The Plan of Casa Mata (Spanish: ''Plan de Casa Mata'') was formulated to elect a new constituent congress, which the

monarchy A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state for life or until abdication. The political legitimacy and authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic ( constitutional monar ...

Agustín de Iturbide Agustín de Iturbide (; 27 September 178319 July 1824), full name Agustín Cosme Damián de Iturbide y Arámburu and also known as Agustín of Mexico, was a Mexican army general and politician. During the Mexican War of Independence, he built ...

, had dissolved in 1822. The Plan of Casa Mata sought to establish a

republic A republic () is a " state in which power rests with the people or their representatives; specifically a state without a monarchy" and also a "government, or system of government, of such a state." Previously, especially in the 17th and 18th ...

. In December 1822,

Antonio López de Santa Anna Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón (; 21 February 1794 – 21 June 1876),Callcott, Wilfred H., "Santa Anna, Antonio Lopez De,''Handbook of Texas Online'' Retrieved 18 April 2017. usually known as Santa Ann ...

and

Guadalupe Victoria Guadalupe Victoria (; 29 September 178621 March 1843), born José Miguel Ramón Adaucto Fernández y Félix, was a Mexican general and political leader who fought for independence against the Spanish Empire in the Mexican War of Independence. ...

signed the ''Plan de Casa Mata'' on February 1, 1823, as a beginning to their efforts to overthrow

Emperor An emperor (from la, imperator, via fro, empereor) is a monarch, and usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife ( empress consort), mother ( ...

. Iturbide had formulated the

Plan of Iguala The Plan of Iguala, also known as The Plan of the Three Guarantees ("Plan Trigarante") or Act of Independence of North America, was a revolutionary proclamation promulgated on 24 February 1821, in the final stage of the Mexican War of Independenc ...

in 1821, which united insurgents and royalist forces and Mexico's independence in September 1821. The plan called for a

constitutional monarchy A constitutional monarchy, parliamentary monarchy, or democratic monarchy is a form of monarchy in which the monarch exercises their authority in accordance with a constitution and is not alone in decision making. Constitutional monarchies dif ...

, and when no European monarch presented himself as a candidate, the Mexican Congress proclaimed Iturbide as Emperor of Mexico in May 1822. Commanding the country as he had commanded the army, he dissolved the Congress and ordered dissidents imprisoned. Several insurrections arose in the provinces and were choked by the army, except for the one headed by Santa Anna in

Veracruz Veracruz (), formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave (), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave), is one of the 31 states which, along with Me ...

, because he had an agreement with General Echávarri, who commanded the imperial forces that fought Santa Anna. By agreement of the two the Plan de Casa Mata was proclaimed on February 1, 1823. This plan did not recognize the

First Mexican Empire The Mexican Empire ( es, Imperio Mexicano, ) was a constitutional monarchy, the first independent government of Mexico and the only former colony of the Spanish Empire to establish a monarchy after independence. It is one of the few modern-era ...

and called for a new Constituent Congress. The insurrectionists sent their proposal to the provincial delegations and requested their support for the plan. In the course of only six weeks, the Plan de Casa Mata had arrived at remote places, like

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

, and almost all the provinces had been united behind the plan. When a provincial delegation accepted the Plan de Casa Mata, it withdrew its allegiance from the imperial government and asserted sovereignty within its province. Agustín de Iturbide was isolated without support outside of

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital and largest city of Mexico, and the most populous city in North America. One of the world's alpha cities, it is located in the Valley o ...

and some factions of the army. He reinstated the dissolved constituent Congress, abdicated the crown, and left the country in March 1823, for Italian exile with the promise of a 25,000 peso annual payment if he remained there. The 1824 Constitution was adopted the following year.

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