Decline of the Liberal Order: 1865-1877
First I want to apologize once again for the long wait. I want to let you all know that I truly appreciate you all sticking around despite my long pauses. I hope this update is at least worth the wait. As I stated last time, this installment will concern Mexico's development as it slowly begins to industrialize, and covers the period between 1865 and 1877. The next one will most likely be on the United States up to the late 1870's as well, but we shall see.
The assassination of President Miguel Lerdo de Tejada was a devastating blow to the Mexican government and nation as a whole, understandably so considering it was the first murder of a Mexican President in the nation’s history. The assassin, Indalecio Vidaurri, was apprehended by Federal authorities not long after he and his accomplices had evaded the scene of the shooting, and under heavy guard they were hastily transported to México City to await a formal trial. Despite his unapologetic radical liberal views Lerdo de Tejada was on the whole well respected for his handling of the Vidaurri Conspiracy, as well as the Confederate invasion and subsequent involvement in the Cuban War for Independence, the latter which had earned México a valuable new ally in the Caribbean. Conversely the government in Habana rejoiced at the new alliance with México, which ensured it some protection from any vindictive actions the United States would inevitably take against the island once absorption of the Confederation back into the Union was complete.
The new president of México, Benito Juárez faced multiple crises all at once upon his ascendancy of the Supreme Executive Power in September 1865, the most immediate being the massive overcrowding of the capital. The roughly half million inhabitants of México City included recent arrivals from Europe, many of whom settled in the west and the south of the city, and some which brought with them radical ideas on how to bring about massive social upheaval. For the most part though, the capital’s population predominantly comprised working class poor crammed into slums to the north and east of the central district, near and along the shores of the ancient Lake Texcoco. To make matters worse the recent influx of displaced Indian and mestizo peasant laborers, most of who were in pursuit of greater economic fortunes in the cities, instead found nothing more than disappointment and sorrow as there were too many people and too few jobs to go around. This all combined with the city’s propensity to catastrophically flood often had explosive results.
México City, a bustling metropolis.
Juárez’s ascension to the Supreme Executive Power also made him the inheritor of another one of Lerdo de Tejada’s problems, namely the Comanche envoys, whose arrival to the capital is sometimes credited as the reason the slain President chose to leave on his northern summit in the first place. No hard evidence exists as to the veracity of these claims but nasty rumors sometimes gain a life of their own. Nevertheless the Zapotec Licenciado was left face to face with the largest gathering of Comanche warriors in México City in less than a decade. Led by eleven chiefs (nine of the Quejada band and two of the Cuchaneca) the roughly 600 warriors assembled in the Zocalo were an undoubtedly impressive sight to behold, as most contemporary sources indicate.[1] Despite the overt demonstration of power on the part of the Comanche, their leadership demanded an urgent audience with the Mexican President over matters of relief. The drought which plagued much of the continental interior for the better part of the previous decade had taken its toll on the indigenous people of Tejas and Nuevo México, as proven by the thinning buffalo herds and subsequent adoption of horse meat consumption as a dietary substitute for buffalo.
Congress was divided on the whole issue as well, as many recent arrivals to the national legislature were only just becoming acquainted with the Federal government’s relationship with the “barbarians of the north,” and were truly perplexed as to why the Federal government had spent so much time and resources seemingly in order to appease them. For his part Juárez was not reserved in tersely reminding all his detractors for being old enough to remember the American invasion yet willfully unaware of the historically volatile nature of the borderlands and the role the Comanche have played in defense of the national sovereignty. The extended Comanche presence in the capital also unnerved the criollos and other Europeans for another reason, namely the influence they thought that presence would have on the indio vagrants.[2] Juárez for his part was also keen to see the Comanche return quickly to their homes, but at the same time he understood that dismissing the nomad warriors and disrespecting them out of hand was a fool’s errand. The Republic owed a great deal to them for being the first line of defense against repeated Anglo-American incursions. It was on this final point that Juárez and a team of Federal negotiators managed to make some headway, and after several weeks of tense negotiations all parties finally agreed to a settlement. A new territory was to be carved out from the states of Tejas and Chihuahua roughly coterminous with the Llano Estacado and the Gran Sendero Comanche. The northern half of the territory was to be reserved to the Comanche, while the southern half remained open to all “citizens of the Republic” for settlement and cultivation, for it was a region coveted by the Federal government due to its central location in consideration for the future construction of a vast transcontinental railroad intended to connect Tejas with Alta California.
Expansion of Mexican rail system through 1878.
México’s railroad network exploded during this time period, with an estimated 7,300 miles of tracks constructed between 1865 and 1878, almost doubling the nation’s total mileage. The government’s priority during this time period was connecting the “center” (an area roughly corresponding with the Altiplano and “el Norte Viejo”) with the “extremes” (the states and territories to the far north, as well as the impoverished Central American states to the south).[3] The rapid influx of immigrants from all over the world into the Californias and Sacramento prompted the construction of railroads and other necessary infrastructure in order to connect the new towns and cities which now dotted the Californian landscape. The whole of México’s northwest coast boasted an estimated half million inhabitants as of 1865, and save for the capital it was arguably the most diverse region of the republic. One notable recent change in the demographic makeup of the North was the larger number of Mexicans now living in the region.
After the initial discovery of gold in Alta California, many Mexicans immigrants flocked to the gold fields either by sea to Yerba Buena, or through the treacherous land routes via the near inhospitable Sonoran Desert. The first wave of immigrants hailed from Sonora and Chihuahua, states whose relative proximity to Alta California allowed them some initial advantage as far as finding the best veins to mine was concerned. Another advantage norteños possessed was their mining expertise, which proved to be an invaluable asset in the treacherous Sierra Nevada. By 1865 the Mexican population numbered nearly 85,000 people, and when combined with the other Hispanic-Americans (mainly immigrants from Chile, Gran Colombia and Spanish Perú) they totaled an estimated 160,000. The Federal government considered them as an integral bulwark against any possible subterfuge on the part of Anglo-American settlers, though for the most part much of the region’s European population consisted of Roman Catholic émigrés from southern and central Europe (save for the Irish) who in some cases arrived to the United States first only to flee nativist violence. Many former slaves who escaped to México for freedom via the Liberty Road also made their way to the gold mines (or in the cases of those who had sailed into Yerba Buena Bay, which sometimes involved whole crews deserting their ships), and news of their successes were eventually published in Abolitionist periodicals which spurred Blacks in the eastern United States to emigrate westward. Northern México also boasted the largest Chinese population in the New World, with an estimated 50,000 Chinese who now called Alta California home, as the once great Qing Empire slowly crumbled under its own weight and succumbed to foreign intervention. The rapid influx of Asian immigrants proved a point of contention at first, as their religious and social customs proved to be a difficult barrier for many Mexicans and Europeans alike to overcome. In many cases during the first decade of Alta California’s statehood frenzied mobs of disaffected Mexicans held no qualms over terrorizing Chinese whom for the most part were innocent of any wrong doing. Perhaps the only other groups of people to face any sort of similar wrath were Anglo-Americans, whom in many cases reciprocated the violence in kind, to the detriment of everyone involved. These episodes of mob violence eventually passed, as a proper police force and rule of law were finally established, though efforts persisted by both the local and Federal officers to make it continually difficult for Anglo-Americans to travel to and permanently reside in Alta California. Racial tensions lingered, but after a brief period of military rule during the Lerdo de Tejada administration and the formation of proper police forces, extrajudicial violence came to an end and peace returned to the region. President Juárez was intent to integrate the disparate peoples of the North and to redefine the concept of Mexican nationality altogether. One of the defining Liberal tenants was the active promotion of immigration to the country in order to fill and develop the borderlands, and experience had taught the Mexicans to rely on peoples who were more easily able to assimilate into Mexican culture.
Juárez was instrumental in separating church and state in México.
The struggle for the nation’s very soul seemed to permeate not only the fringes of the republic’s territory, but in the heartland as well. The Liberal Revolution was still very fresh in the minds of many, both for those who attained power in 1857 and for those who lost it, and for the Roman Catholic Church in particular it was a humiliation beyond any toleration. In the aftermath of the Church’s rebellion in 1861, it became abundantly clear that armed insurrection was perhaps not the proper way to win the hearts and minds of the people. Furthermore, reformist circles within the Roman Catholic establishment in México had grown restive with the slow pace of said reform, and had become alarmed at the growing popularity of Protestant organizations such as the Iglesia de Jesús (Church of Jesus) in the 1860’s and other Protestant churches such as the Presbyterians and Methodists in the 1870’s. The Iglesia de Jesús attracted the largest following, with an estimated 20,000 converts by 1870. It originated in the aftermath of the Liberal Revolution from some of the clergy who supported the new constitution, a group later known as the Constitutionalist Fathers. The small group of men, eventually led by Priests Manuél Aguilar Bermúdez and Enrique Orestes not only supported the Liberals, they sought to reform the Church itself. They argued that in light of the Church’s dishonorable association with previous “despots and imperialists,” the only path to redemption was obvious internal reform.
The Luther of México, Manuél Aguas.
Burmúdez and Orestes themselves were conservative in their approach and for a decade or so managed to a few talks with the Catholics, which ultimately resulted in nothing, and by the late 1860’s a new generation of devout followers had grown tired of waiting for the Catholic Church to reform itself.[4] In 1867 Bermúdez died, and leadership of the Iglesia de Jesús fell to a former Dominican priest by the name of Manuél Aguas, who unlike Bermúdez had much larger plans for the young movement. Aguas took the radical step to sever all connection to the Roman Catholic Church, and the following year Aguas petitioned the Episcopal Church of the United States for any support, financial or otherwise, it could provide. Two representatives traveled to New York City to meet with agents of the PECUSA but the Mexicans only received half-hearted promises and nothing more. The New York mission was not in vain however, as the fledgling Mexican church finally found a major financial backer in the form of Henry C. Riley, a pastor at a Spanish-American Episcopal church who agreed to support the Iglesia de Jesús out of his own pocket. Riley worked fervently to convert Roman Catholics to Protestantism, and to that end labored intently to ensure the Mexican church succeeded. Liturgically speaking the church, now styled as the Iglesia Mexicana de Jesús (Mexican Church of Jesus), was not too different from the Roman Catholic rite, save for the establishment of services held in Spanish rather than Latin and the creation of a synod charged with guarding the “faith and discipline” of the church, as well as the right of clergy to marry. The synod was comprised of a council of ordained priests, who were led by Aguas, now styled as el custodio del Santo Sinodo (the Custodian of the Holy Synod). In 1872 the PECUSA finally expressed support in merging the Mexican Church with the Episcopal movement, but Aguas politely rebuffed their offers, as he came to the conclusion that the Iglesia de Jesús had done well on its own and did not require the support of a foreign entity. This caused a rift between Aguas and his patron Riley, as the latter had supported a union with the Episcopalians, and he was subsequently sacked the moment he attempted to force the issue on Aguas. By the time of Manuél Aguas’ death in 1875, the IMJ had established chapters across the Altiplano and Central America, with recent inroads into the Californias and total converts numbering at around 40,000. “El Lutero de México” as Aguas was frequently addressed as for better or worse, was succeeded as Custodian by Sóstenez Juárez, another former priest who supported ecclesiastical independence as well as Aguas’ designated successor.
Juárez never gave the church much support, save for a handful of cathedral buildings previously expropriated after the rebellions, understandably so considering his intent to honor the separation of church and state. Nevertheless, Juárez felt the Protestants would have a positive effect in the form of increasing literacy in Spanish across the Republic for the various peoples which called México home, whether they were recent arrivals or the original inhabitants of the land. President Juárez personally championed the cause of education, and in light of the growing student population of the preparatory schools he signed several bills into law which established the Universidad National de México (National University of México), in order to facilitate higher learning for the new graduates. By this point the main campus of the National Preparatory School had relocated to another part of the capital, while the old building on San Illdefonso Street reverted back to its previous incarnation as the old college eponymously named after the street itself. The National University officially opened on September 25, 1868 at the sight of the former Convento de la Merced, which had been the sight of a horrible riot in 1861, at the height of the Catholic reaction.[5] The city had planned to demolish the convent as punishment for the Franciscan monks who had instigated the riot and who also owned the convent in question, but the funds for the demolition disappeared, so the convent remained closed until the federal government deemed it appropriate for the new university. The opening of the University of México spurred the opening of other schools across the country. In 1871 the University of Guadalajara merged with the Institute of Sciences of Jalisco and gained national status, in the same league as the University in México City. The remainder of the century saw the foundation of more universities in Puebla (1876), Veracruz (1878), Monterrey (1879), Oaxaca (1883), Béxar (1885), Yerba Buena (1890), Valladolid (1893), Acapulco (1897) and Alcalá (1898).
Porfirio Díaz, leader of the Gang of Four.
With overwhelming popularity Benito Juárez was re-elected by a considerable margin over his Conservative opponent Rafael Martínez de la Torre, a Senator from Puebla and former Regidor del Ayuntamiento de México, in the General Election of 1869. Now having won a term in his own right, Juárez endeavored to pass new land reforms, as the ley Lerdo’s intent to dismantle the church’s monopoly on land in order for the state to guide the indio and mestizo peasant class to transform into independent yeoman farmers never came to fruition. While a small number of campesinos did manage to improve their lot and thrive on the vastly improved “farm to market” route the railroads provided, most of the wealth generated during the latter half of the 19th century remained in the hands of the upper classes. The monopoly had seemingly exchanged hands, as the rising class of capitalists seemed poised to swallow up all the new wealth and real estate. This ascendant class was led primarily by a group of men collectively referred to as la Cuadrilla, which roughly translates to “Gang of Four.” The four men by order of influence were Porfirio Díaz (Federal Deputy from Veracruz), Luis Terrazas (Governor of Chihuahua), Pedro Rincón Gallardo (General and military commander from Jalisco) and Máximo Cervantes y Fagoaga (Textile magnate from Allende).[6] All four men were heavily invested in the railroad industry and had grown wealthy as a consequence. This new class, named industrialistas for the Liberal faction who represented them in Congress, differed from the ancient landed aristocracy inherited over from the Viceroyalty in one respect, in that the industrialistas were more likely to engage in philanthropic work and invest their wealth in strengthening the state. It is worth noting that Porfirio Díaz, a powerful Deputy in the Congress as well as the wealthiest railroad magnate in the country, donated the vast majority of his fortunes to building new schools and hospitals in his native Oaxaca, while Governor Terrazas of Chihuahua worked closely with the Juárez government in the requisition of the appropriate tracts of land in order to build rail lines all throughout the North.
Juárez could not deny the good that the industrialistas wrought, but as a man of the people he felt it was his duty to do whatever he could to curb the rising power of the industrialist class and allow the common folk a chance to prosper. The success of the industrialistas coincided with the expansion of the hacienda system, which had not been has negatively affected by the lay Lerdo as the Church or communal Indian land holdings. Not only did the number of haciendas across the country increase, but many even grew larger, such as the Hacienda Encinillas which was owned by Governor Terrazas himself. At its largest extent during the 1880’s, it controlled over 1.3 million acres of land north of the state capital and employed over 2,000 peons. Juárez understood that he needed to destroy the hacienda system in order to truly achieve genuine land reform in México, but the landed elites were for the most part allied with the industrialistas and after several back room deals managed to convince enough Liberal congressman to vote against the President’s Reform Law of 1870. After the 1871 midterm elections the Liberals lost their majority in the Chamber of Deputies to a coalition of Federalists and the new Conservative Party, and it became much more difficult for the President to get items of his agenda passed.
Despite losing this political battle, Juárez remained undaunted and he endeavored to achieve success in his other intended reforms, especially in regard to suffrage and labor rights. Universal male suffrage was already the reality in the northern states of Alta California, Sacramento, Sonora and Tejas, and in light of the United States’ amendment to their own Constitution which did the same at the national level in 1871, Juárez sought out to do the same at home. That proved to be easier said than done however, as the elites perceived the President’s actions as an affront to their rights and their wealth, regardless of how true that was. Universal male suffrage would eventually come to México in 1876, only after Juárez’s term in office, but in regard to labor rights the President managed to score some victories. Most Liberals and Federalists (specifically northern Federalists) were united in support of the President in this respect, and late into his second term Juárez signed into effect the Ley de los derechos de trabajadores y de los sindicatos (Law on the Rights of Laborers and Trade Unions), which amended the Constitution to include provisions on the right for workers to collectively bargain and ensure workers’ rights were not infringed. The ley sindical, as it was referred to in common parlance, was one of the first of its kind in Hispanic America, and came about after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a textile workers union in Veracruz which sued their employer the previous year following massive wage cuts, layoffs and bouts of violence between workers and the authorities. Unlike the campesino peasantry, the textile workers were part of the wider urban proletariat, which had emerged with the advent of industrialization. Literate and highly skilled, they reveled in the opportunities the new law presented, and over the next decade hundreds of unions formed across the republic.
Tenth President of México, Ignacio de la Llave
As he had already promised at the beginning of his second term, Juárez refused to run for reelection, despite the enthusiastic urging of many of his supporters, and upon leaving office in 1873 he retired back to his native Oaxaca. The 1873 elections saw multiple candidates vie for the Supreme Executive Power, but infighting amongst the various Federalist and Conservative contenders allowed the Liberals to easily capitalize on Juárez’s popularity and retain the presidency. Factionalism had also begun to afflict the Liberal Party, but a compromise candidate emerged in the form of General Ignacio de la Llave, a veteran of three wars and former Governor of Veracruz. De la Llave maintained the modernization program the country had undertaken since before the Revolution, but he was more moderate in his conviction to execute policy than his predecessor, and he soon found himself politically outmaneuvered by the industrialistas, who by the mid 1870’s had acquired more wealth and enough political capital to threaten the Liberal status-quo. After the Liberals incurred further losses in the 1875 midterm elections Conservatives in Congress passed laws which limited the power of the ley Sindical and threatened the Mexican labor movement in its infancy. In response to this syndicalist riots broke out across the country, which was only exacerbated by the ever rising population of vagrant poor in the major cities.
It was on the international stage that President De la Llave proved himself a more capable leader, if only slightly. Several border skirmishes between Mexican border patrols and Anglo settlers in the summer of 1874 immediately incurred the wrath of the United States. Relations between the two powers had warmed in recent years in part thanks to growing commercial ties formed along their common border, but relations cooled significantly soon after the incidents took place, especially in light of México’s refusal to apologize for the settler deaths. Several months later in the spring of 1875 the American government began to make overtures regarding the status of Deseret (a territory the United States still claimed), which prompted México City to militarize the border, while in the United States President Frémont responded in kind and authorized mobilizations along the Continental Divide. While various remedies were proposed regarding the status of the Mormon colony, including a cash settlement which instantly drew the ire of the American public, both nations eventually agreed to a plebiscite to be held the following year.
The referendum of 1876 was widely touted by the American press prior to its very occurrence, subsumed in the general euphoria of the United States’ centennial celebrations that year. When the plebiscite did take place in June, 61% of voters in Deseret chose to remain within México, to the shock of many Americans who were led to believe the significant presence of Anglo settlers would have steered the vote in the USA’s favor. In September approximately 900 rangers led by Colonel John Chivington entered Deseret while chasing bands of Lakota and Cheyenne Indians, with no clear consensus on whether Chivington unwittingly entered Mexican territory or if he intentionally crossed the international border to provocate a response. What was without dispute was his virulent disdain for Indians and Mexicans alike, which may explain why Chivington and his men descended on the mining town of Aguascalientes and massacred all the Mexican and Ute villagers living therein. Upon their arrival to Fort Roque 20 miles to the south survivors of the assault claimed Chivington blamed them for aiding the Lakota and Cheyenne, and on September 23 Territorial Governor Brigham Young ordered Mormon militia to join Mexican regulars to bring the Americans to justice.[8] Two days later the Mormons and Mexicans, now joined by over 1,000 Ute and Arapaho warriors engaged Chivington at the Battle of Rio Blanco, destroying the American force in a double envelopment which killed Chivington and most of his forces with roughly 100 captured prisoners sent to Fort Roque in chains. The Mormon War, as the Americans came to call the conflict, was over before either nation could issue a formal declaration of war. The British initially volunteered to mediate, which the Mexicans agreed to but not the Americans, the latter only relented when France and the Netherlands joined the negotiating table.
Eleventh President of México, Manuel Larráinzar
Matias Romero, México’s Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States, was instrumental in gaining a favorable settlement for México. In exchange for repatriating the imprisoned rangers the United States would honor the results of the plebiscite and drop its claim to Deseret. President De la Llave even agreed to pay $350,000 pesos for the Americans to recognize Deseret as Mexican territory, but Frémont’s negotiators remained intransigent. A $395,000 settlement was eventually reached and in February 1877 all parties signed the Treaty of Washington and formally ended the undeclared war. De la Llave was praised for his diplomatic skill in his handling of the Mormon affair, though the United States’ willingness to settle so quickly was attributed more with the internecine warfare which irregularly plagued the territories of the former Confederation and which saw an escalation in violence that following summer. De la Llave seemed certain he would win reelection during the September 1877 general election, but his primary challenger, Conservative Senator from Chiapas Manuel Larráinzar took advantage of all the new technologies at his disposal, such as traveling across the country by rail or his utilization of the telegraph to reach a broader audience more quickly, and the effort had paid off. The 1877 elections were significant for another reason, namely they were the first to be held with a vastly expanded voting population as the General Suffrage Act of 1876 expanded the franchise to millions of men. As it had been a Liberal initiative, many Liberals were hopeful the election would be a vindication of their platform, so many were disappointed upon learning De la Llave failed to gain the majority of votes. After twenty years of uninterrupted control over the Federal government, the presidency passed into the hands of a new party and on December 1 Senator Larráinzar was inaugurated as the eleventh President of México.
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Notes:
[1] Quejada and Cuchaneca are Hispanic bastardizations of Kwahadi and Kotsoteka respecively.
[2] Just your casual racism folks.
[3]"El Norte viejo" is usually used to refer to the old north, Sonora, Chihuaua, Coahuila, etc.
[4] A lot of the Iglesia de Jesus material is straight from OTL, but I begin to diverge around this point. I feel the movement petered out due to México's instability and lack of resources, both things which have for the most part been remedied here. As a result the movement never becomes irrelevant and eventually subsumed by the Anglicans like in our time.
[5] The convent was partially destroyed in OTL to make way for a new road if I recall correctly. I'd like to imagine TTL someone up high saw the potential tthe building had, and the "disappeared" funds were simply appropriated for the defense of the republic during the Confederate invasion.
[6] The first three men are real, while the last guy is a fictional second son of one of the old landed families.
[7] No War of the Reform means De la Llave never dies in the attempt to rescue him from French imprisonment at Orizaba.
[8] Young's been governor for a good long while now.
Reformation and Industrialization
Decline of the Liberal Order: 1865-1877
Ninth President of México Benito Juárez
Decline of the Liberal Order: 1865-1877
Ninth President of México Benito Juárez
The assassination of President Miguel Lerdo de Tejada was a devastating blow to the Mexican government and nation as a whole, understandably so considering it was the first murder of a Mexican President in the nation’s history. The assassin, Indalecio Vidaurri, was apprehended by Federal authorities not long after he and his accomplices had evaded the scene of the shooting, and under heavy guard they were hastily transported to México City to await a formal trial. Despite his unapologetic radical liberal views Lerdo de Tejada was on the whole well respected for his handling of the Vidaurri Conspiracy, as well as the Confederate invasion and subsequent involvement in the Cuban War for Independence, the latter which had earned México a valuable new ally in the Caribbean. Conversely the government in Habana rejoiced at the new alliance with México, which ensured it some protection from any vindictive actions the United States would inevitably take against the island once absorption of the Confederation back into the Union was complete.
The new president of México, Benito Juárez faced multiple crises all at once upon his ascendancy of the Supreme Executive Power in September 1865, the most immediate being the massive overcrowding of the capital. The roughly half million inhabitants of México City included recent arrivals from Europe, many of whom settled in the west and the south of the city, and some which brought with them radical ideas on how to bring about massive social upheaval. For the most part though, the capital’s population predominantly comprised working class poor crammed into slums to the north and east of the central district, near and along the shores of the ancient Lake Texcoco. To make matters worse the recent influx of displaced Indian and mestizo peasant laborers, most of who were in pursuit of greater economic fortunes in the cities, instead found nothing more than disappointment and sorrow as there were too many people and too few jobs to go around. This all combined with the city’s propensity to catastrophically flood often had explosive results.
México City, a bustling metropolis.
Juárez’s ascension to the Supreme Executive Power also made him the inheritor of another one of Lerdo de Tejada’s problems, namely the Comanche envoys, whose arrival to the capital is sometimes credited as the reason the slain President chose to leave on his northern summit in the first place. No hard evidence exists as to the veracity of these claims but nasty rumors sometimes gain a life of their own. Nevertheless the Zapotec Licenciado was left face to face with the largest gathering of Comanche warriors in México City in less than a decade. Led by eleven chiefs (nine of the Quejada band and two of the Cuchaneca) the roughly 600 warriors assembled in the Zocalo were an undoubtedly impressive sight to behold, as most contemporary sources indicate.[1] Despite the overt demonstration of power on the part of the Comanche, their leadership demanded an urgent audience with the Mexican President over matters of relief. The drought which plagued much of the continental interior for the better part of the previous decade had taken its toll on the indigenous people of Tejas and Nuevo México, as proven by the thinning buffalo herds and subsequent adoption of horse meat consumption as a dietary substitute for buffalo.
Congress was divided on the whole issue as well, as many recent arrivals to the national legislature were only just becoming acquainted with the Federal government’s relationship with the “barbarians of the north,” and were truly perplexed as to why the Federal government had spent so much time and resources seemingly in order to appease them. For his part Juárez was not reserved in tersely reminding all his detractors for being old enough to remember the American invasion yet willfully unaware of the historically volatile nature of the borderlands and the role the Comanche have played in defense of the national sovereignty. The extended Comanche presence in the capital also unnerved the criollos and other Europeans for another reason, namely the influence they thought that presence would have on the indio vagrants.[2] Juárez for his part was also keen to see the Comanche return quickly to their homes, but at the same time he understood that dismissing the nomad warriors and disrespecting them out of hand was a fool’s errand. The Republic owed a great deal to them for being the first line of defense against repeated Anglo-American incursions. It was on this final point that Juárez and a team of Federal negotiators managed to make some headway, and after several weeks of tense negotiations all parties finally agreed to a settlement. A new territory was to be carved out from the states of Tejas and Chihuahua roughly coterminous with the Llano Estacado and the Gran Sendero Comanche. The northern half of the territory was to be reserved to the Comanche, while the southern half remained open to all “citizens of the Republic” for settlement and cultivation, for it was a region coveted by the Federal government due to its central location in consideration for the future construction of a vast transcontinental railroad intended to connect Tejas with Alta California.
Expansion of Mexican rail system through 1878.
México’s railroad network exploded during this time period, with an estimated 7,300 miles of tracks constructed between 1865 and 1878, almost doubling the nation’s total mileage. The government’s priority during this time period was connecting the “center” (an area roughly corresponding with the Altiplano and “el Norte Viejo”) with the “extremes” (the states and territories to the far north, as well as the impoverished Central American states to the south).[3] The rapid influx of immigrants from all over the world into the Californias and Sacramento prompted the construction of railroads and other necessary infrastructure in order to connect the new towns and cities which now dotted the Californian landscape. The whole of México’s northwest coast boasted an estimated half million inhabitants as of 1865, and save for the capital it was arguably the most diverse region of the republic. One notable recent change in the demographic makeup of the North was the larger number of Mexicans now living in the region.
After the initial discovery of gold in Alta California, many Mexicans immigrants flocked to the gold fields either by sea to Yerba Buena, or through the treacherous land routes via the near inhospitable Sonoran Desert. The first wave of immigrants hailed from Sonora and Chihuahua, states whose relative proximity to Alta California allowed them some initial advantage as far as finding the best veins to mine was concerned. Another advantage norteños possessed was their mining expertise, which proved to be an invaluable asset in the treacherous Sierra Nevada. By 1865 the Mexican population numbered nearly 85,000 people, and when combined with the other Hispanic-Americans (mainly immigrants from Chile, Gran Colombia and Spanish Perú) they totaled an estimated 160,000. The Federal government considered them as an integral bulwark against any possible subterfuge on the part of Anglo-American settlers, though for the most part much of the region’s European population consisted of Roman Catholic émigrés from southern and central Europe (save for the Irish) who in some cases arrived to the United States first only to flee nativist violence. Many former slaves who escaped to México for freedom via the Liberty Road also made their way to the gold mines (or in the cases of those who had sailed into Yerba Buena Bay, which sometimes involved whole crews deserting their ships), and news of their successes were eventually published in Abolitionist periodicals which spurred Blacks in the eastern United States to emigrate westward. Northern México also boasted the largest Chinese population in the New World, with an estimated 50,000 Chinese who now called Alta California home, as the once great Qing Empire slowly crumbled under its own weight and succumbed to foreign intervention. The rapid influx of Asian immigrants proved a point of contention at first, as their religious and social customs proved to be a difficult barrier for many Mexicans and Europeans alike to overcome. In many cases during the first decade of Alta California’s statehood frenzied mobs of disaffected Mexicans held no qualms over terrorizing Chinese whom for the most part were innocent of any wrong doing. Perhaps the only other groups of people to face any sort of similar wrath were Anglo-Americans, whom in many cases reciprocated the violence in kind, to the detriment of everyone involved. These episodes of mob violence eventually passed, as a proper police force and rule of law were finally established, though efforts persisted by both the local and Federal officers to make it continually difficult for Anglo-Americans to travel to and permanently reside in Alta California. Racial tensions lingered, but after a brief period of military rule during the Lerdo de Tejada administration and the formation of proper police forces, extrajudicial violence came to an end and peace returned to the region. President Juárez was intent to integrate the disparate peoples of the North and to redefine the concept of Mexican nationality altogether. One of the defining Liberal tenants was the active promotion of immigration to the country in order to fill and develop the borderlands, and experience had taught the Mexicans to rely on peoples who were more easily able to assimilate into Mexican culture.
Juárez was instrumental in separating church and state in México.
The struggle for the nation’s very soul seemed to permeate not only the fringes of the republic’s territory, but in the heartland as well. The Liberal Revolution was still very fresh in the minds of many, both for those who attained power in 1857 and for those who lost it, and for the Roman Catholic Church in particular it was a humiliation beyond any toleration. In the aftermath of the Church’s rebellion in 1861, it became abundantly clear that armed insurrection was perhaps not the proper way to win the hearts and minds of the people. Furthermore, reformist circles within the Roman Catholic establishment in México had grown restive with the slow pace of said reform, and had become alarmed at the growing popularity of Protestant organizations such as the Iglesia de Jesús (Church of Jesus) in the 1860’s and other Protestant churches such as the Presbyterians and Methodists in the 1870’s. The Iglesia de Jesús attracted the largest following, with an estimated 20,000 converts by 1870. It originated in the aftermath of the Liberal Revolution from some of the clergy who supported the new constitution, a group later known as the Constitutionalist Fathers. The small group of men, eventually led by Priests Manuél Aguilar Bermúdez and Enrique Orestes not only supported the Liberals, they sought to reform the Church itself. They argued that in light of the Church’s dishonorable association with previous “despots and imperialists,” the only path to redemption was obvious internal reform.
The Luther of México, Manuél Aguas.
Burmúdez and Orestes themselves were conservative in their approach and for a decade or so managed to a few talks with the Catholics, which ultimately resulted in nothing, and by the late 1860’s a new generation of devout followers had grown tired of waiting for the Catholic Church to reform itself.[4] In 1867 Bermúdez died, and leadership of the Iglesia de Jesús fell to a former Dominican priest by the name of Manuél Aguas, who unlike Bermúdez had much larger plans for the young movement. Aguas took the radical step to sever all connection to the Roman Catholic Church, and the following year Aguas petitioned the Episcopal Church of the United States for any support, financial or otherwise, it could provide. Two representatives traveled to New York City to meet with agents of the PECUSA but the Mexicans only received half-hearted promises and nothing more. The New York mission was not in vain however, as the fledgling Mexican church finally found a major financial backer in the form of Henry C. Riley, a pastor at a Spanish-American Episcopal church who agreed to support the Iglesia de Jesús out of his own pocket. Riley worked fervently to convert Roman Catholics to Protestantism, and to that end labored intently to ensure the Mexican church succeeded. Liturgically speaking the church, now styled as the Iglesia Mexicana de Jesús (Mexican Church of Jesus), was not too different from the Roman Catholic rite, save for the establishment of services held in Spanish rather than Latin and the creation of a synod charged with guarding the “faith and discipline” of the church, as well as the right of clergy to marry. The synod was comprised of a council of ordained priests, who were led by Aguas, now styled as el custodio del Santo Sinodo (the Custodian of the Holy Synod). In 1872 the PECUSA finally expressed support in merging the Mexican Church with the Episcopal movement, but Aguas politely rebuffed their offers, as he came to the conclusion that the Iglesia de Jesús had done well on its own and did not require the support of a foreign entity. This caused a rift between Aguas and his patron Riley, as the latter had supported a union with the Episcopalians, and he was subsequently sacked the moment he attempted to force the issue on Aguas. By the time of Manuél Aguas’ death in 1875, the IMJ had established chapters across the Altiplano and Central America, with recent inroads into the Californias and total converts numbering at around 40,000. “El Lutero de México” as Aguas was frequently addressed as for better or worse, was succeeded as Custodian by Sóstenez Juárez, another former priest who supported ecclesiastical independence as well as Aguas’ designated successor.
Juárez never gave the church much support, save for a handful of cathedral buildings previously expropriated after the rebellions, understandably so considering his intent to honor the separation of church and state. Nevertheless, Juárez felt the Protestants would have a positive effect in the form of increasing literacy in Spanish across the Republic for the various peoples which called México home, whether they were recent arrivals or the original inhabitants of the land. President Juárez personally championed the cause of education, and in light of the growing student population of the preparatory schools he signed several bills into law which established the Universidad National de México (National University of México), in order to facilitate higher learning for the new graduates. By this point the main campus of the National Preparatory School had relocated to another part of the capital, while the old building on San Illdefonso Street reverted back to its previous incarnation as the old college eponymously named after the street itself. The National University officially opened on September 25, 1868 at the sight of the former Convento de la Merced, which had been the sight of a horrible riot in 1861, at the height of the Catholic reaction.[5] The city had planned to demolish the convent as punishment for the Franciscan monks who had instigated the riot and who also owned the convent in question, but the funds for the demolition disappeared, so the convent remained closed until the federal government deemed it appropriate for the new university. The opening of the University of México spurred the opening of other schools across the country. In 1871 the University of Guadalajara merged with the Institute of Sciences of Jalisco and gained national status, in the same league as the University in México City. The remainder of the century saw the foundation of more universities in Puebla (1876), Veracruz (1878), Monterrey (1879), Oaxaca (1883), Béxar (1885), Yerba Buena (1890), Valladolid (1893), Acapulco (1897) and Alcalá (1898).
Porfirio Díaz, leader of the Gang of Four.
With overwhelming popularity Benito Juárez was re-elected by a considerable margin over his Conservative opponent Rafael Martínez de la Torre, a Senator from Puebla and former Regidor del Ayuntamiento de México, in the General Election of 1869. Now having won a term in his own right, Juárez endeavored to pass new land reforms, as the ley Lerdo’s intent to dismantle the church’s monopoly on land in order for the state to guide the indio and mestizo peasant class to transform into independent yeoman farmers never came to fruition. While a small number of campesinos did manage to improve their lot and thrive on the vastly improved “farm to market” route the railroads provided, most of the wealth generated during the latter half of the 19th century remained in the hands of the upper classes. The monopoly had seemingly exchanged hands, as the rising class of capitalists seemed poised to swallow up all the new wealth and real estate. This ascendant class was led primarily by a group of men collectively referred to as la Cuadrilla, which roughly translates to “Gang of Four.” The four men by order of influence were Porfirio Díaz (Federal Deputy from Veracruz), Luis Terrazas (Governor of Chihuahua), Pedro Rincón Gallardo (General and military commander from Jalisco) and Máximo Cervantes y Fagoaga (Textile magnate from Allende).[6] All four men were heavily invested in the railroad industry and had grown wealthy as a consequence. This new class, named industrialistas for the Liberal faction who represented them in Congress, differed from the ancient landed aristocracy inherited over from the Viceroyalty in one respect, in that the industrialistas were more likely to engage in philanthropic work and invest their wealth in strengthening the state. It is worth noting that Porfirio Díaz, a powerful Deputy in the Congress as well as the wealthiest railroad magnate in the country, donated the vast majority of his fortunes to building new schools and hospitals in his native Oaxaca, while Governor Terrazas of Chihuahua worked closely with the Juárez government in the requisition of the appropriate tracts of land in order to build rail lines all throughout the North.
Juárez could not deny the good that the industrialistas wrought, but as a man of the people he felt it was his duty to do whatever he could to curb the rising power of the industrialist class and allow the common folk a chance to prosper. The success of the industrialistas coincided with the expansion of the hacienda system, which had not been has negatively affected by the lay Lerdo as the Church or communal Indian land holdings. Not only did the number of haciendas across the country increase, but many even grew larger, such as the Hacienda Encinillas which was owned by Governor Terrazas himself. At its largest extent during the 1880’s, it controlled over 1.3 million acres of land north of the state capital and employed over 2,000 peons. Juárez understood that he needed to destroy the hacienda system in order to truly achieve genuine land reform in México, but the landed elites were for the most part allied with the industrialistas and after several back room deals managed to convince enough Liberal congressman to vote against the President’s Reform Law of 1870. After the 1871 midterm elections the Liberals lost their majority in the Chamber of Deputies to a coalition of Federalists and the new Conservative Party, and it became much more difficult for the President to get items of his agenda passed.
Despite losing this political battle, Juárez remained undaunted and he endeavored to achieve success in his other intended reforms, especially in regard to suffrage and labor rights. Universal male suffrage was already the reality in the northern states of Alta California, Sacramento, Sonora and Tejas, and in light of the United States’ amendment to their own Constitution which did the same at the national level in 1871, Juárez sought out to do the same at home. That proved to be easier said than done however, as the elites perceived the President’s actions as an affront to their rights and their wealth, regardless of how true that was. Universal male suffrage would eventually come to México in 1876, only after Juárez’s term in office, but in regard to labor rights the President managed to score some victories. Most Liberals and Federalists (specifically northern Federalists) were united in support of the President in this respect, and late into his second term Juárez signed into effect the Ley de los derechos de trabajadores y de los sindicatos (Law on the Rights of Laborers and Trade Unions), which amended the Constitution to include provisions on the right for workers to collectively bargain and ensure workers’ rights were not infringed. The ley sindical, as it was referred to in common parlance, was one of the first of its kind in Hispanic America, and came about after the Supreme Court ruled in favor of a textile workers union in Veracruz which sued their employer the previous year following massive wage cuts, layoffs and bouts of violence between workers and the authorities. Unlike the campesino peasantry, the textile workers were part of the wider urban proletariat, which had emerged with the advent of industrialization. Literate and highly skilled, they reveled in the opportunities the new law presented, and over the next decade hundreds of unions formed across the republic.
Tenth President of México, Ignacio de la Llave
As he had already promised at the beginning of his second term, Juárez refused to run for reelection, despite the enthusiastic urging of many of his supporters, and upon leaving office in 1873 he retired back to his native Oaxaca. The 1873 elections saw multiple candidates vie for the Supreme Executive Power, but infighting amongst the various Federalist and Conservative contenders allowed the Liberals to easily capitalize on Juárez’s popularity and retain the presidency. Factionalism had also begun to afflict the Liberal Party, but a compromise candidate emerged in the form of General Ignacio de la Llave, a veteran of three wars and former Governor of Veracruz. De la Llave maintained the modernization program the country had undertaken since before the Revolution, but he was more moderate in his conviction to execute policy than his predecessor, and he soon found himself politically outmaneuvered by the industrialistas, who by the mid 1870’s had acquired more wealth and enough political capital to threaten the Liberal status-quo. After the Liberals incurred further losses in the 1875 midterm elections Conservatives in Congress passed laws which limited the power of the ley Sindical and threatened the Mexican labor movement in its infancy. In response to this syndicalist riots broke out across the country, which was only exacerbated by the ever rising population of vagrant poor in the major cities.
It was on the international stage that President De la Llave proved himself a more capable leader, if only slightly. Several border skirmishes between Mexican border patrols and Anglo settlers in the summer of 1874 immediately incurred the wrath of the United States. Relations between the two powers had warmed in recent years in part thanks to growing commercial ties formed along their common border, but relations cooled significantly soon after the incidents took place, especially in light of México’s refusal to apologize for the settler deaths. Several months later in the spring of 1875 the American government began to make overtures regarding the status of Deseret (a territory the United States still claimed), which prompted México City to militarize the border, while in the United States President Frémont responded in kind and authorized mobilizations along the Continental Divide. While various remedies were proposed regarding the status of the Mormon colony, including a cash settlement which instantly drew the ire of the American public, both nations eventually agreed to a plebiscite to be held the following year.
The referendum of 1876 was widely touted by the American press prior to its very occurrence, subsumed in the general euphoria of the United States’ centennial celebrations that year. When the plebiscite did take place in June, 61% of voters in Deseret chose to remain within México, to the shock of many Americans who were led to believe the significant presence of Anglo settlers would have steered the vote in the USA’s favor. In September approximately 900 rangers led by Colonel John Chivington entered Deseret while chasing bands of Lakota and Cheyenne Indians, with no clear consensus on whether Chivington unwittingly entered Mexican territory or if he intentionally crossed the international border to provocate a response. What was without dispute was his virulent disdain for Indians and Mexicans alike, which may explain why Chivington and his men descended on the mining town of Aguascalientes and massacred all the Mexican and Ute villagers living therein. Upon their arrival to Fort Roque 20 miles to the south survivors of the assault claimed Chivington blamed them for aiding the Lakota and Cheyenne, and on September 23 Territorial Governor Brigham Young ordered Mormon militia to join Mexican regulars to bring the Americans to justice.[8] Two days later the Mormons and Mexicans, now joined by over 1,000 Ute and Arapaho warriors engaged Chivington at the Battle of Rio Blanco, destroying the American force in a double envelopment which killed Chivington and most of his forces with roughly 100 captured prisoners sent to Fort Roque in chains. The Mormon War, as the Americans came to call the conflict, was over before either nation could issue a formal declaration of war. The British initially volunteered to mediate, which the Mexicans agreed to but not the Americans, the latter only relented when France and the Netherlands joined the negotiating table.
Eleventh President of México, Manuel Larráinzar
Matias Romero, México’s Minister Plenipotentiary to the United States, was instrumental in gaining a favorable settlement for México. In exchange for repatriating the imprisoned rangers the United States would honor the results of the plebiscite and drop its claim to Deseret. President De la Llave even agreed to pay $350,000 pesos for the Americans to recognize Deseret as Mexican territory, but Frémont’s negotiators remained intransigent. A $395,000 settlement was eventually reached and in February 1877 all parties signed the Treaty of Washington and formally ended the undeclared war. De la Llave was praised for his diplomatic skill in his handling of the Mormon affair, though the United States’ willingness to settle so quickly was attributed more with the internecine warfare which irregularly plagued the territories of the former Confederation and which saw an escalation in violence that following summer. De la Llave seemed certain he would win reelection during the September 1877 general election, but his primary challenger, Conservative Senator from Chiapas Manuel Larráinzar took advantage of all the new technologies at his disposal, such as traveling across the country by rail or his utilization of the telegraph to reach a broader audience more quickly, and the effort had paid off. The 1877 elections were significant for another reason, namely they were the first to be held with a vastly expanded voting population as the General Suffrage Act of 1876 expanded the franchise to millions of men. As it had been a Liberal initiative, many Liberals were hopeful the election would be a vindication of their platform, so many were disappointed upon learning De la Llave failed to gain the majority of votes. After twenty years of uninterrupted control over the Federal government, the presidency passed into the hands of a new party and on December 1 Senator Larráinzar was inaugurated as the eleventh President of México.
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Notes:
[1] Quejada and Cuchaneca are Hispanic bastardizations of Kwahadi and Kotsoteka respecively.
[2] Just your casual racism folks.
[3]"El Norte viejo" is usually used to refer to the old north, Sonora, Chihuaua, Coahuila, etc.
[4] A lot of the Iglesia de Jesus material is straight from OTL, but I begin to diverge around this point. I feel the movement petered out due to México's instability and lack of resources, both things which have for the most part been remedied here. As a result the movement never becomes irrelevant and eventually subsumed by the Anglicans like in our time.
[5] The convent was partially destroyed in OTL to make way for a new road if I recall correctly. I'd like to imagine TTL someone up high saw the potential tthe building had, and the "disappeared" funds were simply appropriated for the defense of the republic during the Confederate invasion.
[6] The first three men are real, while the last guy is a fictional second son of one of the old landed families.
[7] No War of the Reform means De la Llave never dies in the attempt to rescue him from French imprisonment at Orizaba.
[8] Young's been governor for a good long while now.
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