The Constitutional Elements were a set of guidelines in the form of a draft constitution for Mexico (then still Viceroyalty of New Spain), written in April 1812, during the Mexican War of Independence by general Ignacio López Rayón, and circulated on September 4, 1812, in Zinacantepec, State of Mexico, with the purpose of constituting a nation independent from Spain. They are considered the direct antecedent and source of creation of the Sentimientos de la Nación of José María Morelos and, therefore, of the subsequent Constitution of 1824. Therefore, it is the oldest antecedent of Mexican constitutionalism.
History
Once the struggle for independence began, and given the power vacuum left by Ferdinand VII when he was deposed by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1808, it was in the interest of the insurgents to try to base their struggle for independence from the Viceroyalty of New Spain on legal principles that would legitimize their actions and serve as a basis for uniting the people around common ideals.
In this sense, and following the revolutionary experiences of France and the United States, as well as the constitution drawn up by the latter country in 1787, the insurgents were driven to draw up a document containing the basic rights and principles of a new State and to establish authority even in the absence of the monarch. However, this was not a sentiment particular to the American continent, as evidenced by the constitutional movement in Spain that culminated in the Cadiz Constitution of 1812.
In the context of the Independence, and since the viceroyalty authorities of New Spain were not recognized in the absence of Ferdinand VII, on August 19, 1811, the Supreme National American Meeting, known as Junta de Zitácuaro, was established in the town of the same name in Michoacán, as the governing body for what would soon become the Mexican nation, made up of the main leaders of the insurgency at that time, among them José María Morelos and Ignacio López Rayón. Both would be appointed members of the Junta and, the latter, as Universal Minister of the Nation. The Junta would later move to Sultepec, currently in the State of Mexico.
López Rayón set about the task of writing a draft constitution, to be considered for later approval by the Junta, which he titled Elementos Constitucionales (Constitutional Elements). The exact date of their drafting is unknown, however, from the missive sent to Morelos, it is established that they were created on April 30, 1812, and by the summer of that same year they were in circulation. Apparently, such document was signed in Zinacantepec.
Rayón sent a first draft of the Elements to Morelos —who was in Puebla— on April 30, 1812. However, the reply would not arrive until November 7 of the same year, apparently due to a delay Morelos claimed. In this letter Morelos points out a series of corrections to the Elements in which he proposes to exclude all reference to the authority of Ferdinand VII:
Before receiving the Elements, Morelos had pronounced his position regarding Ferdinand VII, in a letter sent to Rayón in previous days:
He also proposed that instead of a single National Protector, as Rayón proposed, there should be one for each bishopric to be elected every four years, and other observations on the distribution and organization of the militia.
These corrections did not amend the text, but were added as a colophon, at the foot of the document, indicating Morelos' authorship.
The content of the Constitutional Elements -which transcended to other later texts due to the knowledge that José María Morelos y Pavón had of them- could have had repercussions in the final draft of the Sentimientos de la Nación of 1813, to later be included in the Constitution of Apatzingán of 1814, in which Rayón would also participate and which contains many parallels with the rights pointed out in the Elements.
Contents
The document consists of a preamble which exalts the legitimacy and justice of the «Independence of America» and outlines that the deposit of sovereignty resides in the people:
The body of the Constitutional Elements is made up of 38 statements in the form of articles, and contains the main ideas for the creation of an independent state proclaimed by the insurgency:
The Catholic religion as the official and only religion (Articles 1, 2 and 3).
Independence of America (Article 4).
Sovereignty emanates from the people but presides in the figure of the monarch Ferdinand VII (Article 5).
The exercise of sovereignty must tend towards the independence and happiness of the nation (Article 6).
The exercise of sovereignty resides in a Supreme National Congress (Articles 5, 7 to 16).