Plan of Tacubaya

Proclaimed on December 17, 1857, the Plan of Tacubaya was the political project supporting the military coup of General Félix Zuloaga, commander of Mexico City's garrison. It disowned the recently promulgated Mexican constitution and asked for the convocation of another Congress that would make a new constitution "more in harmony with the will of the Nation." Paradoxically, President Ignacio Comonfort, who had just been sworn in under allegiance to the constitution, backed the Plan. Comonfort, a moderate liberal, had been the provisional president since December 1855. Throughout the time the Congreso Constituyente (1856–1857) had been elaborating the constitution, Comonfort had been faced with the necessity of putting down military insurrections of the Right and of withstanding political pressure of the radical Left, which accused him of being too accommodating. When the constitution finally was proclaimed in February 1857, it was considered far too liberal by the Right (the Church declared it would excommunicate everyone who swore allegiance to the constitution). For his part, Comonfort, who was very religious, also believed that it did not give sufficient powers to the president to cope with the difficult situation. He therefore decided to back Zuloaga's Plan. Even though Comonfort retracted his support a few days later, he was disowned by both parties and had to go into exile. At this point the Guerra de Reforma (1858–1860) had already started. The Conservative government stayed in Mexico City whereas the liberals established themselves in Veracruz, headed by Benito Juárez who, as president of the Supreme Court of Justice, was the legal successor of the president of the Republic.

See alsoMexico, Constitutions: Constitutions Prior to 1917; Zuloaga, Félix María.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Matute, Alvaro. México en el siglo XIX. Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autónoma México, 1981. See pp. 296-297.

Nueva historia mínima de México. Mexico: El Colegio de México, 2006. See pp. 172-173.

Pi-Suñer Llorens, Antonia. "Ignacio Comonfort: El hombre de la situación?" In Gobernantes mexicanos, 1821–2006. Mexico: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2007.

                                  Antonia Pi-SuÑer Llorens