Abstract

EISSA-BARROSO, Francisco A.. Looking towards Philadelphia from Anahuac: The Constitution of the United States of America in the 1823-1824 Mexican Constituent Congress. Polít. gob [online]. 2010, vol.17, n.1, pp.97-125. ISSN 1665-2037.

Historians have argued alternatively that the Mexican Constitution of 1824 had been a flawed copy of the Constitution of the United States or that, far from being influenced by it, the Mexican text had been based on the Spanish charter of 1812. Through an analysis of the debates of the Mexican Congress of 1823-1824 this article explores both the knowledge and understanding that the Mexican representatives had of the US Constitution and the use they made of it. Findings suggest that Mexican constituents discussed specific articles of the constitution, that they were familiar with both the text and the workings of the institutions and that they were convinced they had taken the US Constitution and produced a far improved one.

Keywords : Mexican Constitution of 1824; 1823-1824 Constituent Congress; influence of the United States on Mexican institutions; the Constitution of the United States of America; ideological sources of the Mexican Constitution of 1824.

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