Santa Anna made Mexico or Mexico made Santa Anna?

I am reading yet another survey of Mexican history. I just finished the chapters on Mexico from the end of the first empire to the Reform.

The authors argue that Santa Anna imprinted on Mexico the many problems and vices that would characterize the nation for most of the 19th century: corruption, opportunism, grabbing power through coups, extravagant, deficit spending.

As a Mexican, this seems a very appealing judgment, since it leaves the nation of the hook, more or less. However, I feel that the historical situation of Mexico at the time made it the case that people like Santa Anna could actually grab power.

During Santa Anna�s heydays, the national leadership was deeply divided in liberals and conservatives who never learned how to compromise. In fact, they couldn�t even agree on what kind of a nation Mexico should be. The military had a strong political influence in political affairs, being in many ways, the real source of political power. Mexico as a nation was more or less a criollo fiction, which was shared with some mestizos and Spaniards; most people identified with their small regional locality.

In times of chaos, it is often the amoral opportunist who manages to hold onto power. Santa Anna used these opportunities to grab money, power, and public adulation. At the same time, both conservatives and liberals used Santa Anna to get into power.

Santa Anna�s greatest failure was losing the modern American Southwest. He deserves a great part of the credit. At the same time, I feel that the Mexican political leadership deserves it too. They were unable to unite in times of crisis. In fact, kept fighting against each other as the invasion of Mexico was taking place. Not surprisingly, they either called or accepted Santa Anna�s help�his failure in Texas not being enough of a lesson that this man was unreliable, apparently.

Under a different political climate, people like Santa Anna never achieve prominence. Once they begin to display their ambitions, they are quickly put in placed either by the military itself of the civilian authorities.

In any case, I am interested in knowing what other people think about this.

Originally posted by Maju The authors argue that Santa Anna imprinted on Mexico the many problems and vices that would characterize the nation for most of the 19th century: corruption, opportunism, grabbing power through coups, extravagant, deficit spending. Don't you think that some of these vices may have been partly inherited from the Spanish colonial administration which indeed was corrupt and deficit-spending by birth defect? Spain has also a paralell modern history of coups and opportunism that may be well rooted in the same subordinate status in the international order and in a poor burgueois developement. The story is not very diferent than what you can see in other semi-colonial and post-colonial areas, including all Latin America but also Africa, Arab world, Asia and large parts of Europe. Only maybe the "central" capitalist countries escape partly from that vicious circle, due probably to their better stabilished burgueois class and culture. You could blame Santa Anna, but you could also blame the Catholic Kings or Colombus, or you could blame the international order of things and the lack of faith in humankind potentials (lack of revolutionary spirit) caused by a long depredatory period in the history of humankind. Do you actually think that those vices are exclussively Mexican?

No, these vices are not exclusive to Mexico; and yes, obviously they were inherited from Spain since most of the participants of these events were criollos, although there were many notable mestizos involved in these events as well.

You are also correct about how what occurred in Mexico also happened in the rest of Latin-America. In many ways, the history of most of the ex-colonies from Spain have the same plot.

That being said, please notice that we are probably on the same side, but using different arguments.

The authors of the textbook put the responsibility on most of these traits in the hands of Santa Anna. Their actual argument is better qualified, but that is the essense of what they are saying. This is the claim that I find it hard to agree with.

My argument is that historical circumstances made it possible for someone like Santa Anna to become powerful. This is not taking away responsibility from Santa Anna, but given the well deserved responsibility for supporting him to the new Mexican nation.

But let me comment quickly on the topic of corruption. What we call today corruption is an evolutionary strategy that has served well humanity for most of its history. Having a powerful man giving positions of power or wealth to his relatives and friends is a way of improving the chances of survival of one's group. This behavior only became tainted as "corruption" with capitalism and the rise of the modern nation state.

Capitalism encourages to have the best qualified person honestly performing their job to increase profits. The nation state insists that everyone within a country actually belongs to the same kind of people, so the normal preference given to one's own ethinic group should be granted to every person of the same nationality.

hugo:

Santa Anna may have been unsuccessful because he was a victim of circumstance.

The independence of Mexico from Spain, like most of the rest of Latin America from colonial status, occurred in the absence of much experience in republican government (failure to compromise, etc.).  Consequently, what government existed shortly after independence coalesced around the army.  So frequently, the military provides the only element of organization and discipline in a polity where there is little experience or confidence in government.  The military is a command culture.

I don't know what Santa Anna's opinions and outlook were at the time of independence, but as he was a military leader, and he got in the middle of it all, he became one of the early "caudillos."  If not him, it would have been another one.  

Edited by pikeshot1600

Jalisco:

Well, I guess we know how you feel about Santa Anna.

Seriously, thanks for the biography.

Any thoughts on whether another general might have been different?

Santa Anna was a reflect of the society of that time. People loved and hated him with the same intensity.
He was El Caudillo, the strong man of Mexico.
Santa Anna during the final years of his goverment, he became a Dictator and dissolved the Congress. Put on jail or exiled to several liberals as Benito Juarez.

Took for himself the Tittle of Alteza Serenisima.
Agree to sell the territory of La Mesilla to the US in exchange of $ 15 Million USD.

He created a personal guard brought from Russia.
In order to support the expenses of his pompous court, he created several new and exentric taxes:

Tax applied to dog owners ( with the exeption of the blinds ).
Tax applied per every door and window per house in all Mexico.

Juan Alvarez rebelled in the south and finally expelled to Santa Anna from the office.
Santa Anna lived on the exile at Colombia where he bought a house that belonged to Simon Bolivar.
Returned to Mexico during the French Invasion some 10 years later to offer his services to the Mexican empire. Santa Anna was not allowed by Bazaine to disembark and was deported back.
Came back to Mexico years later of the death of Pres. Benito Juarez and died on the poverty in Mexico City.



Edited by Jalisco Lancer

Here's Santa Anna's Biography:

SANTA ANNA, ANTONIO L�PEZ DE (1794-1876). Antonio L�pez de Santa Anna P�rez de Lebr�n, soldier and five-time president of Mexico, was born at Jalapa, Vera Cruz, on February 21, 1794, the son of Antonio L�pez de Santa Anna and Manuela P�rez de Lebr�n. His family belonged to the criolloqv middle class, and his father served at one time as a subdelegate for the Spanish province of Vera Cruz. After a limited schooling the young Santa Anna worked for a merchant of Vera Cruz. In June 1810 he was appointed a cadet in the Fijo de Vera Cruz infantry regiment under the command of Joaqu�n de Arredondo.qv He spent the next five years battling insurgents and policing the Indian tribes of the Provincias Internas.qv Like most criollo officers in the Royalist army, he remained loyal to Spain for a number of years and fought against the movement for Mexican independence. He received his first wound, an Indian arrow in his left arm or hand, in 1811. In 1813 he served in Texas against the Guti�rrez-Magee expedition,qv and at the battle of Medinaqv he was cited for bravery. In the aftermath of the rebellion the young officer witnessed Arredondo's fierce counterinsurgency policy of mass executions, and historians have speculated that Santa Anna modeled his policy and conduct in the Texas Revolutionqv on his experience under Arredondo. He once again served under Arrendondo against the filibustering expedition of Francisco Xavier Minaqv in 1817. The young officer spent the next several years in building Indian villages and in occasional campaigns, while he acquired debts, some property, and promotions. In 1820 he was promoted to brevet captain, and he became a brevet lieutenant colonel the following year. In March of 1821 he made the first of the dramatic shifts of allegiance that characterized his military and political career by joining the rebel forces under Agust�n de Iturbideqv in the middle of a campaign against them. He campaigned for Iturbide for a time and was promoted to brigadier general. In December 1822 Santa Anna broke with Iturbide over a series of personal grievances, and he called for a republic in his Plan of Casa Mata in December 1822.

After serving as military governor of Yucat�n, Santa Anna retired to civil life and became governor of Vera Cruz. In 1829 he defeated the Spanish invasion at Tampico and emerged from the campaign as a national hero. In the course of this campaign, he demonstrated several of his characteristic military strengths and weaknesses; he was able to pull an army together quickly and with severely limited resources, but he also combined elaborate planning with slipshod and faulty execution. He rebelled against the administration three years later and was elected president of Mexico as a liberal in 1833, but in 1834 he stated that Mexico was not ready for democracy and emerged as an autocratic Centralist. When the liberals of Zacatecas defied his authority and an attempt to reduce their militia in 1835, Santa Anna moved to crush them and followed up his battlefield victory with a harsh campaign of repression. In December 1835 he arrived at San Luis Potos� to organize an army to crush the rebellion in Texas. In 1836 he marched north with his forces to play his controversial role in the Texas Revolution. After his capture by Sam Houston'sqv army, he was sent to Washington, D.C., whence he returned to Mexico. He retired to his estates at Manga de Clavo for a time, then emerged to join the defense of Mexico against the French in December 1838 during the so-called "Pastry War." He lost a leg in battle and regained his popularity. He was acting president in 1839, helped overthrow the government of Anastasio Bustamanteqv in 1841, and was dictator from 1841 to 1845. Excesses led to his overthrow and exile to Havana.

At the beginning of the Mexican War,qv Santa Anna entered into negotiations with President James K. Polk. He offered the possibility of a negotiated settlement to the United States and was permitted to enter Mexico through the American blockade. Once in the country he rallied resistance to the foreign invaders. As commanding officer in the northern campaign he lost the battle of Buena Vista in February 1847, returned to Mexico City, reorganized the demoralized government, and turned east to be defeated by Winfield S. Scott's forces at Cerro Gordo. Secret negotiations with Scott failed, and when Mexico City was captured, Santa Anna retired to exile. In 1853 he was recalled by the Centralists, but again power turned his head. To help meet expenses he sold the Mesilla Valley to the United States as the Gadsden Purchase and was overthrown and banished by the liberals in 1855.

For eleven years he schemed to return to Mexico, conniving with the French and with Maximilian. After a visit from the American secretary of state, W. H. Seward, he invested most of his property in a vessel that he sailed to New York to become the nucleus of a planned invading force from the United States. Disappointed in his efforts, he proceeded towards Mexico, was arrested on the coast, and returned to exile. From 1867 to 1874 he lived in Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Nassau. During this time he finally abandoned politics and wrote his memoirs. In 1874 he was allowed to return to Mexico City, where he lived in obscurity until his death on June 21, 1876. He was buried at Tepeyac Cemetery, near Guadalupe Hidalgo. Santa Anna was married twice, to In�s Garc�a in 1825, and, a few months after the death of his first wife in 1844, to Mar�a Dolores de Tosta, who survived him.


source: http://www.tsha.utexas.edu/handbook/online/articles/SS/fsa29 .html

.....no single instance was any man punished for a political offense....few dictators, in possession of absolute power for the same length of time, surrounded by the same circumstances, can say as much....he is not the sanguinary monster which some have supposed him to be---American Envoy to Mexico Waddy Thompson, 1846.

Antonio L�pez de Santa Anna
Fought more battles than Napoleon and George Washington combined, eleven times President and Dictator of the second largest country in the world prior to 1836, captured and caused the loss of half of Mexican territory (one million square miles) beginning on the battlefield of San Jacinto in 1836, released to become President and Dictator of Mexico 7 times more over 40 more years, periodically exiled for a total of 20 years----

"......it is very true that I threw up my cap for liberty with great ardor, and perfect sincerity, but very soon found the folly of it. A hundred years to come my people will not be fit for liberty. They do not know what it is, unenlightened as they are, and under the influence of a Catholic clergy, a despotism is the proper government for them, but there is no reason why it should not be a wise and virtuous one."---Santa Anna in reply to former American envoy to Mexico Joel Poinsett after his capture by Texians 1836

"General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna died in this city on the 21st inst. However he may have been condemned by parties, his career formed a brilliant and important portion of the History of Mexico, and future historians will differ in their judgment of his merits. General Santa Anna outlived his usefulness and ambition, and died at the ripe age of eighty-four. Peace to his ashes"--Obituary Mexico City 1876

[Image: idealized portrait in full regalia from Hanighen's Santa Anna: Napoleon of the West, 1934]

.....no single instance was any man punished for a political offense....few dictators, in possession of absolute power for the same length of time, surrounded by the same circumstances, can say as much....he is not the sanguinary monster which some have supposed him to be---American Envoy to Mexico Waddy Thompson, 1846.

source:
http://www.tamu.edu/ccbn/dewitt/santaanna.htm