Plan of Iguala: History, Causes & Effects

Plan of Iguala: History, Objectives & Consequences

Political document signed during the Independence of Mexico.

What was the Iguala Plan?

The Plan of Iguala, also known as the Plan of the Three Guarantees or Act of Independence of North America, was an important document of a political nature, proclaimed by the military Agustín de Iturbide on February 24, 1821, in the city of Iguala, Mexico.

This project was carried out in the middle of the process of Independence of Mexico, which had been trying to happen for 10 years. With his plan, General Iturbide offered to end that long war that only left violence and deaths in Mexico and Spain.

Iturbide‘s project was proposed to the most important and respected insurgent military man of that time, Vicente Guerrero, and was later sealed, which gave rise to the Trigarante Army (union of the royalists and insurgents) and marked an end to this form of struggle for the independence.

Objectives of the Iguala Plan

The Iguala plan pursued 4 main objectives:

• Establish the Independence of Mexico from the regime of Spain.
• Support the regime of the monarchy of Fernando VII or, failing that, of any of the members of the Crown of Spain.
• Impose the Catholic religion as the sole and absolute religion in Mexico.
• Establish the union of all individuals, that is, impose social equality between Americans, Spaniards, Africans or Asians.

Consequences of the Plan of Iguala

The main consequences of the Iguala Plan are the following:

• Failed reconquest attempt: despite the fact that Spain had signed the agreement and recognized Mexico as a free country, in 1822 it decreed that the document was not valid, which led to various reconquest attempts by the Spanish Crown, a although none were successful.
• Birth of the Empire of Mexico: Although the Iguala plan presented that Mexico should be ruled by a European, General Iturbide began to move his political pieces to declare himself the first Mexican emperor, and he succeeded.
• The Santa Maria-Calatrava treaty: Signed on December 28, 1836, it was a document in which the Spanish Crown recognized Mexico as independent.

Key Personnel of the Plan of Iguala

The most relevant characters within the Plan of Iguala were:

• Agustín de Iturbide (1783 – 1824): General who exposed this plan and who is credited with the independence of the Mexican people.
• Vicente Guerrero (1782 – 1831): Member of the insurgent army, to whom Iturbide proposed a truce to end the civil war and join forces, to be able to have sufficient military power and to declare the Plan of Iguala.