In the wake of Mexico's defeat and
dismemberment at the hands of the United States, the war-ravaged
nation determinedly set out in a new direction, led by a handful of
liberals who for the first time dared to promote the cause of social
justice. Foremost among this new breed of leaders was a full-blooded
Zapotec Indian by the name of Benito Juárez, subsequently to
become the country's first indigenous ruler since Cuauhtémoc
and, without a doubt, the noblest and most revered national figure
the Mexican nation has since
produced.
Orphaned as a mere boy, he was taken under the wing of a
caring mestizo family who saw to his early education in a seminary.
He then went on to study law and to enter politics, serving first in
the legislature of his home state of Oaxaca and then going on to the
national assembly in Mexico City. Elected in 1848 as the governor of
his state, he was exiled by Santa Anna and spent several years in New
Orleans working there with other exiled Mexican liberals. Returning
to Mexico following the successful revolution of Ayutla, he became
secretary to President Alvarez, and soon was appointed by him as
Minister of Justice. In 1857 he was elected chief justice of the
Mexican Supreme Court, and the next year, President of the
Republic.
During Juárez' term as Minister of Justice, he was
instrumental in enacting the first major reform law in Mexican
history, an act since labeled the Ley Juárez in his honor.
This law abolished the religious and military fueros, which permitted clerics
and soldiers to be tried in their own courts for alleged violations
of the country's civil or criminal laws. Although ecclesiastic and
military courts were not themselves abolished, their jurisdictions
were henceforth restricted to cases of specific religious or military
concern. Enacted in November 1855, the Ley Juárez immediately
provoked violent reaction from conservatives and even sorely divided
the liberal camp as well. When President Alvarez and most of his
cabinet resigned over the issue, the presidency was passed to a
moderate general by the name of Ignacio
Comonfort.
"I would like to see the Indians converted to Protestantism;
they need a religion that will teach them to read and not waste their
pennies on candles for the saints." Benito
Juárez
In June 1856, Comonfort's government enacted a second reform
law that had been drafted by the minister of treasury, Miguel Lerdo
de Tejada. Subsequently known as the Ley Lerdo, it deprived all
institutions from owning real estate in excess of that required for
the specific operation of their affairs. It was specifically aimed at
the church, which by this time was estimated to be in possession of
about half of the country's landed properties. The surplus real
estate was to be sold at auction and the money, apart from a tax
earmarked for the government, would go to the institution owning the
land. The liberals saw the Ley Lerdo not only as a means of
curtailing the overwhelming power of the church but also as a way of
building up the national treasury while at the same time creating a
new class of rural landowners who would be indebted to the liberal
cause.
As it worked out in practice, however, very few mestizos or
Indians could afford to buy land at any price, and most of it passed
into the hands of speculators and wealthy hacendados who were even
less kindly disposed toward the welfare of their landless tenants
than the church had been. As a result, the actual revenues generated
for the government turned out to be disappointing as
well.
Another liberal cabinet member, José Maria Iglesias,
authored a reform law targeted at the clergy by limiting the fees it
could charge for such services as baptisms, marriages, and burials.
The poor were to receive the sacraments free and those of modest
means would pay substantially lower fees than those who could afford
more. Although hardly to be considered an anti-religious move, the
Ley Iglesias was also coupled with additional legislation that
transferred the keeping of demographic records from the church to the
state.
The reform movement that these three pieces of legislation set
in motion culminated in the drafting of a new, liberal Constitution
in 1857. A major change from the earlier constitution was the
deletion of the office of the vice-president, which, as we have seen,
almost invariably had led to a division of powers between the two
antagonist camps of conservatives and liberals, and usually ended in
violence. The new constitution stipulated instead that the chief
justice of the Supreme Court would assume the powers of the president
in the event of the latter's death or incapacity. The legislative
body was to be unicameral (although a Senate was added some twenty
years later), and all males aged twenty-one and older were entitled
to vote. All titles of nobility were abolished as was slavery and
compulsory service, i.e., debt peonage. In addition, a bill of rights
guaranteed freedom of speech, press, assembly, and education, but
freedom of worship was not specifically mentioned. Neither was there
any provision for Roman Catholicism being made the state
church.
Naturally the church and its officials were especially irate
over what they saw as a concerted attempt to reduce ecclesiastical
power and authority, and the Pope himself came out solidly against
Mexico's new constitution. The issue really came to a head when
Mexican bishops threatened to excommunicate anyone who supported the
new document, for all military personnel and civil servants found
themselves in the untenable position of either being cast out of
their faith or removed from their jobs. Once again, Mexico was
brought to the point of all-out confrontation between liberal
idealism and conservative reaction; by the end of the year the battle
lines were being drawn for another bloody conflict pitting the
church, the army, and the large landowners against the disadvantaged
masses.
Proclaiming a new "plan" of their own -- the Plan of Tacubaya
-- the conservatives marched on the capital in December 1857 under
the leadership of General Félix Zuloaga, dissolved the
Congress, arrested Juárez, and attempted to gain the support
of President Comonfort. Rather than join with them, the latter
resigned and left the country, and a conservative junta immediately
named Zuloaga as his successor. Juárez, who as chief justice
of the Supreme Court was legally the next in line for the presidency,
escaped to Guanajuato where he proclaimed himself the chief executive
and set up a constitutional government in exile. Very quickly the
liberal governors of eleven states declared their support for
Juárez, who likewise realized that a far more strategic base
for his counter-offensive would be the city of Veracruz. Not only
could arms be secured from abroad more easily there but the receipts
from the local customs house could also be used to pay for them. As a
result, the country now had a conservative general acting as
President in the capital, espousing the cause of "Religion and
Special Rights" (Fueros), and a constitutionally empowered liberal
appointed as President on the Gulf coast whose rallying cry was
"Constitution and Legality".
The ensuing War of the Reform, as it has come to be called,
was a bitter continuation of the conservative-liberal split that had
been Mexico's legacy from colonial times. Race, class, religion, and
economics were all involved in the power struggle that went on for
the next three years. Once again, no quarter was given; conservatives
shot prisoners without trial, and liberals killed priests who refused
to administer the last rights to their men. Because the Church was
funneling its funds into the conservative cause, Juárez
enacted ever more radical laws to curb its misuse of power. All
remaining Church property was to be nationalized without
compensation. All male religious orders were to be abolished. Female
religious orders were placed under the control of the bishops but
were not allowed to admit new sisters. Marriage was made a civil
rather than a religious contract. Many religious holidays were
abandoned, the complete freedom of worship was permitted, and, as of
July 1859, Juárez made the separation of church and state
official.
The following year the war reached a turning point as a
Liberal army failed to take Mexico City and a Conservative army
failed to conquer Veracruz. In Guadalajara and Oaxaca, however, the
Liberals were successful, and they also triumphed in a battle at
Capulálpan, opening the way to the capital for Juárez'
return in January 1861. Juárez won the presidential election
later the same year, but at the cost of dividing his own party by his
leniency in granting amnesty to his former enemies. The country he
inherited was scarred by death and destruction, racked by
unemployment, and saddled with debt. When Juárez' government
voted to suspend payment on the foreign debt for two years, his
creditors in France, England, and Spain reacted by drawing up a
treaty in October 1861 calling for the seizure of Mexico's forts and
customs houses along the Gulf coast until such time as all payments
due had been collected. Both Spain and France, however, had other
designs in mind for their intervention as well; Spain was hoping to
rebuild its colonial empire and France saw the possibility of turning
Mexico into a puppet state Of course, the timing for such adventures
was perfect, because the United States, the would-be guarantor of the
Monroe Doctrine, was itself in the throws of an internecine Civil War
and was in no position to checkmate any such moves from
Europe.
A Spanish squadron was the first to arrive in Veracruz in
December 1861, and it was joined by French and English contingents a
month later. However, the three disparate military commands soon were
squabbling amongst themselves as to how they should proceed, and
within another three months both the Spanish and English forces were
withdrawn. Now the French were free to act on their own, and very
shortly they increased their military presence considerably and began
a march on the capital. They were met outside the city of Puebla on
May 5, 1862 by a Mexican army under the command of General Ignacio
Zaragoza and decisively defeated, giving Mexico one of its few
military victories and a national holiday which has been celebrated
with pride ever since.
The following year, when the French army had been reinforced
with 30,000 more men, they once again advanced on the capital. Again,
the fortifications at Puebla were their major stumbling block, but
after a two-month siege and a heavy bombardment, they finally
captured the city and pressed on toward Mexico City. Juárez
and his government now had no alternative but to flee, and a few days
later the French army entered the capital without
opposition.
The French military commander immediately set up a provisional
government consisting of a hand-picked junta of two hundred and
fifteen citizens to form an "Assembly of Notables", which in turn
appointed two conservative generals and the archbishop to act as its
executive. The Assembly promptly announced that hereafter Mexico
would be ruled as a hereditary monarchy with a Catholic prince as
emperor, the latter having already been chosen by Napoleon III of
France. The latter was to be Ferdinand Maximilian von Hapsburg, an
Austrian archduke, who otherwise had dim prospects for a realm of his
own. Thus, while a delegation went off to Europe to offer the crown
to Maximilian, French forces attempted to mop up the military
opposition within the country itself. Although the main cities in the
center of Mexico were nominally under French control, Juárez
kept up a guerilla action from the northern desert while Brigadier
General Porfirio Díaz continued to harass the French from the
south.
In October 1863 Maximilian agreed to accept the crown of
Mexico on condition that the Mexican citizenry approve him. This was
the signal for the French military commander to institute a
"plebiscite", which overwhelmingly "confirmed" Maximilian as the
people's choice. For his part, Napoleon III now negotiated a treaty
between the empires of France and Mexico which ensured that Mexico
would pay for the entire cost of the French military intervention up
to July 1864 -- an amount which by then totaled some 270 million
francs -- and thereafter be responsible for paying 1000 francs a year
for every French soldier stationed in the country. Once Maximilian
had organized his own Mexican army, the French forces would be
withdrawn, except for an 8000-man contingent of the Foreign Legion
that was to remain there for at least six
years.
If France had earlier been concerned about Mexico's ability to
pay its foreign debt, it should now have had even greater concern,
for, by these few strokes of the pen, it had increased that
indebtedness three-fold. As for Maximilian himself, his older
brother, Franz Josef, obliged him to sign a document giving up all
claim to the imperial throne of Austria before he left for the New
World. In return for receiving the Pope's personal blessings for
himself and his wife Carlota, Maximilian swore his loyalty to the
church but did confess that he was "moderately liberal", an admission
which must have troubled the pontiff somewhat. In mid-June 1864, the
new emperor and empress of Mexico arrived triumphantly to take up
residence in their new abode at Chapultepec
Castle.
The imperial couple apparently were quite enthused about the
land they had come to rule, choosing to travel as widely as
conditions permitted, using Spanish whenever they could, eagerly
sampling local dietary creations and frequently donning regional
costumes. Childless themselves, they soon adopted Agustín
Iturbide, the grandson of Mexico's first criollo "emperor", intending
in this manner to perpetuate the dynasty. Maximilian was eager to
develop industry and improve communications, to further literary,
scientific, and artistic endeavor, and to encourage immigration from
abroad. Perhaps his most reactionary move was to reestablish what he
called "black peonage labor" by inviting many former Confederates
from the United States to move to Mexico with their
slaves.
It was also no secret that his attitude toward the Church was
a disappointment for Mexican conservatives. When the French military
commander forced the reactionary archbishop out of the junta's
executive, the latter responded by excommunicating the entire French
army of occupation. When Maximilian tried to intervene, the
intransigent Mexican clergy quickly disillusioned him and he
personally tried to arrange a concordat with the Vatican. The pope,
himself an arch-conservative, refused to compromise in any way, and
the frustrated Mexican emperor finally had to issue a series of
unilateral decrees which defined Church-state relationships within
his realm. These continued to recognize Roman Catholicism as the
state religion but ensured toleration for all other sects as well.
All Church property that had been sold to date was confirmed and the
Church could acquire no new property. On the other hand, if there
were any legal irregularities in the earlier sales, these were to be
reviewed by the office of nationalized property. In short, Maximilian
seemed to be reaffirming the Liberally inspired laws passed a decade
earlier, and by so doing, he was certainly aligning the conservative
clergy of the Church against him, including the
Pope.
Although nearly two-dozen European governments granted
political recognition to the new empire, neither Lincoln's government
nor the Confederacy gave it diplomatic approval. In an effort to
reconciliate the Mexican people, Maximilian released all political
prisoners serving terms shorter than ten years and offered key
positions in his government to liberals, including Juárez.
Even though the proud Zapotec refused any cooperation with the
European invaders, some of his former supporters did accept
appointments in Maximilian's regime.
By the first half of 1865, French military forces in Mexico
had swelled to some 60,000 men; about half of them came from France
and most of the remainder was recruited amongst the Mexicans.
Although most of the provincial capitals now were securely under
imperial control, Juárez' guerrillas still were launching
hit-and-run attacks in the north as were Díaz' forces in the
south. The French military commander demanded that Maximilian brand
the resistance fighters as outlaws, which the emperor, trying to win
them over by persuasion, was reluctant to do. Finally, on October 3,
1865, Maximilian put his signature to the notorious "Black Flag
Decree", a document that was published both in Spanish and Nahuatl
and posted in all parts of the realm. It specified that anyone caught
bearing arms against the emperor would be executed within twenty-four
hours, including anyone belonging to a group that was not legally
authorized. In short order a number of individuals were executed
without a trial, which only served to crystallize opposition to the
regime rather than reduce it.
However, events outside of Mexico now began once again
influencing the course of events within the country with increasing
strength and urgency. With the American Civil War now ended, the
embargo on the export of arms was terminated and tons of surplus war
material started moving across the Rio Grande to republican forces in
Mexico. With the Union army being disbanded, nearly 3000 volunteers
crossed into the country to join Juárez; on the other hand,
about 2000 Confederates also went to fight on the side of the
emperor. Even though the French still controlled the Mexican customs
houses, the treasury was bankrupt and the imperial army was not being
paid. Napoleon III was not only
running out of patience, he was also running out of credit, and both
the rise of Prussia on his eastern frontier and mounting diplomatic
pressure from Washington was making him increasingly uncomfortable.
When he announced in January 1866 that all French forces would be
withdrawn from Mexico beginning that very year, Maxmilian and Carlota
were horrified. They both wrote impassioned letters to the Empress
Eugénie begging that the decision be revoked, but to no avail.
Carlota then decided to return to Europe and beg for assistance in
person, leaving Mexico in July 1866. In Paris, the deaf ear that was
turned to her must have driven her "over the edge", because by the
time she reached Rome to call on the Pope, she was so mentally upset
that it was clear that she had become psychotic. Thus, in the midst
of the crisis of having his empire collapse around his ears,
Maximilian was handed a cable recounting that his wife was hopelessly
insane and was being taken home to an asylum in Belgium.
Maximilian was torn by indecision as to whether he should
abdicate or remain in Mexico. The French military strongly advised
the former, whereas his mother, Maria Theresa, advised the latter,
reminding him of his duties as a Hapsburg. His own physical condition
was not helped by the recurrent fevers to which he was subject, and
as the winter of 1866 approached, he decided to take up residence in
the tropical town of Orizaba about 60 miles inland from Veracruz. In
the port, a couple of Austrian warships were loaded with the imperial
archives and the royal household's personal effects and furnishings.
Since the days of the empire appeared to be numbered, his would-be
successor on the throne, the boy-prince Iturbide, was quietly
returned to his mother in Europe. Meanwhile, conservative military
and clergy continued to urge the emperor to return to the capital and
resume leadership of the country.
The Assembly of Notables was convened in January 1867 to
discuss the situation that confronted the nation, though Maximilian
himself did not attend. The French military commander pointed out
that as soon as his army had abandoned an outpost, it was taken over
by the republican forces, and he foresaw no way for the emperor to
remain in power once his detachments were gone. The archbishop,
already at odds with Maximilian, made no effort to persuade him to
stay, although when the issue finally came to a vote, two-thirds of
the assembled delegates -- obviously with an eye to their own futures
-- argued that the emperor remain. The animosity between the emperor
and the French military commander now reached such a state that they
refused to speak to one another, and within two months the last
remaining foreign troops had left Mexico.
In the meantime, Maximilian had made one last attempt to rally
his forces by riding north to Querétaro and taking personal
command of the imperial garrison of nine thousand men. The armies of
Juárez soon closed in on the city and, after a siege lasting
two and a half months, finally captured it on May 15, 1867. Among the
prisoners taken were the hapless emperor and his two highest-ranking
generals, and all three of them were put on trial a month
later.
Although Maximilian was excused from attending the trial
because of illness, his attorneys argued that if he were released he
would leave Mexico and never again return. The most serious of the
charges leveled against the emperor was that stemming from his
infamous "Black Flag Decree", because many Mexicans had been executed
without a trial as a result of it. When the court came down with a
verdict of guilty and sentenced Maximilian to death, heads of state
from throughout Europe and the Americas pleaded for his life, but
Juárez refused to pardon him, and early on the morning of June
19, 1867, Maximilian was executed by a firing squad on a hillside
near Querétaro along with his two
generals.
What had been a deep personal tragedy for both the Austrian
archduke and his fragile Belgian-born wife had likewise been another
disastrous nightmare for the people and country of Mexico. In
addition to the widespread destruction of property and the immense
increase in the nation's foreign indebtedness that resulted from over
a decade of war, more than 300,000 Mexicans had been killed. Whether
they had died in vain yet remained to be seen, but one thing did seem
certain: the Reform movement which had begun to shape a new Mexico
under the guidance of Juárez and his fellow Liberals, although
seriously set back by the machinations by both domestic Conservatives
and opportunistic foreign interventionists was still alive and well
and the promise of a brighter future gave the prostrate nation a new
sense of optimism. Juárez' defense of the Constitution and his
determined struggle against foreign aggression won him the adulation
of a hero and in October 1867 he was overwhelmingly elected to a
third term as Mexico's president.
Having already managed to limit the power and influence of the
Church, Juárez immediately set about cutting the army down to
size as well, reducing its active reserves from sixty thousand men to
twenty thousand. Naturally, this did not sit well with the army brass
and it likewise exacerbated the problem of unemployment, but it did
subordinate the military to civilian control and also substantially
reduced the country's expenses. To suppress banditry he set up a
rural police force patterned on the Spanish Guardia Civil and, within
a matter of months, travel between the major towns of the country was
made safer for both passengers and merchandise alike, thereby helping
to promote both industry and commerce. With the assistance of his
minister of the treasury, José Iglesias, he set in motion an
economic recovery program that cut the national debt to one-fifth of
what it had been at war's end. By revising taxes and tariffs, both
the revitalization of mining and agriculture were moved ahead
rapidly, and the number of specialized commercial crops raised for
export was increased substantially. Foreign capitalists were
encouraged to invest in Mexico, with special attention being given to
the development of the country's infrastructure and its nascent
petroleum and fishing industries. Indeed, one of the Juárez'
highest priority projects was the completion of the country's first
railway linking the port of Veracruz with the
capital.
Another aspect of public policy assigned special significance
by Juárez was the creation of a new system of public
education. In place of the religious schools formerly run by priests
and nuns, Juárez sought to secularize the entire educational
process, making elementary education both free and compulsory for all
children and obliging all towns with over 500 residents to establish
a primary school. To be sure, in a country with as scattered a
population and as poor an economy as Mexico, such goals as these
remained unfulfilled dreams for many years to come, but at least a
concerted beginning was made.
Unfortunately, not all Mexicans shared Juárez' visions
for the future, and on repeated occasions rebellions continued to
flare up in several outlying parts of the country. While attempting
to adhere to the provisions of the Constitution of 1857,
Juárez found himself in many instances being obliged to use
"emergency powers" to which he was not in fact legally entitled,
thereby causing his political detractors to condemn him as a
dictator. Long-standing Conservative opponents were now joined by
some of Juárez’ Liberal colleagues who sought to gain
advantages for themselves. One of these was a former student of his
from Oaxaca who had risen to the rank of Brigadier General in the
army and had been one of the heroes of the battle against the French
at Puebla in 1862. This was Porfirio Díaz who unsuccessfully
challenged him for the presidency in 1867. However, when
Juárez announced his intention to run for a fourth term in
1871, Díaz came out of retirement to challenge him once again,
claiming that he was violating his own principles by not yielding his
office and that he was seeking to entrench himself in a dictatorship.
Even Juárez' long-term friend and associate, Lerdo de Tejada,
deserted his cause and threw his own hat in the ring. Since none of
the three candidates received a clear majority, it was up the Mexican
congress to decide the outcome, and it once more proclaimed
Juárez as the victor. Lerdo de Tejada was awarded second
place, which made him the chief justice of the Supreme Court, and
thereby Juárez' legal successor should the latter die or
become unable to carry out his duties. Porfirio Díaz, who
received a paltry three votes from the congress, claimed that he had
been "robbed", and less than a month later rose in revolt against his
former mentor. Although Díaz won some support for his argument
that the election had been rigged, it was Juárez' own sudden
death from a heart attack on July 18, 1872 that took the steam out of
Diaz' uprising and caused it to be
abandoned.
Elected President in his own right in 1872, Lerdo de Tejada
sought re-election four years later, but once again Díaz
declared his candidacy and mounted an armed revolt, only to have it
squashed after a couple of short skirmishes. However, at this
juncture the then-chief justice of the Supreme Court, Juárez'
old friend José Maria Iglesias, declared the election null and
void and named himself president instead. This provided Díaz
with an excuse to revive his rebellion, and this time his forces sent
both Lerdo de Tejada and Iglesias fleeing into exile, paving the way
for his own take-over of the National
Palace.