History of Mexico Notes 3Rd Bim

HISTORY OF MEXICO NOTES 3RD BIM

After its independence from Spain in 1821, Mexico enacted its first constitution in 1824 which established it as a federal republic. However, the problems in Mexico continued because it had to face several diplomatic and political conflicts.

The liberals sought to separate church from state, and enacted a series of laws that were incorporated in the constitution in 1857. However, the Conservatives did not agree with those measures and the Reform War began the same year.

THE ECONOMIC CRISIS AFTER THE WAR

After the Independence of Mexico, one of the major problems was that the new rulers had to lead a bankrupt nation with population scattered around a huge territory.

There were many reasons that caused the economic crisis in Mexico in those days, a large part of the towns and territory were damaged from the armed conflict. Furthermore, with the implementation of the Bourbon Reforms, the Spanish Crown extracted large amounts of gold, minerals, raw materials, agricultural and livestock products, and a large sum of money weakening the economic capitals. The first governments tried to remedy the situation and applied for internal loans from private institutions and external loans from another nations, but this only increased the public debt.After Independence, the Mexican population was distributed very unevenly.There were virtually uninhabited areas, such as New Mexico and Texas.

THE CONSTITUTION OF 1824

It was necessary to legally establish the rights, obligation and demands of individuals and those ruling. Agustin de Iturbide forced Congress to name him Emperor.Since Mexico was settled as a republic, many opposed. The Congress members were divided into two groups with different political ideas: The Federalists and the Centralists. The Federalist proposal consisted of a Mexica n political party from insurgent background with York Masonic ideology, undermining jurisdiction to the central government and forming a groupof autonomous states linked with each other. The proposal of the Centralists insisted on maintaining a strong central government that the states depended on to achieve economic stability and defend the territory from wars.

DIFFICULTIES IN THE CONSOLIDATION OF A NATIONAL PROJECT

For the insurgents Mexico was not suited to be an empire. A Federalist group led by Servando Teresa de Mier and some Masonic lodges suggested that the form of government that the country needed was a republic. Congress and Iturbide failed to reach an agreement. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna took advantage of this situation and he rose in arms against the Emperor in 1822.

In 1822, there were elections for presidents, and Antonio Lopez de Santa Ana supported Vicente Guerrero. Conflicts between different ideologies and governance continued during the first decades of the nineteenth century. By 1835, the Federalism had lost power and established a centralized government, that lasted for 10 years. It established a new Congress and created the Seven Laws, a Constitution with a centralist tendency.

INTERNATIONAL CONFLICTS AND TERRITORIAL DISPOSSESSION

On October 26, 1821 there was a first Spanish reconquest attempt of Mexico, but Mexican naval forces made the Spanish surrender on November 23, 1825.

In order to recognize Mexico as an independent country, powerful nations such as England, France and the United States asked for privileged commercial and fiscal treatment in exchange. England sought to give loans and gain sector of the economy, such as mining. France wanted to take over part of the American territories. The United States wanted to increase its hegemony through the Monroe Doctrine.

NORTHERN COLONIZATION ATTEMPTS

At the end of the eighteenth century, the colonial government of New Spain had allowed Moses Austin to become established , as well as 300 other families in the province of Texas, under the condition that the settlers be Catholics. To support the mobilization, the government gave lands and exempted the people from paying taxes.

SEPARATION OF TEXAS

In 1833, Stephen Austin traveled to Mexico City but he realized he couldn´t achieve his objective that was separate Texas from Mexico. However he declared the independence of Texas and attacked the Mexican army. Santa Anna was taken prisoner and negotiated his release by signing the Treaties of Velasco recognizing the independence of Texas;with which Mexico lost the states of Alta California and New Mexico (today California, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, Utah and part of Wyoming) in favor of the United States, which promised to pay compensation of 15 million dollars to Mexico .

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ThePorfiriatois the era when army heroPorfirioDíazheld power as president of Mexico almost continuously from 1876–1911. He promoted "order and progress" that saw the suppression of violence, modernization of the economy, and the flow of foreign investment to the country. The period ended with the outbreak of theMexican Revolutionin 1910. Under Díaz, Mexico's industry and infrastructure were modernized by a strong, stable but autocratic central government. Increased tax revenues and better administration brought dramatic improvements in public safety, public health, railways, mining, industry, foreign trade, and national finances.The Positivism was a movement made up of a tightly-knit group of intellectuals, businessmen, publicists, and statesmen, known collectively as ‘The Scientists’. Their fundamental goal, according to traditional historiography, was to modernize Mexico by applying to its socio-political structures the ideas of the French Positivist Auguste Comte.

TheLerdo´sLawis the common name for theReform lawformally known as theConfiscation of Law and urban Ruins of the Civil and Religious Corporations of Mexico. It was drafted byMiguel Lerdo de Tejadaand issued on 25 June 1856 by deputy presidentIgnacio Comonfort.

The objectives of the law were to create a rural middle class, promote development, improve public finances of the state, and revive the economy by eliminating restrictions on freedom of movement. The latter was considered by Ignacio Comonfort as one of the biggest obstacles to prosperity

The Lerdo Law provided for the confiscation of the lands held by the Catholic Church and civil corporations, and their sale to private individuals.

POLITIZATION: PRESS AND LEAFLETS

The press and leaflets were the ideal means to express political views. At the beginning of the independence movement there were only four important printers. The kind of journalism practiced was political, controversial and reflective, although they were newspapers with a few pages without illustration. During the first Empire, the press had unlimited freedom. Then the Liberals monopolized politics in the country, and consequently, the press.

CLASSICISM, ROMANTICISM AND MODERNISM

Classicism refers to the works of art and literature that were insipired by aesthetic standards of classical antiquity. In Mexico, there were representatives in the field of architecture, literature and music.

Romanticismwas an artistic, literary, musical, cultural and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate period from 1800 to 1850. Romanticism was characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism as well as glorification of all the past and nature, preferring the medieval rather than the classical. It was partly a reaction to theIndustrial Revolution,the aristocratic social and political norms of theAge of Enlightenment, and the scientific rationalizationof nature—all components ofmodernity.

At the end of the nineteenth century, modernism emerged, a movement seeking harmony and perfection of the world. This is why its representatives talk about sensory beauty and inner world. ThemostimportantMexican representativeswere Manuel GutierrezNajera, Enrique GonzalezMartinez, Salvador DiazMiron and Amado Nervo.

VOCABULARY

Intervention: Intrusion or interference of a nation in the internal affairs of another

Dictatorship: Government exercised outside the constitutive laws of a country.

Annexation: To incorporate (territory) into an existing political unit such as a country.

Centralism: Government directed from the center, in which the states do not enjoy autonomy.

Federalism: A system of government in which the states that make up the nation are autonomous, have their own laws and are integrated through a federal pact.

Economic protectionism: Economic policy developed by a country, namely to safeguard and encourage industry through the imposition of taxes on foreign products and fiscal incentives.

Reform: Political movement in the Mid-nineteenth century that sought separating the church from the state.

Secularization: Independence between public and religious affairs, this is, the Church is not intervening in the state´s affairs.

Expansionism: A country´s tendency to extend its economic and political dominance over other countries.

Restoration: In a country, restoration of the political regime that existed before and that had been replaced by another.

Smallholding: A field which has been subdivided into strips of smaller areas.

Seditious: That promotes a violent and collective uprising against the authority