Continentalist nominee Arthur Conroy.
The 1857 Mexican elections took place in August 1857 for the purpose of choosing the Congress of the United States of Mexico.
Libertarian nominee Hector Niles.
The 1857 elections were dominated by the public reaction against the Hague Treaty ending the Rocky Mountain War. The treaty required that the U.S.M. surrender part of the state of Mexico del Norte to the Confederation of North America. Although the treaty stipulated that the cession corrected an error from the 1799 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, Continentalist Party leader Benito Calzón denounced it as a "betrayal of the memory of Pedro Hermión," and claimed that President Hector Niles of the Liberty Party had "bartered away our birthright in Mexico del Norte for a questionable peace with a dastardly foe."
Niles sought to campaign on his record of ending the war and returning Mexico to prosperity. However, Hermión's assassination six years before had transformed him into a martyr, and the Continentalists ran on his memory. The leading Continentalist contenders for the presidency were Senators Finley Kenworthy of Jefferson and James FitzHugh of Durango, along with Governor Arthur Conroy of Arizona. Conroy, who had been Hermión's political advisor before the war, was able to win the support of the Jeffersonian cotton interests, and this allowed him to gain the Continentalist nomination. Conroy ran on his friendship with Hermión, as well as his record as a reformer in Arizona.
| State | Continentalist Party | Liberty Party |
|---|---|---|
| Arizona | 3 | 1 |
| California | 2 | 2 |
| Chiapas | 1 | 3 |
| Durango | 2 | 2 |
| Jefferson | 3 | 1 |
| Mexico del Norte | 3 | 1 |
| TOTAL | 14 | 10 |
| State | Continentalist Party | Liberty Party |
|---|---|---|
| Arizona | 5 | 2 |
| California | 14 | 15 |
| Chiapas | 3 | 6 |
| Durango | 12 | 12 |
| Jefferson | 20 | 4 |
| Mexico del Norte | 5 | 2 |
| TOTAL | 59 | 41 |
On election day, the Continentalists gained five seats in the Senate, and eleven seats in the Assembly, giving them majorities in both houses of Congress. When the new Senate met the following month, the Continentalist majority chose Conroy for president.
Sobel's source for the 1857 Mexican elections is Harper Reichart's The Quiet Messiah: Arthur Conroy of Arizona (Mexico City, 1952).
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