Agustín I of México

At first, in 1821, Mexico is a, is a, is a monarchy.

There, there's an emperor, uh, Agustín de Iturbide, who very quickly becomes overthrown.

And so then in 1823 and 1824, there's a very ambitious constitution, the famous Constitution of 1824, which may be familiar to Texas history buffs as supposedly the defenders of the Alamo died under a Mexican flag with 1824 written in the middle of it, referring to this Constitution of 1824.

But even after this constitution is passed, really to great acclaim, and it really is a remarkable document, uh, there's four years of, of stability under a first president, but then from there, there's about six different presidents in six years as, as you have people abrogating the electoral process and you have just general political tumult.

Old Spanish history was ransacked for information from the voyages of Cortes in the Gulf of California to the latest dates, and maps of the country were in great demand.

In the meantime, an agent of the Iturbide family had arrived in San Francisco with a Mexican grant.

After the execution of the Emperor Iturbide, the Congress of the Mexican Republic voted an indemnity to the family of $1 million.

On account of successive revolutions, this sum was never at the disposition of the Mexican treasury, and in liquidation the Mexican government made a family grant of land in California north of the Bay of San Francisco.

But before the land could be located, the Americans had acquired the country and it was lost.

That the climate was all that could be desired from the level of the Gulf of California to an altitude of fifteen thousand feet in the mountains of the north.

That the Southern Pacific Railroad would soon be built through the new country, and that a new state would be made as a connecting link between Texas and California, with the usual quota of governors, senators, and public officials.

It was urged that the Iturbide grant could be located so as to secure the best sites for towns and cities in the new state, and the rest distributed to settlers as an inducement for rapid colonization.

Often at night they will remove the flag and charge double prices, but they can be punished for it.

We soon arrived at the hotel Iturbide, and were assigned rooms by the affable clerk.

The hotel was once the home of the emperor Iturbide.

It is a large building of the Mexican style.

The entrance takes one into a large open court or square.

For one eye in nearly all the pictures goes a different direction from its mate, and in many instances, the off eye is as roguish as a little brother, making you imagine the old rascals are going to wink while the opposite orb gazes out in saint-like expression.

The effect is ludicrous.

The glassware of the Emperor Iturbide, containing excellent portraits of himself and Chapultepec Castle, is also shown in this room.

Sounds like they have a dragon at their head.

Was the name given the army after the unification of the Spanish troops led by Agustin de Iturbide? No.

and the Mexican insurgent troops of Vincente Guerrero, consolidating Mexico's independence from Spain.

The decree casting this army appeared in the Plan de Iguala, which stated the three guarantees which it was meant to defend were religion, independence, and unity, and Mexico was to be a Catholic empire, independent from Spain and against its enemies.