Background
Antonio López de Santa Anna was born on 21 February 1794 in Jalapa.
politician president statesman
Antonio López de Santa Anna was born on 21 February 1794 in Jalapa.
Became a cadet at age 16. In 1823 he commanded troops that helped oust Agustín de Iturbide as self-proclaimed emperor of Mexico. Elected president of Mexico in 1833, Santa Anna remained at his hacienda and allowed his vice president, Valentín Gómez Farias, to function as chief executive. When Gómez established a reform program in 1834, Santa Anna took over and canceled the program.
Serving as an unelected dictator in 1854-1855, again he was ousted. In 1863 he went into exile in Nassau, returning to Mexico in 1872.
At the Alamo in San Antonio, Santa Anna left no defender alive. Six weeks later, in April 1836, General Sam Houston defeated Santa Anna’s army at the Battle of San Jacinto. Texas became a republic for nine years, until joining the United States in 1845. That action triggered the war in which Mexico also lost New Mexico, Arizona, California, and areas adjacent to the United States. Santa Anna had served as president again for brief periods during 1841-1844. As commander of all Mexican forces, he was defeated by American troops in 1848 and signed the Treaty of Guadalupe giving up the aforementioned territories.
Santa Anna frequently shifted his loyalty between federalists and centralists, contributing to Mexico’s political instability. In 1836 he proclaimed a centralized constitution to replace the federal one of 1824, thereby giving Texans an excuse to declare independence from Mexico in the name of states’ rights.
