Chilpancingo, Congress of

Congress of Chilpancingo, Mexico's first political assembly. The need for military and political organization prompted the principal leaders of the insurgents, particularly Ignacio Rayón (1773–1832) and José María Morelos y Pavón (1765–1815), to form a governing junta. Their first effort, the Junta de Zitácuaro, proved unsuccessful. The divisions among its members convinced Morelos to accept Carlos María de Bustamante's (1774–1848) proposal to convene a Congress, the Supremo Congreso Nacional Americano, with representatives from the provinces, at Chilpancingo in September 1813. Because elections could not be completed in all provinces, only two deputies, José Manuel de Herrera (c. 1776–1831) and José María Murguía y Galardi, were elected. Morelos named three other proprietary deputies, López Rayón, José María Liceaga (c. 1780–1818), and José Sixto Verduzco, and three substitutes, Bustamante, José María Cos y Pérez (d. 1819) and Andrés Quintana Roo (1787–1851). The Reglamento (the regulations) for its organization was issued on 11 September, and Morelos's views on government, the Sentimientos de la Nación, were read at its inauguration on 14 September. Once installed, Congress selected Morelos for the executive and determined how the judiciary should be established. On 6 November the Congress issued its Acta solemne de la declaración de independencia, the declaration of national independence.

The establishment of the Congress, however, did not resolve the divisions among the insurgents, and the conflicts between the military leaders and the lawyers resulted in a decline of the movement. Pursued by the royalists, Congress wandered in search of safety. It increased its number of deputies early in 1814, but functioned in an irregular manner. In October 1814 it issued the Apatzingán constitution, the Decreto constitucional para la libertad de la América mexicana. After Morelos was captured by the royalists (November 1815), Manuel Mier y Terán (1789–1832) dissolved Congress in Tehuacán on 15 December 1815.

See alsoMexico: 1810–1910 .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Archer, Christon I. The Birth of Modern Mexico, 1780–1824. Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources Inc., 2003.

Guedea, Virginia. "Los procesos electorales insurgentes," Estudios de Historia Novohispana 11 (1991): 201-249.

Lemoine, Ernesto. "Zitácuaro, Chilpancingo y Apatzingán. Tres grandes momentos de la insurgencia mexicana," in Boletín del Archivo General de la Nación, 2d series, vol. 4, no. 3 (1963).

Lemoine, Ernesto, ed. Manuscrito Cárdenas, Documentos del Congreso de Chilpancingo hallados entre los papeles del caudillo José María Morelos, sorprendido por los realistas en la acción de Tlacotepec el 24 defebrero de 1814 (1980).

                                             Virginia Guedea