Nicolás Bravo (10 September 1786 – 22 April 1854) was a Mexican soldier and politician who first distinguished himself during the Mexican War of Independence. He was Mexico's first Vice President though while holding this office Bravo would try to overthrow President Guadalupe Victoria through the Plan of Montaño in 1827. His revolt failed and in part due to the services Bravo had provided the nation during the War of Independence, he was allowed to live, but nonetheless exiled. Bravo would return to the country and later go on to serve as interim president of Mexico three separate times in 1839, 1842, and 1846. During his second presidency he oversaw the transition of the Centralist Republic of Mexico to a new constitution known as the Bases Orgánicas. During the Mexican–American War he commanded the Mexican forces at the Battle of Chapultepec. Early life Nicolás Bravo was born on September 10, 1786, in Chilpancingo, to a wealthy family. After the Mexican War of Independence broke out in September, 1810, he along with his father, and a brother joined the insurgents. He served directly under his father at first and after two years was able to be in charge of a body of troops that passed to the province of Veracruz and took control of Coscomatepec. After a victory at Palma, he had to experience the defeat, imprisonment, and death of his father. Bravo later gained a reputation for clemency after releasing three hundred royalist prisoners. Bravo was captured in 1817 in the south of the country and transported to the capital where he remained imprisoned for three years, until he was amnestied by the liberal Spanish government of 1820. He joined Agustín de Iturbide's Plan of Iguala in 1821, and Iturbide named him colonel. The Constituent Congress made him a named him to the council of state and a member of the regency, which governed until Iturbide took over as Emperor of the First Mexican Empire. First Mexican Empire As Iturbide became more autocratic, and Santa Anna proclaimed the Plan of Vera Cruz, against him in 1823, Bravo once again decided to fight against the government. He left Mexico City on January 5, 1823, being joined by Vicente Guerrero, and they planned to raise a revolution in the south of the country, carrying with them a copy of the Plan of Vera Cruz which had been sent to them by Santa