The Southwestern Historical Quarterly, Volume 62, July 1958 - April, 1959 Page: 490

Southwestern Historical Quarterly

Farias, the liberal vice president, assumed the effective power.
The anti-clerical G6mez Farias failed to attain satisfaction and
harmony in the government, and Santa Anna accepted an invi-
tation to depose the acting president. After G6mez Farfas invol-
untarily left the government, Congress named General Miguel
BarragAn as provisional president of Mexico on January 28, 1835.2
Santa Anna later rested at Mango de Clavo, but he controlled the
government through BarragAn.
After he entered office, Barragin faced two major cores of
opposition. As the government became increasingly centralized,
military chieftains over Mexico attempted to restore a federal
form of government. Later on, Texas rose in revolt. In the long
run, the Texans in the far north proved more troublesome than
did the other rebels closer to the capital.
Although federalist generals Jose Antonio Mejia and Juan
Alvarez failed in their revolutionary plans and were put down
during the year,3 the most serious situation appeared to be in
Zacatecas. A congressional act of March 31, 1835, discharged most
of the local militia, causing the federalists of that state to revolt.
The action called for a firm hand, and early in April Santa Anna
left for the scene. The governor of Zacatecas, Francisco Garcia,
displayed slight knowledge of military science. As a result, Santa
Anna overwhelmed him with little effort. Centralism rode the
high tide again.'
After the Zacatecas victory, the dictator received the plaudits
of Congress and returned to Mango de Clavo. He enjoyed his
hacienda luxury but briefly, though, as he received word of the
Texan belligerency. He resolved to put down the upstarts, notify-
ing departmental governors on August 31 that he would lead a
force to subdue the Texans.5 His plans began to crystallize when
2Barragin died on March 1, 1836, of "a putrid fever." The chamber of deputies
chose Jos6 Justo Corro of Guadalajara as acting president on February 27, 1836.
Corro was generally considered unfit for the position. See Hubert Howe Bancroft,
History of Mexico (6 vols.; San Francisco, 1883-1888), V, 178, and Jos6 Maria
Luis Mora, Obras sueltas (2 vols.; Paris, 1837), I, cclxxvi.
aBancroft, History of Mexico, V, 146.
4Callcott, Santa Anna, 115. Cf. Frank C. Hanighen, Santa Anna, The Napoleon
of the West (New York, 1934), 77-78.
sCallcott, Santa Anna, 125.

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