Anastacio Bustamante
          Anastasio Bustamante was a long time force in conservative Mexican politics. He was a doctor, a general and held the presidency on more than one occasion. He was born in 1780 in the Kingdom of Michoacan to Jose Ruiz and Francisca Oseguera Bustamante. His first education was in a seminary in Guadalajara and from there he went to Mexico City to study medicine, eventually opening a practice in San Luis Potosi where he was the family doctor to the local garrison commander Felix Maria Calleja del Rey who introduced him to the Spanish Viceroy Jose de Iturrigaray (Calleja himself would one day become Viceroy). The Viceroy was impressed enough to give Bustamante a commission in the militia. When the Mexican Revolution began he fought against the rebel Hidalgo with the royalist army of his friend General Calleja. His actions as a young officer earned him high praise for his role in the defeat of Hidalgo at the battle of Calderon.
          When General Iturbide issued his Plan of Iguala, Colonel Bustamante and his men gave it their support and fully endorsed the elevation of Iturbide as Emperor Agustin I of Mexico. The Emperor made Bustamante Commander in Chief of the Cavalry and later Captain General of the Interior Provinces. However, Bustamante was a compassionate enough man, or politically astute, to remove the severed heads of Hidalgo and his fellow revolutionaries and give them a proper burial. When Emperor Agustin was maneuvered into abdicating Bustamante joined the federalist faction and continued to serve under President Guadalupe Victoria in the posts he had previously held.
          In the tumultuous politics of the Mexican republic, like many others, General Bustamante shifted between the centralist and federalist factions as well as being a sometime ally of the Freemason party. He served as Vice President to the federalist President Vicente Guerrero in 1829. This was a difficult time as the Spanish made a weak attempt to regain Mexico, coupled with the unrest caused when Guerrero seized dictatorial powers for himself and Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, who had precipitated the downfall of Iturbide, also declared against Guerrero and launched a rebellion based on his Plan of Jalapa. Congress declared Guerrero incompetent and General Bustamante eventually captured and executed his former boss in 1831.
          In the 1822 Bustamante gave him support to the empresario system of colonization and the efforts of Stephen F. Austin, the "Father of Texas" to colonize northern Mexico. Although he was not unaware of the dangers inherent in uncontrolled immigration, Austin nonetheless always maintained that Bustamante was a good man who protected his colony and remained always a friend. In 1830 Anastasio Bustamante became President of Mexico for the first time and brought a decidedly conservative theme back to Mexican politics. Undoubtedly the best minister he appointed to office was Don Lucas Alaman, a long time Catholic traditionalist and conservative monarchist.
          Bustamante, even during the republic, continued to identify himself as a supporter of Emperor Agustin and opposition against him wrapped itself in the flag of liberal republicanism. Unrest increased as Bustamante, favoring no particular faction, had no solid base of support but rather depended on the success of his policies to sustain him. Many radicals were executed, including the brother of the first Mexican president Guadalupe Victoria. In a move many took as a sign of blatant monarchist sympathy, President Bustamante had the remains of Emperor Agustin moved to Mexico City and entombed with solemn ceremony as the "Father of Independence". When Gomez Farias instigated a rebellion against him in Zacatecas and Santa Anna also declared against him as a federalist and vowed to restore adherence to the American-style Constitution of 1824 Bustamante resigned. Santa Anna became president and exiled Bustamante but promptly switched to the centralist camp and abolished the Constitution of 1824 which instigated the War for Texas Independence. Between 1837 and 1841 Bustamante returned to Mexico and recovered the presidency twice, being overthrown on each occasion by liberal opposition. He finally retired to San Miguel de Allende where he died in 1853.
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