Both Congress and the administration elected during his term were notably Liberal, and pursued curtailing the political power of the Mexican Army and Catholic Church.

Measures to prosecute members of the previous, conservative and autocratic presidency of Anastasio Bustamante were also carried out, but Gómez Farías sought to moderate them.

Conservative revolts against these policies flared up, and eventually Gómez Farías' own vice-president Santa Anna switched sides and led his deposing in April 1834.

Gómez Farías did not disappear from public life, and in 1856, he was elected to the congress which inaugurated the pivotal La Reforma which led to the Constitution of 1857, incorporating many of the reforms he had first attempted during his presidencies.

His dissertation contained such a strong influence from Enlightenment authors that he managed to get the attention of the Mexican Inquisition, but no legal action was ever taken against him, and he opened a successful medical practice in Guadalajara.

[7] After the fall of the Mexican Empire in 1823, Gómez Farías supported the ultimately successful presidential candidacy of Guadalupe Victoria who was inaugurated as the first president of Mexico.

When under liberal president Vicente Guerrero, Lorenzo de Zavala resigned as minister of the treasury, due to the fact that he was also governor of the state of Mexico at the time, Gómez Farías was given the offer to replace him, but he refused the post.

[8] When Santa Anna proclaimed the Plan of Veracruz against conservative president Anastasio Bustamante in 1832, Gómez Farías helped convince Governor Garcia of Zacatecas to side with the rebels.

Manuel Gomez Pedraza was invited to hold the presidential seat until the next scheduled elections which were on March, and he chose Gómez Farías as Minister of the Treasury.

They would share and alternate offices, and when Gomez Pedraza's term legally ended on 1 April, he actually passed down power to Gómez Farías, as Santa Anna was not in the capital at the time.

This has been suspected as a ploy by Santa Anna to gauge public opinion regarding Gómez Farías’ intended radical reforms aimed at the Catholic Church and at the army.

On 23 June 1833, amidst insurrections flaring up all over the country, the congress passed a law, the so-called Ley del Caso authorizing the arrest and exile for six years of fifty one individuals considered enemies of the government among them, ex-president Bustamante, José Mariano Michelena, Zenon Fernandez [es], Francisco Molinos del Campo, Jose Maria Gutierrez Estrada, and Miguel Santa María [es].

On 26 May, in Morelia, Colonel Ignacio Escalada pronounced against the government, and invited Santa Anna to join him in overthrowing Gómez Farías.

[26] Gómez Farías organized six thousand troops, put the capital under martial law, and rewards were offered for anyone that helped Santa Anna escape.

Gómez Farías was legally permitted to be in the country, but after learning of the clamor with which he was greeted, the council of ministers passed a resolution to keep him under surveillance.

Negotiations broke down and the capital had to face twelve days of warfare, which resulted in property damage, civilian loss of life, and a large exodus of refugees out of the city.

When the Mexican-American War broke out, Gómez Farías supported inviting back his old enemy Santa Anna under the belief that he could hold Mexico together during such a crisis.

[36] Gómez Farías was minister of finance under the short presidency of José Mariano Salas, and he accepted the post under the condition that internal tariffs would be abolished, authoritarian laws be reformed, and that the war be continued based upon the unity of all Mexicans.

He remained in the ministry for a little over a month, during which Santa Anna reentered the capital accompanied in his carriage by Gómez Farías holding the 1824 Constitution by his side.

[38] On 7 January 1847, a measure was introduced to congress signed by four of five members of a financial ministry commission, endorsing the seizure of fifteen million pesos from the church by nationalizing and then selling its lands,[39] which in turn alarmed Gómez Farías' opponents into fearing that he was reviving the anti-clerical campaign of 1833.

The decree was signed by the president of congress Pedro María de Anaya, and Gómez Farías approved it with the support of finance minister Zubieta.

Minister of Relations José Fernando Ramírez recommended that application of the relevant Indian laws in anticipation of political agitation in the churches.

[42] The liberal paper El Monitor Republicano [es] was incredulous that amidst all available options for raising funds, the government had chosen to nationalize church lands in the middle of a war, without sounding public opinion, and reminded its readers that the last time Gómez Farías tried to nationalize church lands in 1833 it ended with the overthrow of the liberal government.

A measure was taken to audit the finance ministry to reduce corruption in general and the relevant officials were also obliged to present a report every four days on the progress of the church land sales and to explain any factors that were causing any delays.

They released a manifesto excoriating the government for pursuing a divisive policy instead of uniting the country in the war effort and seeking a means of funding the military that was backed by national consensus.

General Matías de la Peña Barragán [es] chief of the rebels met with Valentin Canalizo on 28 February and they negotiated on the matter of an arrangement, with Pena insisting on the deposition of Gómez Farías.

He was at the town of Matehuala on the way from Angostura to San Luis Potosi City, when received news that there had been a revolution against the government of Valentin Gómez Farías.

On 21 March, representatives of the constitutional congress including Mariano Otero [es], José María Lafragua, and others, set out to present Santa Anna with an offer to assume the presidency.

[51] Valentin Gómez Farías resigned, the insurrection ended, troops were sent back to their stations, and the presidency passed over to Santa Anna.

He lived to see his old colleague and enemy Santa Anna reestablish a dictatorship in 1852, but also his fall from grace through the triumph of the liberal Plan of Ayutla in 1855.