FOREWORD
The widespread interest in Mexican affairs has led the Editorial Council of the Academy to arrange for the early publication of the Mexican Constitution adopted at the recent Constitutional Convention held in Querétaro. In a sense this publication supplements the special volume issued by the Academy in January last on "The Purposes and Ideals of the Mexican Revolution."
Since the first movement for independence from the mother country in 1810, Mexico has passed through an extraordinary constitutional development. The idea of a Republican form of government made its way but slowly amongst the founders of Mexican independence. Between 1810 and 1824 the opinion of the country wavered between a constitutional monarchy and a republic. It is true that the earliest Mexican Constitution—that adopted in Apatzingan by the first Constitutional Convention—provided for a Republican form of government with an Executive composed of three persons elected by the National Congress. Amongst the members of this triumvirate, a system of rotation in office was established under which each exercised the powers of Chief Executive during a consecutive period of four months.
