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Biographical Notes
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Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna
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In January 1828, Nicolas Bravo, then Vice President, attempted a coup against President Victoria. Santa Anna sided with Victoria and the coup collapsed. In the fall of 1828, Gomez Pedrazza and Vicente Guerrero contested the presidential election. Pedrazza, Minister of War in the Victoria Cabinet, and Santa Anna had a falling out which resulted in the threat of legal action against Santa Anna. Santa Anna went into open revolt. Pedrazza was elected over Guerro but Santa Anna managed to force Pedrazza into exile and replaced him with Guerrero. In February 1829, Santa Anna was once again appointed Governor of Vera Cruz and in August 1829, promoted to General of Division. In July 1829, Spain landed troops at Tampico in an attempt to reconquer Mexico. Santa Anna led the defense. On September 10, 1829, the Spanish were forced to admit defeat and agree to depart. Santa Anna was hailed as a national hero.
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President Guerrero's Vice President, Anastasio Bustamante, was a conservative while the president was a liberal. Inevitably friction developed between the two men. In December 1829, Bustamante called for Guerrero to be replaced by Pedrzza. Santa Anna announced his support for Guerrero, but the President abandoned the office to Bustamante. Santa Anna went into retirement on his estate, Manga de Clavo. In January 1830, Santa Anna resigned as Governor of Vera Cruz. Bustamante's regime failed to deal with the problems facing the country and eventually became unpopular to enough people that Santa Anna went into open revolt against it. In December 1832, Santa Anna installed Pedrazza as the interim President of Mexico pending new elections.
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In April 1833 Santa Anna was elected President along with his hand-picked liberal Vice President, Valentin Gomez Farias. Following their election, Santa Anna retired to Manga de Clavo and left the challenge of governing to his vice president. As Acting President, Farias, with the support of a liberal legislature, promptly initiated a series of liberal reforms that quickly angered the conservative elements of the country including the church, the army, and the land owners. Late in 1833, Santa Anna came out of retirement long enough to put down a revolt against Farias and his policies. Conservative opposition continued to mount. Early in 1834 Santa Anna retook the office of the presidency, renounced his association with liberal thought, forced Farias into exile, and assumed near dictatorial power.
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In January 1835, Santa Anna once again returned to Manga de Clavo leaving his new Vice President, General Miguel Barragan, as President ad interim. At the end of March 1835, the Province of Zacatecas rose in revolt over the ouster of Farias and his policies. Santa Anna marched north and brutally subdued the revolt. By May he was back at Manga de Clavo. At the end of 1836 a new conservative oriented constitution called the Seven Laws was promulgated. It effectively centralized power in Santa Anna's hands and abolished most of the liberal elements of the earlier constitution.
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The elimination of federalism and the establishment of a centralized state disturbed both Mexican and foreign residents in Texas. Farias, in exile in New Orleans, Lorenzo de Zavala, former Minister to France, living on his ranch on the Rio Grande, along with other Mexican liberals criticized Santa Anna and encouraged thoughts of independence. Immigrants from the United States had numerous complaints against the Mexican government and needed little encouragement to consider a break with Santa Anna's Mexico. On November 3, 1835, Texas declared itself independent of Mexico.
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Santa Anna marched north to crush the rebellion, arriving in San Antonio at the end of February 1836. On March 5, 1836, Santa Anna's forces overwhelmed the defenders of the Alamo. Later in March another engagement was fought at Golidad and once again the Mexican forces were victorious. In both of these battles, on Santa Anna's order, no quarter was given and all Texan prisoners were executed. On April 21, 1836, Texan forces under the command of Sam Huston decisively defeated Santa Anna forces in the battle of San Jacinto. A few days later a Texan scouting party captured Santa Anna himself.
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