Bienes De La Iglesia, La Reforma

Church and State struggle in Mexico:
To what extent did the objectives of the liberals regarding economic secularization succeeded during the period from 1855 - 1859?

Word Count: 1,994

Table of Contents:
Table of Contents 2
A. Plan of the Investigation 3
B. Summary of Evidence 3
C. Evaluation of Sources 5
D. Analysis 7
E. Conclusion 9
Appendix A 10
F. List of Sources 11A. Plan of the Investigation
The present essay seeks to evaluate the degree to which the economic secularization succeed during the years 1856 to 1859, the first part of The Reform period. To arrive at an answer about the success this movement had, the political and economical factors contributing or affecting the result are considered, as well as the intervention of the different ideologicalfactions. Taking into account the previous aspects of the situation, the investigation measures the effect two main laws had: The Ruiz law and The Lerdo law, and compare it with the desired result by the liberals. Analyzing the economical data (obtained from the book “Los bienes de la Iglesia en México: 1856-1875”) and the political circumstances (obtained from the book “Mexican Politics Duringthe Juarez Regime, 1855 – 1872), an approximate answer to the question is given.
B. Summary of Evidence
With the triumph of the Revolution of Ayutla in 1855, the two political factions in that time were more noticeable: liberals and conservatives. Juan Alvarez, was elected provisional president. The liberal thinking went beyond the position adopted by the conservatives. The liberals didn’tbelieve the Reform could work without measures that, directly or indirectly, affected the Church. (Scholes 20) But there was a division between the liberals; there were the radicals and the moderates. The radicals wanted fast reforms, while the moderates opted for more carefulness. (Scholes, 21)
Alvarez named Melchor Ocampo, Guillermo Prieto and Benito Juárez within his cabinet, all liberals.(Scholes, 24) After a month, he resigned due to ideological struggles and Ignacio Comonfort, key figure on the moderate wing and catholic, took the power in December of 1855. (Hamnet, 158)
In Mexico they were very important brotherhoods and convents that, because of the worshiping of an image, had accumulated a large amount of properties (Bazant, 11). The total wealth of the Church by 1856 wasapproximatedly of 180 000 000 pesos (Bazant,12). The clergy systematically opposed the Government, they had large pecuniary resources which they used freely to accomplish their end. (Guy, 397) This combined with the fact that the internal plus the external debt was estimated to have reached 56.3 million pesos. (Hamnett, 147)
In June 25 of 1856, the Lerdo Law was decreed […] “Art. 1. All rural and urbanproperties managed by ecclesiastical corporations of the Republic will be awarded to those who have leased for the value corresponding to the income currently paid capitalized to the 6%. […] Art 3. Under the name of corporations are included all religious communities, brotherhoods, congregations and schools.” (Carbajal, 63) The objectives were twofold: to release hitherto inalienable property on tothe market thereby encouraging development, and to raise revenue through government taxation of this process. (Hamnet, 159) The ecclesiastic revenues continued flowing to the government coffer until the 9 September 1857, when Comonfort declared the end of the confiscation. (Bazant, 56)
In 1857, the Constituent Congress was in constant struggle due to the presence of both liberals andconservatives, and the principal issue was the Church position. (Scholes, 34) Nevertheless, the Constitution was proclaimed, with the reform laws implicit in its articles. Immediately the conservative opposition emerged. The 13 of November the archbishop of Mexico expedited an order to the clergy instructing not to obey the Constitution of 1857. In December 1857, the rumors of a coup d’état became real....