The Republic of Yucatán was governed by the Constitution of 1841 which guaranteed individual rights, religious freedom and what was then a new legal form called amparo (English: protection).

After the refusal of the Spanish monarchy to recognize the independence of Mexico, the ejército Trigarante (Army of the Three Guarantees), led by Agustín de Iturbide and Vicente Guerrero, cut all political and economic dependence on Spain.

The Plan of Iguala established Roman Catholicism as Mexico's religion and equality for all social and ethnic groups in the new empire.

[5] Once the independence of the Mexican Empire was declared, Agustín de Iturbide was designated President of the Regency; because of his great popularity and prestige, the Interim Board gave him full authority.

[6] There is no accurate record of how many deputies were elected, but it has been estimated at about 126, plus 52 given to Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Chiapas, former captaincies which also agreed to the Plan of Iguala.

On May 19, 1822 Valentín Gómez Farías presented a proposal signed by a minority of 42 deputies to proclaim Iturbide as Emperor, citing his extraordinary services as El Libertador (The Liberator).

The Yucatecan intelligentsia met regularly to discuss the war for independence in central Mexico at the Church of San Juan, located in Mérida, Yucatán.

To eliminate the opposition, Mariano Carrillo Albornoz, then governor, forced Zavala and another former Sanjuanista, Manuel Garcia Sosa, to accept posts as deputies of the Cortes (legislative assembly of Spain) and sent them to Madrid; he ordered the other liberals imprisoned.

[9] Echeverri, who succeeded Carrillo Albornoz in 1821, proclaimed the independence of the peninsula and sent two representatives to negotiate the incorporation of Yucatán into the Mexican Empire.

Six days later, in the presence of troops of the garrison of Mérida (the Yucatán capital city) under the command of Anastasio Torrens, and many supporters, Captain Santiago Imán proclaimed the independence of the Yucatecan territory.

The field of green features five stars standing for the five departments into which Yucatán was divided by a decree of November 30, 1840, namely: Mérida, Izamal, Valladolid, Campeche, and Tekax.

Section I of Article 62 re-established the Amparo, the process of legal protection which is based on the idea of limiting the power of government authorities.

[18] In October 1841, Antonio López de Santa Anna became president in a coup d'état, replacing Anastasio Bustamante.

He commissioned Andrés Quintana Roo, a native of Mérida, to negotiate with the Yucatecan authorities and Congress about rejoining Mexico.

[3] Failing in the attempt to subdue Yucatán with words, Santa Anna sent armed forces to the peninsula to hunt for the federalists.

There were no land routes through the jungles, and the sharp curve of the peninsula meant that the shortest distance between Valladolid, and Mexico City was over water.

On April 24, 1843, Mexican General Peña y Barragán surrendered and agreed to withdraw his troops by sea to Tampico in the state of Tamaulipas.

To this should also be added a third group, the indigenous Maya peoples, who formed the bulk of the Yucatecan military and manual labor force.

On January 21, 1847, Santiago Méndez moved the Yucatán capital to Campeche which, within a few months, was also cut off by the US Navy from trade with Texas, Mérida and Mexico.

They paid high taxes, provided most manual and unskilled labor, and formed most of the rank and file of the military, while subject to discrimination and institutional racism by the wealthy whites and mestizos who controlled the regional government (including both the Campeche and Merida factions).

[36][37] Between the American blockade and the Mayan uprising, the Méndez government faced a critical problem of internal security and protection of trade.

Méndez sent a delegation, led by Judge José Rovira, to Washington, D.C. to argue that Yucatán's neutrality in the Mexican–American War should protect it from hostile blockade.

[41] The Méndez government succeeded in recovering part of Yucatán territory lost to the Maya: the cities Izamal, Tunkás, Ticul, Tekax, and Yaxcabá as well as Calotmul and Valladolid, with the help of troops from Mexico.

[43][44][45] In desperation, President Santiago Méndez offered Yucatecan sovereignty in exchange for military assistance to the governor of the island of Cuba, the admiral of Jamaica, and the ministers of Spain and the United Kingdom, but none responded to his pleas, although the British did sell the Yucatecans arms and supplies through their colony in Belize.

[47] Finally, and as mentioned above, the Yucatecan delegation in Washington made a formal offer for the annexation of Yucatán to the United States, an argument that appealed to some of the radical expansionists and the Young America movement.

[48] President James Knox Polk was pleased with the idea and the "Yucatán Bill" passed the U.S. House of Representatives, but was discarded by the Senate.

The first thing Barbachano did as governor was inform the government of Mexico, who resided in the city of Querétaro, the distressing situation of the war of castes and seek economic and military assistance.

The President sees no more than one in Yucatán and very interesting part of the Union, or its citizens more than our brothers handed over to the relentless fury of the wild.

Another of the consequences of the war of the castes was that it altered the international geopolitical divisions of the region between Guatemala and Mexico: since 1823 the biggest and northernmost province of Guatemala, Petén, attempted to annex itself to the state of Yucatán; however, the annexation project was put off several times and finally shelved around 1856 as the war worsened and the Mayans scored several victories.