This compilation reflects the recent historiographic trends of revisiting old questions with a sociopolitical approach and focusing on local roots of national developments. The volume explores why and how Mexicans opted for a federal model in 1823 and 1824. The authors of the book’s 20 chapters focus on local developments using widely varying approaches. Some opt for analytical frameworks, while others are more descriptive. Collectively, they detail how early national political actors in every region throughout Mexico decided that joining the federalist coalition would be in their regions’ best interests. Any lecturer who continues to mention that Mexicans simply copied the U.S. constitution from a poorly translated version offered by Stephen F. Austin in 1823 should read these authors. And any student of Mexican history curious about the amazingly complex dynamics of regional and national politics will appreciate the authors’ efforts to explain the local roots of the postindependence political options.The background chapters offer sophisticated interpretations of the roots and processes that led to the creation of a federal republic in Mexico. Josefina Zoraida Vázquez offers a substantial overview of the topic and the period. Hira de Gortari Rabiela admirably explores the significance of the politico-spatial dimensions of the Bourbon and constitutional eras, emphasizing that the territorial boundaries of the intendancy system established the fundamental political territoriality for the nation. Manuel Chust Calero reviews the significance of representative politics, constitutionalism, and the tremendous conflict between proponents of representative government versus absolute monarchy in Spain, which contributed to the formation of the Mexican coalition that favored political autonomy. Finally, Reynaldo Sordo Cedeño assesses the political vacuum generated in 1823 by the collapse of Agustín de Iturbide’s short-lived empire. He carefully analyzes the issues addressed by the constituent congresses, as well as those that remained unaddressed, such as the boundaries of the federal district.The subsequent chapters use regional surveys to explore the historical roots, local issues, and concerns that political actors faced throughout the country. While not organized by region or any other discernable common denominator, these chapters never theless paint a portrait of diverse local dynamics in an increasingly complex emergent federal republic. Significantly, all these chapters are based on documentation in state executive and legislative archives. While some chapters might be too descriptive, all succeed in establishing the local bases of support for the federalist coalition. Most of the authors stress the significance of the provincial deputations as precursors of the state constituent congresses and subsequent state legislatures. Most also point out the role of the most significant local corporation—the ayuntamiento—as one of the organic roots of support for federalism throughout Mexico.These chapters cover developments in Yucatán, Jalisco, Zacatecas, Oaxaca, Guanajuato, Michoacán, San Luis Potosí, Nuevo León, Coahuila, Tamaulipas, the State of Mexico, Puebla, Veracruz, Tlaxcala, Sonora y Sinaloa, Chiapas, and Tabasco. Concerning Guanajuato and Veracruz, José Antonio Serrano Ortega and Juan Ortiz Escamilla point out that strong elite concerns about avoiding social disorder, regional preferences for local autonomy, municipal dynamics, and economic dislocation were the most fundamental reasons those states joined the federalist coalition. Those two chapters, in particular, offer first-rate analyses of regional issues, concerns, and actions. Raymond Buve provides a fine discussion about how extreme localism in Tlaxcala resulted in it becoming a federal territory, rather than a region within the state of Puebla or a sovereign state in its own right. María Isabel Monroy Dastillo and Tomás Calvillo Unna, in their chapter on San Luis Potosí, effectively illustrate that during the summer of 1823—in spite of doubts, lack of trust, regional differences, and political uncertainty—political actors decided it would be to their benefit to constitute a unified nation. Finally, Mario Vázquez Olivera’s chapter on Chiapas points out Chiapan exceptionalism. Long part of the administrative and judicial districts seated in Guatemala, Chiapanecos acted autonomously when Iturbide’s empire collapsed. They announced that they would decide their own fate, choosing between joining with Mexico or becoming part of the Central Amer-ican Republic. Leaving their historical and territorial connections with Guatemala in the past, Chiapanecos decided to join the Mexican federal republic.Collectively, this work substantiates the significance and role of local political actors in the formation of the federalist coalition and the first federal republic. By integrating elite concerns, the attitudes and actions of municipal corporations, and economic dynamics, as well as the actions and activities of the regional provincial deputations and jefes políticos, the authors have deepened our understanding of the roots of the federalist system in independent Mexico.