Abstract
This project considers factors that contributed to Mexico’s territorial losses prior to the Mexican-American War of 1846-1848. While Manifest Destiny indeed resulted in the largest loss of territory for Mexico, my research considers secessionism in considering alternative trajectories to Mexico’s territorial integrity in this time period. It becomes clear that multiple factors come into play other than American Manifest Destiny that spelled the inevitable separation of such states from the young Mexican Republic, including Yucatan, the Republic of the Rio Grande, Texas, and California. Previous works of scholarship, notably David Weber’s The Mexican Frontier, have been consulted in this research, alongside primary sources like Mexico’s early constitutions and official correspondences between federal and state officials confirming disaffection and common desire of the states to separate during the years prior to the US-Mexico War. This research helps to complicate our understanding of the loss of Mexico’s Far North (the American Southwest) to the United States in helping situate the land loss within a broader national framework and bring light to an often overlooked time period in the history of the American Southwest.
Faculty Advisor
Marco Macias, Ph.D.
Department/Program
History
Submission Type
in-person poster
Date
4-12-2026
Rights
Copyright the Author(s)
Recommended Citation
Ayala, Raul
(2026)
"Separatism in Early Mexico, 1821-1846,"
SACAD: Scholarly Activities: Vol. 2026, Article 100.
Available at:
https://scholars.fhsu.edu/sacad/vol2026/iss2026/100
