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ment, or to any severer punishment, or has been declared bankrupt, he shall be expelled by imperial order.

With respect to the expulsion of a member, as a disciplinary punishment in the House of Peers, the president shall report the facts to the Emperor for his decision.

Any member who has been expelled shall be incapable of again becoming a member, unless permission so to do has been granted by the Emperor.

ART. II. The president and vice-president shall be nominated by the Emperor, from among the members, for a term of seven years.

If an elected member is nominated president or vice-president, he shall serve in that capacity for the term of his membership.

ART. 12. Every matter, other than those for which provision has been made in the present imperial ordinance, shall be dealt with according to the provisions of the Law of the Houses.

ART. 13. When in the future any amendment or addition is to be made to the provisions of the present imperial ordinance, the matter shall be submitted to the vote of the House of Peers.

MEXICO

The first important movement for Mexican independence from Spain was that of 1810, headed by the priest, Miguel Hidalgo i Costilla; this insurrection was suppressed without difficulty, and Hidalgo was executed. The revolutionary forces, however, were not entirely crushed, and soon a more formidable revolution occurred under the leadership of Morelos; a popular assembly was convened in 1813 which declared Mexico independent and adopted the republican constitution of October 22, 1814.

This movement was also suppressed, and Mexico remained quiet until after the Spanish revolution of 1820. Augustin de Iturbide, one of the Spanish military commanders, now joined the revolutionary forces, and the plan of Iguala, drawn up by the insurgents on February 24, 1821, was generally supported by the people; by this plan Mexico was erected into an independent limited monarchy and the throne was offered to Ferdinand VII of Spain. The new Spanish viceroy, O'Donojú, who had been appointed by the then liberal government of Spain, agreed to the general principles of this plan; if neither Ferdinand VII nor any male member of his family would accept the crown, an emperor was to be chosen by the Mexican legislature. Both Ferdinand and the Spanish Cortes disapproved the terms made by O'Donojú, and on March 18, 1822, Iturbide was chosen emperor of Mexico, with the title of Augustin I. Both Monarchists and Republicans combined against the new emperor who was forced to abdicate and leave the country after a reign of little more than a year.

Upon the disappearance of Iturbide the republic was immediately proclaimed. A constitutional convention was convened, which on January 31, 1824, adopted a constitutional act as the basis for a new constitution; by this act it was declared that "the nation adopts the republican, representative, popular, federal form of government." The republican constitution of October 4, 1824, which erected the provinces into states, was in many respects a copy of the constitution of the United States. This constitution was nominally in force for eleven years, but its operation was frequently interrupted by revolutions.

In Mexico as in the Argentine Republic the most important political question was that of centralization or federalism. General Santa Anna, who became president of the republic for the second time in 1834, allied himself with the supporters of centralization. The Congress which met in 1835 undertook the alteration of the constitution of 1824, and the seven constitutional laws of December 29, 1836, entirely changed the organization of the government. The states were abolished and replaced by departments with limited powers; each department was governed by an elected council of seven members, and by a governor, appointed by the president of the republic from a list of three candidates presented by the departmental council. Slight changes were introduced by the constitution of June 12, 1843, which consolidated the constitutional laws of 1836 into one instrument. The federalists regaining control, the constitution of 1824 was restored on August 22, 1846.

Between 1836 and 1855 there were few years when Mexico was not in a state of civil war. Santa Anna, who had regained power in 1846 and had fled from the country in the succeeding year, again became president in 1853, and by his arbitrary conduct aroused strong opposition. The garrison of Ayutla took the lead in the movement by demanding on March 1, 1854, that Santa Anna should cease to exercise power and that a temporary president be chosen for the purpose of convening a constitutional convention; the so-called Plan of Ayutla was adopted with some changes by the garrison of Acapulco on March 11, 1854, and was generally accepted throughout the country. Santa Anna abandoned the presidency and a constitutional convention met on February 18, 1856; in May of the same year the new president issued a "provisional organic statute of the Mexican Republic," which was replaced by the constitution of February 5, 1857.

The constitution of 1857 has been frequently amended; all changes are noted in the text given below. This constitution has been continuously in force since 1857, except for the period of the short-lived empire of Maximilian, during a portion of which the autocratic provisional statute of April 10, 1865, was operative throughout the greater part of Mexican territory.

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY

MEXICO. Constitución de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos.

con sus

adiciones y reformas, leyes orgánicas y reglamentarios. Texto vigente de la constitución. (México, 1905.) The latest official edition of the Mexican constitution and important complementary laws.

MONTIEL Y DUARTE, ISIDRO ANTONIO. Derecho público Mexicano. (México, 1871-82. 4 vols. and appendix.) A documentary history of Mexican constitutions.

GAMBOA, JOSÉ M. Leyes constitucionales de México durante el siglo XIX. (México, 1901.) A convenient collection of Mexican constitutional documents.

MEXICO. Constituciones políticas de los estados de la república Mexicana. (México, 1902. 2 vols.)

TORRE, JUAN DE LA. La constitución federal de 1857 y leyes organicas. (2d ed., Mexico, 1896.) A convenient private collection of laws bearing on the organization of government; a new edition was probably issued in 1905. CORONADO, MARIANO. Elementos de derecho constitucional Mexicano. (2d ed., Guadalajara, 1899.) This work and that of Ruiz have not been examined by the editor but they are referred to in high terms by CRUZADA, Bibliografía juridica Mexicana (México, 1905). RUIZ, EDUARDO. Curso de derecho constitucional y administrativo. (México, 1888.)

GARCIA GRANADOS, RICARDO. La constitución de 1857 y las leyes de reforma en México. (México, 1906.) An excellent historical outline.

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In the name of God and by the authority of the Mexican people.

The representatives of the different states, of the district and of the territories which compose the Republic of Mexico, called by the plan proclaimed in Ayutla the first of March, eighteen hundred and fifty-four, amended in Acapulco the

1In the preparation of this text assistance has been received from the translation made by Professor Bernard Moses and issued in the Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science of July, 1891, and from that contained in Rodriguez, American Constitutions.

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