1821 Mexican elections

Continentalist Party leader Andrew Jackson.

The 1821 Mexican elections were the first to be held under the Mexico City Constitution, which united the Republic of Mexico with the State of Jefferson to form the United States of Mexico.

The extent to which the Jeffersonians dominated the U.S.M. can be seen by the fact that the two Jeffersonian political parties, the Continentalists and the Libertarians, won all twenty-four Senate seats and 98 out of 100 Assembly seats.

The elections occurred in two stages, with elections for the state governments taking place on Wednesday, 18 July 1821, and elections to the national government taking place on Sunday, 12 August. The Senate was divided between 18 Continentalists and 6 Libertarians, while the Assembly was divided between 68 Continentalists, 30 Libertarians, and two members of the Indian Party from Mexico del Norte. The Senate met on Wednesday, 5 September, and elected Continentalist candidate Andrew Jackson the first President of the U.S.M. by a vote of 21 to 3. Sobel assumes that the three votes against Jackson were all by Libertarians senators, but since the vote was secret, this is merely speculation. One of the first laws passed by Congress provided for open elections for the president.

Among the members of the state governments elected in July were Governors Leslie Folger of Jefferson, Alberto Rias of Durango, and Victoriano Carranza of Chiapas, the former certainly Libertarian and the latter two probably so. Members of the Senate included Douglas Watson of Chiapas, Arthur Younger and Thomas Hinds of Mexico del Norte, and Albert Burley of California.

Jackson's Cabinet included Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, Secretary of War Arturo Aragon, Secretary of the Exchequer John Berrien, Secretary for Indian Affairs Miguel Montanez, and Secretary for Religions Agustín de Iturbide.

---

Sobel's source for the 1821 Mexican elections is Archie Jenkins' And So We Began: The First Days of the United States of Mexico (London, 1951).