Gómez Pedraza, Manuel (1789?–1851)

Manuel Gómez Pedraza (b. 1789?; d. 14 May 1851), Mexican politician and general. Born in Querétaro to a prominent family, he fought for the royalist cause in the War of Independence and then supported the Iturbide empire. Gómez successfully managed the ideological switch to federalism in 1824 and held several government posts, civil and military, during the Guadalupe Victoria presidency (1824–1829). A Scottish Rite Mason, he was elected president of Mexico in 1828 but was prevented from taking office by the revolt of the Acordade. After returning from exile, he served the final three months of his presidential term in 1833. He was elected to later congresses and held various ministerial posts. Known for his oratory and personal eccentricity—he forgot his own wedding day—he became a prominent member of the social elite in the capital. As one of the leaders of the moderate liberal federalists, Gómez was a presidential candidate on more than one occasion.

See alsoMexico, Wars and Revolutions: War of Independence .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Manuel Rivera Cambas, Los gobernantes de México, rev. ed. by Leonardo Pasquel, vol. 4 (1964), pp. 359-374.

Stanley C. Green, The Mexican Republic: The First Decade (1987), pp. 88, 156-160, 229.

Additional Bibliography

Gómez Pedraza, Manuel, and Ma Laura Solares Robles. La obra política de Manuel Gómez Pedraza, 1813–1851. México, D.F.: Instituto Mora, 1999.

Solares Robles, Ma Laura. Una revolución pacífica: Biografía política de Manuel Gómez Pedraza, 1789–1851. México, D.F.: Instituto de Investigaciones Dr. José María Luis Mora, 1996.

                                       Michael P. Costeloe