branches of the government service will remain without alteration, and that all those presently employed in politics, the church, civilian business, or the military will retain the same positions held at present." Racial designations of Mexicans and distinctions between creole and peninsular Spaniards were abolished. After convincing his troops to accept the Plan of Iguala, Iturbide persuaded Guerrero to join his forces in support of this conservative independence movement. A new army, the Army of the Three Guarantees, was placed under Iturbide's command to enforce the plan. The plan was so broadly based that it appealed both patriots and loyalists. The goal of independence and the protection of Roman Catholicism brought together most factions. To symbolize these three guarantees of unity, religion, and independence, Iturbide adopted a green, white, and red flag; these colors are still used in the modern Mexican flag. Although the alliance of Iturbide and Guerrero resulted in the Plan of Iguala, there was not universal acclaim of the accord. A number of important insurgents, including Juan Álvarez, and rejected it. Guzmán articulated his objection to the plan, saying that it guaranteed the privileges of the elites, welcomed opportunists who supported independence late in the struggle, and cast doubt on the clause that was to guarantee racial equality. He focused on the final words that guaranteed rights "according to their merits and virtues". Álvarez, Ascencio and Guzmán declined to join the Army of the Three Guarantees, the military force created by Iturbide and Guerrero, but did continue to fight the royalists. Collapse of imperial rule and independence Iturbide persuaded royalist officers to change sides and support independence as well as the mixed-race old insurgent forces. For some royalist commanders, their forces simply left, some of them amnestied former insurgents. The high military command in Mexico City deposed the viceroy, Juan Ruiz de Apodaca in July 1821, replacing him with an interim viceroy, royalist general Francisco Novella. By the time that the new viceroy Juan O'Donojú, practically the whole country supported the Plan of Iguala. Most soldiers had defected to Iturbide's Army of the Three Guarantees and the Spanish cause was lost. On 24 August 1821, representatives of the Spanish crown, including the new viceroy Juan O'Donojú and Iturbide signed the Treaty of Córdoba, which recognized Mexican independence under the Plan of Iguala. O'Donojú then resigned as viceroy. The Spanish government denied that O'Donojú had the authority to