A Study On The Reform War In Mexico (1857-1861)

The Constitution of 1857,promulgated by the Liberals in Mexico on February 5th,was designed to strip the political and economic privileges which the Mexican churches and troops(the conservatives)had owned,and therefore aroused the war between the two parties.As a liberal leader,Juarez stuck to the Constitution and determined to change the society with the survivals of feudalism into a modern bourgeois one with rule of law.In spite of the blood-soaked battle he had gone through,he never swayed and gave up.This four-year war was divided into three stages—defensive stage,stalemated stage and counter-offensive stage.During the stalemated stage,Juarez issued the famous “Mexican Declaration of Social Reform of 1859”(hereafter called “The Reform Laws”).The Reform Laws announced the unconditional confiscation of church property to the state,deprived the church of the civil right of registering weddings and funerals,established the separation of church and state,which heavily weakened the political power of the church and changed the structure among domestic political forces.In the middle and later stage of this war,the major capitalist powers came to pay their attention to this war.The European powers chose to support the conservatives.The United States,as the greatest influencer on Mexico,stood on the side of the liberals for their own interest,which contributed to the triumph of the liberals.As a bourgeois revolution,the Reform War(or Mexican Civil War)cleared the way for the further progress of Mexican bourgeoisie and pushed the history forward.After a series of tough and hazardous combats,the liberals were firstly forced to flee the Mexico City,then escaped from the Guadalajara to Veracruz,and finally seized the Mexico City again.After arduous battles,the liberals lighted the fire of “democracy” and “legal system”,made heavy blows to the conservative forces represented by Félix María Zuloaga,Miguel Miramón,and taught the people by propagating the modern concept of “liberation,democracy,legal system and civilization” and promoted social progress.The civil war spread to the furthest corner of the country and developed into a nationwide melee between the liberals and conservatives which awakened the Mexicans' national awareness,afterward.Hereafter anyone who proclaims themselves emperor certainly will be repelled fiercely by the masses.The reform war in Mexico is of great historical significance not only in the history of reform and development in Mexico,but also in the history of world reform.The Study on the Reform War is conductive to the knowledge about the Mexican social modernization and the summarization of its long-term impact on the historical development of Mexico.Under the guidance of Marx's Historical Materialism,this paper,based on vast historical materials,follows the thread of the sequence of events and analyses the background,the whole course of the events and the significance of this war by interpreting all aspects of changes caused by the war,such as the Civil Registration Act,Law on religious freedom,Nationalization Law Ecclesiastical Property.This paper will analyze Mexican Civil War comprehensively and accurately with the idea of seeking truth from facts as far as possible.