ASG34 France

The Mexican nation, which for three hundred years had neither a will of its own nor the free use of its voice, is today emerging from the oppression in which it lived. The heroic efforts of its sons have been rewarded, and here is the culmination of the eternally memorable enterprise that a genius beyond all admiration and praise, for the love and glory of his homeland, began in Iguala, pursued, and brought to completion, overcoming almost insurmountable obstacles. Thus is restored every part of the North to the exercise of which rights were given by the author of nature, and recognizing to the civilized nations of the earth as inalienable and sacred the freedom to constitute themselves in the way that best suits their happiness, and by representatives capable of manifesting his will and his designs, begins to make use of such precious gifts and solemnly declares, through the Supreme Junta of the empire, that it is a sovereign nation and independent of old Spain with which it will henceforth have no other bond than that of a close friendship in the terms prescribed by the treaties; that it will establish friendly relations with the other powers, executing the same acts that other sovereign nations can and have the right to execute; that it will constitute itself in accordance with what the first chief of the imperial army of the Three Guarantees wisely established in the plan of Iguala and in the treaty of Córdoba; and finally that it will support, with all its strength and (if necessary) by the sacrifice of the property and lives of its individuals, this declaration made in the capital of the empire on September 28, 1821, the first of Mexican independence.