In the 1820s, Spain reneged on its recognition of Mexico and tried unsuccessfully to retake it.The resulting Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) would rule Mexico until 2000.Īll this internal turmoil would shrink “Mexico” to the borders we know today, with separatists and foreign powers seeing opportunities. Its major contribution would be to replace governments defined by charismatic leaders with a bureaucratic system. The Revolution was and was not an extension of the turmoil of the past century. Library of Congress)Īll hell would break loose when Díaz reneged on a promise to not run for reelection in 1910, despite being 80 years old. President Porfirio Díaz’s 30-year dictatorship brought modernizationthat benefitted Mexico’s elites, but not the lower classes. Meanwhile, the lower classes suffered horrible working conditions, political disenfranchisement and economic deprivation. Unlike Santa Anna, Díaz’s reign lacked major wars and was marked by economic and technological developments that benefited the upper classes and foreign investors. Like Santa Anna, he was a Liberal who would devolve into a dictator, maintaining his grip on power for over 30 years, shredding Juárez’s constitution in the process. Juárez died of heart issues the following year, and Díaz saw his chance. His main opposition was from Porfirio Díaz, with opposition growing after Juárez ran for and won reelection in 1871. Juárez’s remaining years as president would still be strife-ridden. Juárez and the Liberals retook Mexico City in 1867, restored the 1857 Constitution and executed Maximilian in short order. In the end, just about everyone hated him. Despite being of European royal blood, he had Liberal sympathies. The French invaded and installed Maximilian I as Mexico’s second emperor. The French responded, not only because of debts owed them by Juárez but also because it was a chance to take over the country. When the Conservatives lost, they enlisted foreign help. The civil war meant two competing governments. Their aims led to the 1857 Constitution, but also civil strife called the Reform War. were radicals for their time, determined to break the power of the military and the Catholic Church. He would not be permanently removed until Liberal forces under Juárez and others forced him to resign in 1854, beginning a period called the Reform. He even came back after losing ½ of the country’s territory to the U.S. Map of New Spain in 1819, during the War of Independence, showing the extent of the territory that Mexico City once controlled (Giggette/Wikimedia Commons)īut Santa Anna would remain a force to contend with for 25 years - in and out of power. But over time, Santa Anna became more dictatorial, arguing that Mexico was not ready for democracy. Less than a year into Iturbide’s reign, he was ousted by then-Liberal Antonio López de Santa Anna, and the 1824 Constitution was adopted. Liberals were appalled, but Conservatives were not happy either they wanted someone of royal blood. The Spanish army’s final exit was engineered not by Hidalgo or the mixed-race mestizos who shed much blood but rather by the opportunistic Spanish general Agustín de Iturbide, who would crown himself emperor in 1822. Miguel Hidalgo’s career as a rebel began by plotting a return of Ferdinand VII to the throne only later would he demand the ouster of Mexico’s Spanish government. ![]() Napoleon’s invasion of Spain in 1808 horrified the elites of New Spain but also showed that the mother country was not invincible. The question began even before the War of Independence started. Would it continue its monarchistic ways (favored by the Conservatives) or would it embrace Enlightenment ideas (favored by Liberals)? The post-Independence century was about what Mexico would be. ![]() His secular sainthood comes from a lifetime of struggle and establishing the ideals that would shape modern Mexico - even if they’re not always followed. ![]() Juárez’s time was a few decades post-Independence, during a century filled with coups d’etat, flamboyant personalities and foreign invasions. ![]() But he is not the father of his country like George Washington, so why? Benito Juárez is the only individual to have a federal holiday in Mexico.
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