Martín Carrera

Independent Mexico

Carrera backed Agustín de Iturbide's Plan of Iguala on August 30, 1821, reporting to General Vicente Filísola's thirteenth division. The next year he joined an artillery unit and was sent to defend Veracruz, which still faced danger from Spanish forces in the Fortress of San Juan de Ulúa. He oversaw fortifications and artillery preparation, and held the city when Iturbide's troops attacked to crush the Plan of Veracruz against the First Mexican Empire.

He soon became an effective colonel. By late 1823, as a captain, he ran the capital's arsenal and weapons production. In 1828, during the Revolution of the Accordada against President-elect Manuel Gómez Pedraza, Carrera sided with the government; after the revolt succeeded, President Vicente Guerrero made him a lieutenant colonel. He took charge of Mexico City's Ciudadela in April 1831.

During the Federalist Revolt of 1840 he again backed the government, and the following year he was promoted to effective brigadier general. In 1842 he served on the national legislative junta that wrote the Bases Orgánicas, and he was a senator in 1844 and 1845. He sat on the council of state in 1846 and later advised the Ministry of War. He fought in the Mexican-American War, seeing combat as Mexico City fell.

He supported the Plan of Jalisco, which returned Santa Anna to power in 1853, and interim President Manuel María Lombardini put him in charge of troops in Mexico City. After Santa Anna resumed control, he appointed Carrera to the council of state and made him a division general in June 1853. Carrera then became commandant general of the federal district and later joined the campaign in Michoacán as Santa Anna put down rebellions against his rule.

Presidency

When Santa Anna fled, a triumvirate was supposed to take power, but General Carrera and General Romulo Diaz de la Vega refused to follow that order. Instead, on August 13, they backed the Plan of Ayutla. Under that plan, Diaz de la Vega selected a junta of representatives from each department and the federal district. This junta was tasked with choosing a president and acting as his council of state.

The junta elected Martin Carrera president. Carrera worked to erase the remnants of Santa Anna's dictatorship.

He stopped commandant generals from meddling in treasury matters and issued a proclamation to organize the national guard, reform the army, regulate the treasury, and protect personal rights. His government also faced a revolt by Antonio Haro y Tamariz, who on August 13 called for Santa Anna's removal, an end to conscription, freedom of the press, and a new congress. The leaders of the Ayutla movement tried to reach a compromise with Haro y Tamariz.

Did You Know?

• Carrera joined the expeditionary regiment of Ferdinand VII at age nine, during the Mexican War of Independence.
• He was made an officer at twelve and charged with instructing the battalion.
• Carrera was promoted to effective colonel shortly after that defense.
• He resigned the presidency at 11 in the evening on September 11, 1855.