The constitution was drafted in that year and the government was initially established with its capital at El Fuerte, Sinaloa.

The state consisted of modern Sonora and Sinaloa, and also modern Arizona more or less south of the Gila River (although in much of this area the Yaqui, Pima, Apaches, and other native inhabitants at certain times did not recognize the rule of the state).

The Yaqui also considered themselves possessed of sovereignty and territorial rights which were threatened by the state's new constitution.

Settlements existed only in the extreme south of the current state of Arizona and the northern frontier was not defined.

The Mexican-American War, the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, and especially the Gadsden Purchase established the present border.