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LORENZO DE ZAVALA

Lorenzo de Zavala (1788–1836), a politician and historian, was born in Yucatán. He studied in the city of Mérida at the seminary of San Ildefonso. He became active in revolutionary politics, and in 1814 he was imprisoned by the Spanish authorities. Once released, Zavala returned to Yucatán, where he edited a newspaper. He was elected deputy for Yucatán to the Spanish Cortes¹ in 1820 and took his seat in 1821.

However, he promptly returned to Mexico, where the military leader (and later emperor) Agustín de Iturbide (1783–1824) had won independence for Mexico after entering Mexico City with his troops on September 27, 1821. Zavala was a member of the first constituent congress, in 1822, and was elected senator in 1825. He was active in the founding of the Lodge of York in Mexico. In 1827 Zavala was elected governor of the state of Mexico. In the 1828 election the yorkino candidate, General Vicente Guerrero (1782–1831), lost the election. Nevertheless, Zavala and others maneuvered to seat Guerrero in the presidential chair, and subsequently Guerrero appointed Zavala as a minister in his cabinet. When an opposing faction deposed Guerrero in 1830, Zavala went into exile in the United States and Europe. While in exile he wrote Ensayo histórico de las revoluciones de México, desde 1808 hasta 1830. A changing political situation allowed him to return to Mexico and reassume his office as governor in 1833.

Zavala worked with the reformist administration of Gómez Farías, and when the government was toppled at the end of 1833 went again into exile in Europe. Later, he returned to America and went to Texas, where he had land grants. There he sided with the colonists and supported Texas’s independence from

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Mexico. He signed the Texas declaration of independence and was elected vice president in 1836.

We present the introduction and conclusion of Zavala’s Ensayo histórico as well as his individual vote in Congress regarding the separation of Guatemala from Mexico.