¡Viva Armijo!



In OTL, Manuel Armijo was an obscure politician, Goveror of the Mexican Territory of Nuevo México- what would become New Mexico. He rose to prominence by putting down a pro-Independence revolt in 1837, an action which tied Nuevo México to the rest of the country for the time being and earned him fifteen minutes of fame. He was unable to stop American annexation in the Mexican-American War, and afterwards lived out the rest of his life in obscurity in Limitar, New Mexico, where he died in 1853.

But did it have to be this way?

POD
In 1837, Armijo sends a message to the rebels in Taos, offering to support their cause for Independence- contingent, of course, on his being made President of Nuevo México. The rebels accept, and under Armijo's leadership Nuevo México forms a united front against the Mexican government. Armijo makes peace with the Republic of Texas, settling the eastern boder and forming an alliance against Mexico. Thus begins a series of revolts in the far north. Alta California secedes, followed by the Mormon Republic of Deseret. Overwhelmed, the Mexican government is forced to recognise the new states, and retreats to the territorial limits of OTL- post Mexican-American War. But while the limits may be the same, history certainly is not. The border settlement with New Mexico guarantees that the Mexican-American War never occurs, and the region that forms the American Southwest in OTL instead forms a region of independent states. Manuel Armijo has changed the world. But what will this world look like?