Project of a Constitution for the Republic of Mexico

When the Mexican Federal Constitution of 1824 was enacted in October 1824, it became the first constitutional document to govern Texas.

The Mexican Federal Constitution of 1824 was written by a committee of men in Mexico City led by federalist Miguel Ramos Arizpe. When the committee met in Autumn 1823 to draft the document, Ramos Arizpe had already begun working on it. Among his resources was a draft constitution written by Stephen F. Austin of Texas. Austin was eager to help the cause of a federalist style government for Mexico. Austin wrote a "Project of a Constitution for the Republic of Mexico" in March 1823. He made copies in English and Spanish, which he gave to Ramos Arizpe and others in Mexico whose voices would help write Mexico's constitution. How much Austin's sample constitution impacted the writers of Mexico's constitution is unknown. Ramos Arizpe and the constitutional committee were experienced politicians already familiar with the constitutions of other nations.

The final document, enacted on October 4, 1824, included influences from the United States Constitution and Spain's Constitution of 1812. It established Mexico as a federation of 19 states governed by a president, congress, and supreme court. In adopting it, legislators hoped the constitution would unite the country under a cohesive system of government while granting more power to the states to legislate on matters important to them.