Building the Mexican Nation: Socio-Political Debate about New Forms of State (1821–1824)

Abstract. The War of Independence took place in New Spain in 1810–1824. In 1821, the former Spanish general Agustin de Iturbide came to power and proclaimed the independence of the Mexican Empire. State sovereignty was finally enshrined in the Constitution of 1824. These three years were the time of the heated debate about the functioning of the new state that had not previously been considered by researchers from the perspective of the political language. Referring to the methods of the Cambridge School of Intellectual History, the article analyzes the evolution and development of social-political discourse about new forms of the state (1821–1824). The analysis of constitutional and program documents, as well as the personal documents of Mexican priests and politicians, allows us to consider the discourse in terms of the revolutionaries’ arguments. The new forms of the state are understood as concrete principles and ideologies, most commonly named in sources, such as sovereignty, liberalism, constitutionalism, republicanism, federalism. Although these concepts cannot be defined as a homogeneous group, in the early 1820s their meanings were intertwined and implied the following ideas: popular sovereignty, rejection of monarchism, representation, legitimacy, separation of powers, rights and freedoms, national unity. Another important attribute was the preservation of the Roman Catholic Church and the Spanish heritage. The new state was built on these principles and concepts.

Keywords: New Spain, the war of independence, the collapse of the empire, nation building, constitutionalism, ideologies, intellectual history.