The Mexico City ConventionEdit From its foundation on March 17,
1805, the Republic of Mexico was divided between the
Federalists, who wanted a secular state, and the Clericalists,
who wanted the Catholic Church to be the republic’s state
religion. Fighting broke out between the two factions on April
14, 1806, but for the most part the Mexican Civil War was a war
of ambush and reprisal, as the Federalists maintained control of
the government in Mexico City. When the Federalists began
carrying out large-scale reprisals in 1815, the leaders of the
State of Jefferson decided to intervene. In July 1816, a
Jeffersonian army under Colonel Andrew Jackson crossed the Rio
Grande into Mexico. The Jeffersonians allied themselves with the
Clericalists, and on February 6, 1817, the combined armies
occupied Mexico City. The Clericalists began to carry out mass
executions of Federalists, prompting Jackson to seize control of
the government in June 1817 and proclaim himself Mexico’s
provisional president. Jackson followed thi