge in 1843 he said he was 53 (Siglo Diez y Nueve, 20 Jul 1843). |
| [2] |
Registro Oficial, No. 122, 31 Dec 1832, pp. 495-498. |
| [3] |
An agreement signed at the hacienda of Zabaleta by the representatives of Bustamante and Santa Anna on 23 Dec 1832 was subject to ratification by the parties which followed on 25 Dec 1832 in Cholula (Bustamante) and 26 Dec 1832 in Puebla (Santa Anna). Bustamante attended the inauguration of Gómez Pedraza in Puebla 26 Dec 1832. |
| [4] |
El Fenix de la Libertad, No. 11, 8 Jan 1833, pp. 1-2. |
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Image: a lithograph by Viuda de Murguía e hijos. |
