Nicolás Bravo

First Mexican Empire

By early 1823, Iturbide’s rule had grown increasingly authoritarian, and Santa Anna issued the Plan of Veracruz to oppose him. Bravo sided with the rebellion. On January 5, 1823, he left Mexico City alongside Vicente Guerrero, intending to spark an uprising in the southern part of the country. They carried a copy of Santa Anna’s plan, which he had given them.

Funds for the campaign came from María Petra Teruel de Velasco, who pawned her jewelry to raise the money. Iturbide learned of Bravo and Guerrero’s location from the mayor of Mexicaltzingo and sent a lieutenant colonel after them, but Bravo avoided capture by paying a bribe. Brigadier José Gabriel de Armijo, the regional commander in the South, then pursued them. A clash near Almolonga ended in defeat for Bravo and Guerrero.

Guerrero took a bullet through the lungs, and his troops fled in panic, thinking he was dead, even though Bravo tried to rally them. Bravo escaped to the Santa Rosa ranch and attempted to regroup in the Mixteca area, planning to link up with Antonio Leon at Huajuapam. He set up a defensive position at Junta de los Rios and then moved toward Oaxaca. While organizing a governing junta there, news of the Plan of Casa Mata reached him.

Gathering what troops he could in Oaxaca, he marched to the capital with the rest of the insurgent army. Iturbide responded by restoring congress and offering to abdicate. When congress ordered Iturbide moved to Tulancingo, the former emperor chose Bravo to escort him and his family, though Iturbide later seemed to distrust Bravo and instructed his guards to keep an eye on him.

First Republic

After Iturbide was deposed, Bravo became a member of the Supreme Executive Power, the triumvirate serving as the executive. He continued to pacify the country and carried out a victorious campaign in Jalisco against the Iturbidist General Luis de Quintanar. During the First Mexican Republic, Bravo preferred a strong unitary government and allied with the Centralist party, which included conservative interests such as remaining Spaniards, the upper classes, and the clergy.

Politics was associated with Masonic lodges; conservatives met in Scottish Rite lodges and were known as Escoceses, in which Bravo acquired a leadership position. The federalists, known as Yorkinos, followed the York Rite and supported liberal causes. Mexico's constitution decreed that the presidential winner became president and second place became vice president. In the 1824 elections, Bravo finished second and became the nation's first vice president, while Guadalupe Victoria, a Yorkino, became president, though the two belonged to opposite parties.

On 23 December 1827, the Escoceses, led by Bravo, proclaimed the Plan de Montaño, demanding expulsion of American ambassador Joel Poinsett, an end to secret societies, and dismissal of the cabinet. The insurrection was short-lived; Bravo was defeated at Tulancingo by his former ally Vicente Guerrero.

Tried before a grand jury, the case went to the Supreme Court. Though the law prescribed severe punishment for treason, his services during the War of Independence won sympathy from old colleagues who asked for clemency, and President Victoria preferred leniency. The court condemned him to banishment for two years.

Centralist Republic of Mexico

In 1834, a revolution resulted in a new constitution and the Centralist Republic of Mexico. In 1836, after Mexico lost Texas in the Texas Revolution, Bravo was in charge of the army of the north but retired to Chilpancingo, disgusted by events. Anastasio Bustamante returned to the presidency, and in 1839 Bravo was invited to be part of his council of state. When Bustamante temporarily stepped down to lead troops against José de Urrea's rebellion, congress named Bravo interim president on 10 July 1839.

There was much dissatisfaction with the country and a public clamor for constitutional reform, including many generals and commanders. Bravo wished concerns to be addressed through legal channels and directed his council of state to urge the Supreme Moderating Power to declare it the nation's will to reform the constitution. This first presidency lasted nine days; Bravo attended to his duties with energy. When the criminal Yanez, condemned to death by hanging for highway robbery, slit his own throat to avoid the hangman, friends of the family pleaded that the body not be displayed, but Bravo decreed it be displayed on the gallows as a warning.

Bravo became president again in 1842, during which the Centralist Republic experienced a constitutional change. After multiple national crises, Mariano Paredes proclaimed against Bustamante's government on 8 August 1841; his insurgent troops reached Tacubaya and were joined by Santa Anna. Bustamante surrendered power through the Estanzuela Accords on 6 October 1841. A military junta wrote the Bases of Tacubaya, which swept away the government structure except the judiciary and called for elections for a new constituent congress to write a new constitution.

Mexican–American War

After a break from politics, Bravo was brought back in late 1844 to deal with a riot in Chilapa where looters had no stated political goals. Around the same time, a revolt pushed out Santa Anna and Valentin Canalizo, putting Jose Joaquin Herrera in charge on December 6. Bravo then led the national army and chased the ousted Santa Anna. When conservative Mariano Paredes toppled Herrera in late 1845, accusing him of treason for trying to acknowledge Texas independence, Bravo sided with the rebels.

A junta made Paredes president on January 3, with Bravo as his vice president. By April 1846, the Mexican-American War was already underway, and Bravo was appointed commandant general and governor of the Mexico department. He also became general and chief of forces for Puebla, Oaxaca, Veracruz, and Tabasco, issuing a call for party unity. As Paredes faced growing backlash over his policies and Mexico’s string of war losses, he resigned and handed the presidency to Bravo on July 28, 1846.

Bravo was called away from fortifying Veracruz, replaced there by General Mosso. Just four days into his term, on August 3, the garrisons at Vera Cruz and San Juan de Ulua rebelled under the plan of Guadalajara. The next morning, General Salas led a revolt in the capital with over a thousand troops. Paredes tried to escape but was captured.

On August 6, after talks involving Vizcaino Lemus, Jose Ramon Pacheco, Martin Carrera, Jose Urrea, and Ramon Morales, it was decided that Bravo would resign, handing power to General Salas.

Did You Know?

• Bravo was born at the Hacienda de Chichihualco, an estate outside of Chilpancingo, to a wealthy family.
• He was captured in 1817 in the south and imprisoned for three years until amnestied by the liberal Spanish government of 1820.
• Bravo died on the same day as his wife, leading to rumors that both had been murdered.