The United States, 1823

Following the implementation of the Adam Onis treaty of 1819, Florida was handed over to the US and the border between the US and Spanish Mexico was reordered.

A few years later, Mexico became independent from Spain. This political development coincided with many other Spanish colonies also declaring independence from Spain. For the Spanish this was a disaster, compounded by the fact that their country was still recovering from the French invasion of the Napoleonic Wars.

Mexico had been led to independence in part by Agustin de Iturbide, a Royalist commander who joined the rebel cause. He creates three guarantees for Mexican independence.

1. Mexico must be a monarchy

2. criollos and peninsulares are equal

3. Mexico must remain Catholic

Due to Spanish refusal to provide a monarch, Agustin de Iturbide was crowned Emperor of Mexico on May 18, 1822

A very different nation now existed on the north american continent to rival the United States.

--American History Map Series--

1790 [link]
1802 [link]
1804 [link]
1819 [link]
1823
1837 [link]
1846 [link]
1850 [link]
1862 [link]
1900 [link]

Original map base courtesy of Wikipedia

2/19/12 EDIT:
map base source [link]
map base created by Lokal_Profil [link]