
Manuel Gomez Pedraza (22 April 1789 – 14 May 1851) was President of Mexico from 24 December 1832 to 31 March 1833, succeeding Melchor Muzquiz and preceding Valentin Gomez Farias. He was a member of the Liberal Party of Mexico.
Biography[]
Manuel Gomez Pedraza was born in Santiago de Queretaro, Queretaro, New Spain in 1789, and he served in the Spanish Royalist Army during the Mexican War of Independence, capturing Jose Maria Morelos. However, upon Mexican independence, Gomez joined with Agustin de Iturbide, whom be befriended, and he became commander of the Mexico City garrison. After Iturbide's overthrow in 1823, Gomez became a federalist, and he became Governor of Puebla in 1824 before serving as Minister of War in 1825, from 1825 to 1827, and in 1827. In 1828, he won the presidential election against Vicente Guerrero, but Guerrero annulled the election results, forcing Gomez to renounce his victory and flee the country. He returned to Veracruz in October 1830 from Bordeaux, France, but he was immediately sent back into exile in New Orleans by Anastasio Bustamante's conservative government. On 5 November 1832, Gomez again returned to Mexico, and the Plan de Zavaleta recognized him as President. Soon after being elected, he called Congress into session, but Congress elected Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna as president, with Valentin Gomez Farias serving as interim president during Santa Anna's period of sickness. In 1841, Gomez became Minister of Internal and External Affairs under Santa Anna, but he spoke out against Santa Anna's dictatorship while serving as a deputy in 1844. He served as President of the Mexican Senate during the debate and approval of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo at the end of the Mexican-American War in 1848, and he was defeated in his 1850 presidential bid by Mariano Arista. He died in 1851.