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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 December 2015
On Christmas Day, 1829, in a room in the National Palace in Mexico City, Joel Roberts Poinsett received official Mexican acknowledgement of his resignation as the United States minister to Mexico. Two days earlier, Poinsett had requested his passport, and this meeting was merely a diplomatic formality. Across the table from Poinsett were Lucas Alamán, Pedro Vélez, and Luis Quintanar, representing General Anastasio Bustamante, who on December 23 had forcefully ousted Vincente Guerrero from the Mexican presidency. Alamán, Vélez, and Quintanar were serving as an interim executive body until Bustamante's impending entry into the capital. The gathering was a cordial one, at which time Poinsett and Alamán in particular expressed admiration for one another. Such had not been the case in their previous dealings.
The author is deeply grateful to Professors Roland E. Duncan, J. Leon Helguera, and Lester D. Langley for their comments and suggestions regarding this article.
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21 Butler to Jackson, October 6, 1831, ibid.
22 Butler to Jackson, January 2, 1832, ibid.
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26 Butler to Jackson, August 12, 1832, ibid.
27 Open Letter from Bernardo Gonzalez, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mexico, to Secretary of State Louis McLane, Niles’ Weekly Register, 44 (April 20, 1833):118.
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34 Wilcocks to McLane, December 24, 1833, ibid.
