por We explain what the Reform War was, its background, causes, development and its consequences
What was the War of the Reform?
The Reform War or Three Years’ War (1857-1861) It was an armed Mexican civil conflict where the two prevailing political factions of the time, liberals and conservatives, faced each other to prevail over the other. Such an atmosphere of instability was experienced that the sections of the Constitution where individual guarantees were ensured were ignored.
At that time, the liberal faction was ruling, who in 1854 seized power based on a liberal political proclamation called the «Plan de Ayutla», in which the then dictator of Mexico was removed.
For its part, the conservative side was unaware of the legitimacy of the government by opposing various radical laws that it sought to implement (the reform). This was one of the many episodes in which both sides would fight for political power in Mexico during the 19th century.
During this period, a social reorganization was sought that would try to end the benefits of the ruling classes, the reactivation of the economy and the restoration of work.
Background of the war
Overthrow of Antonio López de Santa Anna
Santa Anna had established himself in a sort of lifetime presidency (he governed for ten periods). He was eventually removed from office by the liberal-minded Plan de Ayutla.
Santa Anna had repealed the Constitution of 1824, so he was perpetuated in power under the figure of His Serene Highness. He was removed from office and sent into exile. In his place, Juan Álvarez was appointed as interim president in 1855.
Political rise of the Liberals
On December 11, 1855, through elections, General José Ignacio Comonfort was elected president of Mexico, who would be in charge of launching the Reform of the state of Mexico.
Benito Juárez was appointed as president of the Supreme Court of Justice. Thus a purely liberal government was established. The Federal Army was given special rights to rule.
Constitution of 1857
It was approved on February 5, 1857. This constitution contained a series of social order provisions, among which slavery was abolished, and freedom of education and worship was established.
It also contained radical provisions against properties and benefits of the Catholic Church and the army; both groups were the most powerful in Mexico. Such provisions radicalized the population due to their devotion to Catholicism.
The very modern ideas contained in the Constitution were the product of the influence of Enlightenment ideas and modern European philosophy.
The reaction of the conservatives provoked a self-coup by Comonfort, known as Plan de Tacubaya.
plan of tacubaya
The Tacubaya plan required the annulment of the Constitution of 1857. It was created in the Archbishop’s Palace of Tacubaya and was drafted by Félix María Zuloaga, in response to the disagreement of the people with the Constitution, who were unaware of it.
Those who were in favor of the plan decide that Comonfort remains in the presidency, who in the following days adheres to the plan, but maintaining a rather ambiguous position.
Faced with such radical laws towards the figure of the Catholic Church, it promises excommunication for those who remain attached to those statutes.
Comonfort then asks for Juárez’s help in negotiating his release, for which the plan was later publicized as a coup to repeal the Constitution.
The plan was a victory for the conservative faction. With this, the mass resignation of the liberals in Congress is achieved. Benito Juárez, Isidoro Olvera (president of Congress) and several deputies were deprived of their liberty.
On the other hand, the country is sinking into a growing division between those who were in favor of the Tacubaya Plan and those who were in favor of the Constitution of 1857.
Causes of the Reform War
Juarez law
The Juárez law, which is how this set of laws is known, was promulgated on November 23, 1855 under the official name of the Law for the Administration of Justice and Organic Law for the National Courts of the District and Territories.
Benito Juárez was then the secretary of Justivia, Ecclesiastical Business and Public Instruction in the cabinet of Juan Álvarez. Juan Álvarez had assumed the presidency after the Ayutla revolution.
Juárez, who was considered a pure radical, wanted to eliminate all military and religious privileges. However, the Minister of War, Ignacio Comonfort, did not agree.
In the first instance, he had recommended to the president prudence with the promulgation of these laws. For this reason, military and ecclesiastical courts were maintained for a few years.
Once the new law was promulgated, Juárez sent it to the Archbishop of Mexico. This was contrary to the law, considering that he violated the rights of the Catholic Church.
The bishops and archbishops renounced accepting the law and refused to renounce their jurisdiction, appealing to the decisions of the Holy See based on the fact that the ecclesiastical jurisdiction was supported by divine right.
This was one of the first causes that led to the War of the Reform. The conservative newspapers repudiated the Law, while the liberals acclaimed it.
While the Juárez Law was in the crosshairs of Mexican society, another law, the Lerdo Law, continued to stir up the controversy.
The Lerdo law
The Lerdo law has the official name of the Law for the Confiscation of Rustic and Urban Estates of the Civil and Religious Corporations of Mexico. It was approved on June 25, 1856.
Their main objective was to create a rural middle class to clean up state finances, eliminating what they considered obstacles to prosperity, which were above all the lack of movement of part of the property that was in the hands of the church and the army.
These assets were considered to be in dead hands, and needed to be expanded and used by rural labor.
The Catholic Church in Mexico, like the army, had numerous real estate assets that were not being used, so the government decided and decreed their sale to individuals to promote the market.
This law not only forced the army and the Church to dispose of their assets, but also prevented them from acquiring others that were not strictly necessary for the development of their activity.
One of the main consequences of this law was that many foreign investors took advantage of the situation to acquire large estates, which gave rise to large estates.
Reform laws
The Juárez Law and the Lerdo Law were the main laws that were later known as Reform Laws. Where the separation of Church-State and the abolition of ecclesiastical privileges took place.
At this point the Civil War began, pitting liberals and conservatives against each other. On the one hand, the liberal party headed by Benito Juárez that would defend the constitutional order.
And on the other side, Félix Zuloaga. When the president had to be absent, Juárez took command of the Government in Guanajuato, while Zuloaga did so in the capital.
Zuloaga promulgated the Five Laws that repealed the Lerdo Law and the Juárez Law, among others. The liberal government was suffering a continuous series of defeats which led it to toughen the laws and its position
Other laws that influenced this Reform Law that were reinforced by the liberal defeats suffered were the Nationalization of Ecclesiastical Assets Law on July 12, 1859; the Civil Marriage Law, approved on the 23rd of the same month; the Organic Law of the Civil Registry, which was approved on the 28th, and the Law on the Civil Status of people, approved on July 31, 1859, all of them approved in Veracruz.
development of the war
The war developed after the growing division caused by the liberal ideas embodied in the Constitution of 1857 and, later, by the Plan of Tacubaya, prolonging the conflict for three years.
Two governments were established: the conservative, in what is currently known as the State of Mexico; while Juárez, from the liberal faction, had a rather “nomadic” government at first, which toured various cities in search of the organization of an army.
For their part, the conservatives once again recognized foreign authorities, the army and the Catholic Church. The latter used its wealth to finance the war, which ensured many victories for the conservative side during the first year of the conflict.
The Liberals, under the leadership of Juárez, cobbled together an army of mostly civilians and established themselves in the city of Veracruz. Despite the victories of the conservatives, these did not translate into resounding success, since a conflict arose between the conservatives.
Zuloaga was overthrown by Miramón, who seized power and decided to act quickly against the liberals. He led the army to Veracruz, but was stopped by the liberals before they touched the port.
The balance would be leaning towards the liberal side in the year 1859, when the government of Washington recognized and gave its support to Juárez, both materially and economically.
This meant the conception of the McClane-Ocampo treaty, where free transit and security were granted to the Americans in some points of the Mexican territory. For this, they had to pay a sum of money in «duros», as rent for transit.
Said treaty was never carried out because it lacked the approval of the Washington Senate.
For their part, the conservatives made their treaty with the Spanish held in Paris, called the Treaty of Mon-Almonde, in which Spain was compensated for citizens who had entered the country during the civil war. Treaty that was not fulfilled either.
What such alliances demonstrated, even though they never came to fruition, was the intense desperation of the factions to succeed over the other.
the end of the war
After the three years that the civil war lasted, the two sides faced each other in a last battle on December 22, 1860 in Calpulapan, where the liberals won. Juárez triumphantly entered the capital and called elections.
He won with a fair victory and Benito Juárez was proclaimed president with González Ortega in charge of the Court of Justice, which implied being the president’s substitute if something happened to him.
Once the constitutional order of the country was restored, the reforms that had been approved during the war were reinforced, and some new ones were added, such as the Law for the Secularization of Hospitals and Charitable Establishments in 1861.
Despite having been defeated, Zuloaga returned to proclaim himself president of the republic. This coup did not come to an end, but for Juárez the problems were not yet over.
The years in which the conservatives had manipulated public finances had left…