339 MEXICO. 
expectedly, and by a mere nominal majority ; but they were not content 
to bow with submission, like good republicans, to the will of the people 
expressed according to the forms of a Federal Constitution. The conse- 
quence was, that before the new President had taken his seat, Santa Anna 
made his appearance on the political stage, and, under the plea that the 
election of Pedraza had been produced by fraud, '^ pronounced^' against 
him at the head of a small but determined force. The movement became 
speedily popular. The prejudices of the Creoles, or natives, against the 
Spaniards and their aristocratic partisans, were skillfully played upon, 
and the ^meute resulted on the 4th of December, 1828, in the " Pronun- 
ciamiento of the Acordada " in favor of the defeated candidate, Guer- 
rero. The City of Mexico was given up to a mob ; the Parian was 
sacked ; the defenceless Spaniards suffered from the resentment of an 
infuriate populace ; and Pedraza (abandoning the post of Minister of War 
to his opponent, Santa Anna,) fled from the country, and took refuge in 
the United States. On the first of January, 1829, Congress declared 
Guerrero to ha.ve been duly elected President ; — Bustamante was named 
Vice-President ; and the government went once more into quiet operation 
under the old Constitution. 
The ease with which the supreme authority could be destroyed or 
established by a bold and daring chieftain, had been now most fatally 
demonstrated for the future peace of the country ; and ambitious spirits 
were not long wanting to take advantage of this dangerous facility. 
Scarcely had Guerrero been seated in the presidential chair, and signal- 
ized his duplicity by desiring the recall of Mr. Poinsett, when Bustamante, 
who came into power with Mm as Vice-President, organized the army at 
Jalapa, and upon some trifling pretext, ^^ pronounced'^ in that city. Santa 
Anna at first feebly opposed this movement, but at length joined the dis- 
contented General. The revolution was made effectual ; — Guerrero was 
overthrown, and fled ; — the Vice-President. Bustamante, assumed the reins 
of government, and under his administration, the Spanish power was finally 
subdued by the victory gained by Santa Anna over Barradas, on the 11th 
of September, 1829, at Tampico. The unfortunate Guerrero was in the 
meantime taken prisoner, and, in 1831, was executed for treason. 
After this, tranquillity prevailed until 1832, when Santa Anna — who in 
fact had been the author of the present dynasty — suddenly '^^ pronounced" 
against the Ministers, and soon afterward against the President himself, 
at Vera Cruz. A battle was fought at Tolomi, and the insurgents de- 
feated ; — but he retired again to Vera Cruz, strengthened his power by 
forces from some other Departments, declared himself in favor of Pedraza, 
(whom he had driven out of the country two years previous,) entered into a 
convention with Bustamante at Zavaleta, in December of 1832, and 
— having dispatched a vessel for the exiled Pedraza — brought him back 
to the Republic and sent him to the Capital, to serve out the remaining 
three months of his unexpired term ! 
