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The Plan of Ayutla was the 1854 written plan aimed at removing conservative, centralist president Antonio López de Santa Anna as dictator of Mexico during the Second Federal Republic of Mexico period. Initially it seemed little different that other political plans of the era, but it is considered the first act of the Liberal Reform in Mexico. It was the catalyst for revolts in many parts of Mexico, which led to the resignation of Santa Anna from the presidency, never to vie for office again.
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History
Initially drafted on February 24, 1854, by Colonel Florencio Villarreal, it was proclaimed on March 1, 1854, in Ayutla, Guerrero. The Ayutla Plan not only aimed at removing the dictator but also convening a constituent assembly in order to draft a federal constitution.
Supporters of the Plan of Ayutla included Juan Álvarez, Ignacio Comonfort, exiles of the Santa Anna regime Benito Juárez, Melchor Ocampo, José María Mata, and Ponciano Arriaga, as well as Miguel Lerdo de Tejada, Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, and José María Jesús Carbajal.
Revolution of Ayutla
Forces under Juan Álvarez, the strong man of Guerrero state, rebelled against Santa Anna's government, initiating 19 months of guerrilla warfare and civil unrest against Santa Anna. This uprising is termed the Revolution of Ayutla (1854−1855), since it entailed not just a narrow political goal of ousting the dictator, but a more thoroughgoing change in political direction via armed warfare. The Revolution of Ayutla brought a whole generation of younger men into active national political life, a "generation of giants" including military men: Comonfort, Santiago Vidaurri, Epitacio Huerta, and Manuel García Pueblita; as well as radical liberal intellectuals, Ocampo, Arriaga, Guillermo Prieto, and Juárez.
Alvarez had success in mobilizing forces in Guerrero, many of which had formed paramilitary units during the U.S. - Mexican War (1846-1848), and there followed uprisings in the states of Michoacán, Morelos, Oaxaca, and Mexico state. Those then spread to the northern states of Zacatecas, San Luis Potosí, and Nuevo León. However, Santa Anna's federal army beat the "Liberating Army" in two major battles, at Coquillo and el Pelegrino. The irregular forces of the liberal side took a few months' time off from the revolution to attend to their crops. When Mexico City denounced Santa Anna, he fled into exile and Alvarez's forces marched into the capital with a "brigade of rustics called Pintos (ferocious warriors so called because in earlier times, they wore face paint). In the capital there was widespread popular support for the Revolution of Ayutla, with people gathering in the Alameda Park and waiting hours to sign a document in support of Mexico City for the revolution.
1857 Constitution of Mexico
The Plan paved the way for the La Reforma (the Liberal Reform). The Revolution of Ayutla brought liberals to power. Their leaders initially passed a series of reform laws that were then incorporated into the 1857 Mexican Constitution.
Conservatives opposed La Reforma and the 1857 Constitution in the Plan of Tacubaya and an open civil war, known as the War of the Reform or Three Years War (1858−1860) .