Unit II: Mexico from Iturbide to Juarez (2/1)

For corresponding text, see p142-154 in Concise History of Mexico.

From Emporer Agustin I to the Constitution of 1824

Battles between Federalists & Centralists

How did the Centralists manage to assume political power from state governments through
the 1820s-1830s?

How did the volatile sovereignty situation contribute to Mexico's financial problems at the time?

How did the centralist/federalist disputes lead to the rebellions of the mid-1830s?

Note the numerous rebellions and separatist movements during the 1830s

The multiple incarnations of Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna

Note the importance of silver to the Mexican economy

Silver mining became the cornerstone of the Mexican economy and the catalyst for internal power struggles.

The 'American War of Aggression'

The Siege of Veracruz

The 'American War of Aggression': 1846-1848

How did internal turmoil within the Mexican government contribute to their loss in the war?

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, transit rights & the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, and
Treaty of Mesilla (Gadsden Purchase)

As early as 1850, Americans had designs on a way to get goods on ships from the east coast
to the west coast more rapidly.

Internal conflicts persist (federalist/centralist, peasant/elite, liberal/conservative)

Unit II: The Intervention in Mexico & the Rise of Diaz (2/2)

Corresponding text is found on p156-174 of Concise History of Mexico.

Characterize the liberal/conservative divide in Mexico in the mid-19th Century.
What changes did the liberals want?

Benito Juarez

What changes did the Juarez Law of 1855, the Lerdo Law of 1856, the Iglesia Law of 1857, and finally the Constitution of 1857 bring to Mexico?

Competing liberal/conservative governments of Mexico beginning in 1857.
Conservatives - central core states; supported by state military; governed from Mexico City
Liberals - northern & peripheral states; strong sense of nationalism; governed from Veracruz

Blue states loyal to Conservative government; Red state loyal to Liberal government (1850s)

Dec 1860 - liberals gain control of Mexico City
March 1861 - Juarez elected President of the Republic

2 significant results of liberal/conservative civil war (aka the Reform War).
   1) problems of government debt greatly exacerbated
   2) some conservatives go into exile in Europe; associate with exiled monarchists

What action did the Juarez Administration take to try and stabilize the Mexican economy?

Result: Tripartite Convention of London in October 1861 (Britain, France, Spain) ; occupation of customs houses at major ports, beginning with Veracruz

April 1862 - unilateral French Intervention begins

Objectives:
  - dissolve Republic under Constitution of 1857
  - establish a monarchy
  - place Mexico under influence of French empire

May 5, 1862 - Mexican military (led by Porfirio Diaz) defeats French military outside Puebla

Battle of Puebla: May 5, 1862 (Cinco de Mayo)

June 1863 - French forces take and occupy Mexico City; Juarez Administration flees to San Luis Potosi; by 1865 forced to hold out in El Paso del Norte

Mexico still displays characteristics of central region v outer states

Juarez has support of northern & western governors and elites, including Luis Terrazas of Chihuahua

French/Mexican Imperial forces begin slow outward push to pacify country under Imperial rule

June 1864 - Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian (Hapsburg Dynasty) & wife Carlota arrive to assume throne

The arrival of Carlota

Emperor Maximilian alienated himself from his base supporters. How?

Emperor Maximilian I; Descendant of the line of Charles V

1865-1867 - French troops withdraw from Mexico; Maximilian decides to stay

June 1867 - Mexico City captured by liberal forces; Maximilian executed by firing squad

Legacy of the results of the Intervention politically?

The only word for this is ... awesome

Unit II: The Porfiriato & the Seeds of Revolution (2/3)

Corresponding text is found on p176-200 of Concise History of Mexico.

Porfirio Diaz

Porfirio Diaz

First elected 1876 in opposition to Lerdo; platform of 'Effective Suffrage: No Re-election'

Re-election in 1884 begins the period known as the 'Porfiriato' (will re re-elected continuously through 1910)

Mexico City - circa 1890

What were the political characteristics of the Porfiriato?

Rurales

Who are the 'cientificos'?

Describe the economic conditions in Mexico during the Porfiriato.

What were the societal conditions in Mexico during the late 19th Century that laid the foundation for a wide-scale political/social revolution?

"The Constitution is Dead" - 1903

Perhaps a fun overview of the Porfiriato??

Unit II: The Mexican Revolution (2/4)

Corresponding text is found on p199-225 of Concise History of Mexico.
In addition, we will watch The Storm That Swept Mexico

1909 - Francisco Madero published The Presidential Succession of 1910 which calls for creation of Constitutional democracy; founds Anti-Re-electionist club

Francisco Madero

June 1910 - anti-re-electionist movement banned; Madero jailed; Diaz reelected

The Revolution began as a constitutionalist movement among establishment liberals.
Keep that in mind as it unfolds.

1911 - Diaz forced to abdicate

Madero Presidency - 1911-1913

Madero and his base of support

Reforms that were enacted and those that were not?
Assassination of Madero

Counter-revolutionary regime of Victoriano Huerta - 1913-1914

Victoriano Huerta

hijacks Plan de Guadalupe: no focus on social or agrarian issues

Carranza and the Plan de Guadalupe

Problems for Huerta on many fronts

Impact of US Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson

Disconnect between national, elite leadership and issues important to rural poor

Summer 1914 - Huerta regime collapses
Various movements control various parts of Mexico

Venustiano Carranza

Venustiano Carranza - middle-class support; northern states; nationalistic (esp against mining sector)

Pancho Villa

Pancho Villa - organized against elite hacendados; northern/northwestern states;

Pancho Villa & the Division del Norte

Division del Norte became most powerful revolutionary force; by 1914, commands 40,000 men, recognized by United States, 'controls' much of northern Mexico

Locomotives were one of the many technological advances utilized as tools of warfare

Emiliano Zapata

Emiliano Zapata - peasant-based guerilla movement against private estate owners; south-central states; demand agrarian reform (Plan of Ayala-1911 & Agrarian Law-1915)

Peasant farmers were the core of the zapatista movement

Convention of Aguascalientes (October-November 1914) will decides political future of Mexico
Villa & Zapata are not politicians; support coalesces around Carranza
Carranza builds political base with Sonoran leadership (Calles, Obregon); calls for agrarian reform as political move

Convention at Aguascalientes

December 1914 - Villa's forces & Zapata's forces march into Mexico City

Villa & Zapata in the Presidential Palace - December 1914

January 1915 - driven out by Constitutionalist Army under Obregon (loyal to Carranza)
slow defeat of villistas and zapatistas; assassinations of Zapata & Villa

Constitutional convention of 1916-1917 focused on four main issues
- agrarian reform
- legal status of subsoil deposits
- military-civil relations
- Church-state relations

Part of solution to problems was more powerful state with more powerful President
Constitution did allow for govt expropriation of under-utilized land for redistribution as community property
Constitution did declare all subsoil mineral deposits belong to state

Carranza Presidency - 1917-1920
sought to limit government opposition; moderate on reform measures; overthrown by Obregon; assassinated

religious-based parties were prohibited by Constitution of 1917; politically parties wholly irrelevant post-Revolution; politics of personality

Alvaro Obregon

Obregon Presidency - 1920-July 1928 (assassinated)

Plutarco E Calles (aka el Jefe Maximo)

Calles assumes Presidency from July-Nov 1928; become 'Jefe Maximo' 1928-1934

Cristero Rebellion - 1926-1929

The Cristero Rebellion

The fate of many during the Mexican Revolution and the Cristero Rebellion