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Modern History Sourcebook: Francisco Madero: The Plan of San Luis Potosi

November 20, 1910

The Mexican presidential election of 1910 was stolen when Porfirio Diaz - the longtime dictator, had his opponent Madero arrested and imprisoned. Madero took refuge infled to San Antonio, and issued the Plan of San Luis Potosi calling for the nullification of the elections and upon Mexicans to take up arms against the government. The date of its issue marks the beginning of the Mexican Revolution.

Tyranny= cruel and oppressive government

According to Madero, who has the Mexican government tried to serve since Diaz came to power?

Peoples, in their constant efforts for the triumph of the ideal of liberty and justice, are forced, at precise historical moments, to make their greatest sacrifices.

Our beloved country has reached one of those moments. A force of tyranny which we Mexicans were not accustomed to suffer after we won our independence oppresses us in such a manner that it has become intolerable. In exchange for that tyranny we are offered peace, but peace full of shame for the Mexican nation, because its basis is not law, but force; because its object is not the aggrandizement and prosperity of the country, but to enrich a small group who, abusing their influence, have converted the public charges into fountains of exclusively personal benefit, unscrupulously exploiting the manner of lucrative concessions and contracts.

Legislative= power to make laws

Judicial= power of the courts

Executive= power of the President

Martial law= government is run by the military, suspending normal law

According to Madero, who do the laws and the courts serve to help more than the average person?

The legislative and judicial powers are completely subordinated to the executive; the division of powers, the sovereignty of the States, the liberty of the common councils, and the rights of the citizens exist only in writing in our great charter; but, as a fact, it may almost be said that martial law constantly exists in Mexico; the administration of justice, instead of imparting protection to the weak, merely serves to legalize the plunderings committed by the strong; the judges instead of being the representatives of justice, are the agents of the executive, whose interests they faithfully serve; the chambers of the union have no other will than that of the dictator; the governors of the States are designated by him and they in their turn designate and impose in like manner the municipal authorities.

From this it results that the whole administrative, judicial, and legislative machinery obeys a single will, the caprice of General Porfirio Diaz, who during his long administration has shown that the principal motive that guides him is to maintain himself in power and at any cost.

Diaz has made it hard for people to organize to fight back. How are the people feeling about this?

What has Diaz done that is making people want to organize?

For many years profound discontent has been felt throughout the Republic, due to such a system of government, but General Diaz with great cunning and perseverance, has succeeded in annihilating all independent elements, so that it was not possible to organize any sort of movement to take from him the power of which he made such bad use. The evil constantly became worse, and the decided eagerness of General Diaz to impose a successor upon the nations in the person of Mr. Ramon Corral carried that evil to its limit and caused many of us Mexicans, although lacking recognized political standing, since it had been impossible to acquire it during the 36 years of dictatorship, to throw ourselves into the struggle to recover the sovereignty of the people and their rights on purely democratic grounds....

The will of the people and their power cannot be done away with by corrupt leaders.

In Mexico, as a democratic Republic, the public power can have no other origin nor other basis than the will of the people, and the latter can not be subordinated to formulas to be executed in a fraudulent manner. . . ,

Describe the context that has led the Mexican people to protest:

For this reason the Mexican people have protested against the illegality of the last election and, desiring to use successively all the recourses offered by the laws of the Republic, in due form asked for the nullification of the election by the Chamber of Deputies, notwithstanding they recognized no legal origin in said body and knew beforehand that, as its members were not the representatives of the people, they would carry out the will of General Diaz, to whom exclusively they owe their investiture.

Democratic= organized by the people

Manifestation= something coming into reality

What is a democratic manifestation in this context?

What happened to these people who tried to democratically organize?

In such a state of affairs the people, who are the only sovereign, also protested energetically against the election in imposing manifestations in different parts of the Republic; and if the latter were not general throughout the national territory, It was due to the terrible pressure exercised by the Government, which always quenches in blood any democratic manifestation, as happened in Puebla, Vera Cruz, Tlaxcala, and in other places.

But this violent and illegal system can no longer subsist.

Why are the people interested in having Madero as their President?

I have very well realized that if the people have designated me as their candidate. for the Presidency it is not because they have had an opportunity to discover in me the qualities of a statesman or of a ruler, but the virility of the patriot determined to sacrifice himself, if need be, to obtain liberty and to help the people free themselves from the odious tyranny that oppresses them.

How have the Mexican people responded to this election?

How have the Mexican people been treated when they have tried to vote?

From the moment I threw myself into the democratic struggle I very well knew that General Diaz would not bow to the will of the nation, and the noble Mexican people, in following me to the polls, also knew perfectly the outrage that awaited them; but in spite of it, the people gave the cause of liberty a numerous contingent of martyrs when they were necessary and with wonderful stoicism went to the polls and received every sort of molestation.

Based on the fact that people went to he polls despite being harassed, what does this show about their beliefs?

But such conduct was indispensable to show to the whole world that the Mexican people are fit for democracy, that they are thirsty for liberty, and that their present rulers do not measure up to their aspirations.

Besides, the attitude of the people before and during the election, as well as afterwards, shows clearly that they reject with energy the Government of General Diaz and that, if those electoral rights had been respected, I would have been elected for President of the Republic.

What action does Madero take after declaring the latest election illegal?

Therefore, and in echo of the national will, I declare the late election illegal and, the Republic being accordingly without rulers, provisionally assume the Presidency of the Republic until the people designate their rulers pursuant to the law. In order to attain this end, it is necessary to eject from power the audacious usurpers whose only title of legality involves a scandalous and immoral fraud.

With all honesty I declare that it would be a weakness on my part and treason to the people, who have placed their confidence in me, not to put myself at the front of my fellow citizens, who anxiously call me from all parts of the country, to compel General Diaz by force of arms, to respect the national will.

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1911, The Plan de Ayala, by Emiliano Zapata

From United States Congress, Senate Subcommittee on Foreign Relations, Revolutions in Mexico, 62nd Congress, 2nd Session (Washington, D.C.: Government Printing Office, 1913), pp. 730-736, passim.

Junta= a military or political group that rules a country after taking power by force

Liberating Plan of the sons of the State of Morelos, affiliated with the Insurgent Army which defends the fulfillment of the Plan of San Luis, with the reforms which it has believed proper to add in benefit of the Mexican Fatherland.

We who undersign, constituted in a revolutionary junta to sustain and carry out the promises which the revolution of November 20, 1910 just past, made to the country, declare solemnly before the face of the civilized world which judges us and before the nation to which we belong and which we call [amamos, love], propositions which we have formulated to end the tyranny which oppresses us and redeem the fatherland from the dictatorships which are imposed on us, which [propositions] are determined in the following plan:

What does Zapata think of Madero?

Why does Zapata think Madero double crossed (or was a traitor to) the revolution?

1. Taking into consideration that the Mexican people led by Don Francisco I. Madero went to shed their blood to reconquer liberties and recover their rights which had been trampled on, and not for a man to take possession of power, violating the sacred principles which he took an oath to defend under the slogan "Effective Suffrage and No Reelection," outraging thus the faith, the cause, the justice, and the liberties of the people: taking into consideration that that man to whom we refer is Don Francisco I. Madero, the same who initiated the above-cited revolution, who imposed his will and influence as a governing norm on the Provisional Government of the ex-President of the Republic Attorney Francisco L. de Barra, causing with this deed repeated sheddings of blood and multiplicate misfortunes for the fatherland in a manner deceitful and ridiculous, having no intentions other than satisfying his personal ambitions, his boundless instincts as a tyrant, and his profound disrespect for the fulfillment of the preexisting laws emanating from the immortal code of '57, written with the revolutionary blood of Ayutla;

According to Zapata, how has Madero addressed the corrupt systems of Porfirio Díaz?

According to Zapata, what of the Plan de San Luis Potosí has Madero followed through with?

Taking into account that the so-called Chief of the Liberating Revolution of Mexico, Don Francisco I. Madero, through lack of integrity and the highest weakness, did not carry to a happy end the revolution which gloriously he initiated with the help of God and the people, since he left standing most of the governing powers and corrupted elements of oppression of the dictatorial government of Porfirio Díaz, which are not nor can in any way be the representation of National Sovereignty, and which, for being most bitter adversaries of ours and of the principles which even now we defend, are provoking the discomfort of the country and opening new wounds in the bosom of the fatherland, to give it its own blood to drink; taking also into account that the aforementioned Sr. Francisco I. Madero, present President of the Republic, tries to avoid the fulfillment of the promises which he made to the Nation in the Plan of San Luis Potosí, being restricting the above-cited promises to the agreements of Ciudad Juárez, by means of false promises and numerous intrigues against the Nation nullifying, pursuing, jailing, or killing revolutionary elements who helped him to occupy the high post of President of the Republic;

Pueblos= rural villages & farmers

How is Madero interacting with the rural people?

Which people from Díaz’s rule has Madero kept in power?

Taking into consideration that the so-often-repeated Francisco I. Madero has tried with the brute force of bayonets to shut up and to drown in blood the pueblos who ask, solicit, or demand from him the fulfillment of the promises of the revolution, calling them bandits and rebels, condemning them to a war of extermination without conceding or granting a single one of the guarantees which reason, justice, and the law prescribe; taking equally into consideration that the President of the Republic Francisco I. Madero has made of Effective Suffrage a bloody trick on the people, already against the will of the same people imposing Attorney José M. Pino Suárez in the Vice-Presidency of the Republic, or [imposing as] Governors of the States [men] designated by him, like the so-called General Ambrosio Figueroa, scourge and tyrant of the people of Morelos, or entering into scandalous cooperation with the científico party, feudal landlords, and oppressive bosses, enemies of the revolution proclaimed by him, so as to forge new chains and follow the pattern of a new dictatorship more shameful and more terrible than that of Porfirio Díaz, for it has been clear and patent that he has outraged the sovereignty of the States, trampling on the laws without any respect for lives or interests, as has happened in the State of Morelos, and others, leading them to the most horrendous anarchy which contemporary history registers.

Inept= incompetent; unable to fulfill a job

Whom does Zapata say Madero is helping?

Who does Zapata say Madero is not helping?

Therefore, Zapata plans to...

For these considerations we declare the aforementioned Francisco I. Madero inept at realizing the promises of the revolution of which he was the author, because he has betrayed the principles with which he tricked the will of the people and was able to get into power: incapable of governing, because he has no respect for the law and justice of the pueblos, and a traitor to the fatherland, because he is humiliating in blood and fire Mexicans who want liberties, so as to please the científicos, landlords, and bosses who enslave us, and from today on we begin to continue the revolution begun by him, until we achieve the overthrow of the dictatorial powers which exist.

Who does Zapata declare will replace Madero?

If the above person does not accept this position, who will take the position?

2. Recognition is withdrawn from Sr. Francisco I. Madero as Chief of the Revolution and as President of the Republic, for the reasons which before were expressed, it being attempted to overthrow this official.

3. Recognized as Chief of the Liberating Revolution is the illustrious General Pascual Orozco, the second of the Leader Don Francisco I. Madero, and in case he does not accept this delicate post, recognition as Chief of the Revolution will go to General Don Emiliano Zapata.

According to Zapata, what will this new Revolutionary Junta [organized group] defend?

What beliefs do they hold?

What is being done with the land?

4. The Revolutionary Junta of the State of Morelos manifests to the Nation under formal oath: that it makes its own the plan of San Luis Potosí, with the additions which are expressed below in benefit of the oppressed pueblos, and it will make itself the defender of the principles it defends until victory or death.

5. The Revolutionary Junta of the State of Morelos will admit no transactions or compromises until it achieves the overthrow of the dictatorial elements of Porfirio Díaz and Francisco I. Madero, for the nation is tired of false men and traitors who make promises like liberators and who on arriving in power forget them and constitute themselves as tyrants.

6. As an additional part of the plan we invoke, we give notice: that [regarding] the fields, timber, and water which the landlords, científicos, or bosses have usurped, the pueblos or citizens who have the titles corresponding to those properties will immediately enter into possession of that real estate of which they have been despoiled by the bad faith of our oppressors, maintaining at any cost with arms in hand the mentioned possession; and the usurpers who consider themselves with a right to them [those properties] will deduce it before the special tribunals which will be established on the triumph of the revolution

Monopolized= controlled exclusively by one group

Expropriate= take away

How does Zapata think giving land back to people of the pueblos will help them?

7. In virtue of the fact that the immense majority of Mexican pueblos and citizens are owners of no more than the land they walk on, suffering the horrors of poverty without being able to improve their social condition in any way or to dedicate themselves to Industry or Agriculture, because lands, timber, and water are monopolized in a few hands, for this cause there will be expropriated the third part of those monopolies from the powerful proprietors of them, with prior indemnization, in order that the pueblos and citizens of Mexico may obtain ejidos, colonies, and foundations for pueblos, or fields for sowing or laboring, and the Mexicans' lack of prosperity and wellbeing may improve in all and for all.

Nationalize= transfer control from a private individual to control of the state

Indemnizations= compensation

How does Zapata want to spend the money of the wealth landowners?

8. [Regarding] The landlords, científicos, or bosses who oppose the present plan directly or indirectly, their goods will be nationalized and the two third parts which [otherwise would] belong to them will go for indemnizations of war, pensions for widows and orphans of the victims who succumb in the struggle for the present plan.

...

According to this plan, how will the new government view the followers of Madero?

10. The insurgent military chiefs of the Republic who rose up with arms in hand at the voice of Don Francisco I. Madero to defend the plan of San Luis Potosí, and who oppose with armed force the present plan, will be judged traitors to the cause which they defended and to the fatherland, since at present many of them, to humor the tyrants, for a fistful of coins, or for bribes or connivance, are shedding the blood of their brothers who claim the fulfillment of the promises which Don Francisco I. Madero made to the nation.

...

Once this revolution occurs, how will new leaders be decided?

12. Once triumphant the revolution which we carry into the path of reality, a Junta of the principal revolutionary chiefs from the different States will name or designate an interim President of the Republic, who will convoke elections for the organization of the federal powers.

13. The principal revolutionary chiefs of each State will designate in Junta the Governor of the State to which they belong, and this appointed official will convoke elections for the due organization of the public powers, the object being to avoid compulsory appointments which work the misfortune of the pueblos, like the so-well-known appointment of Ambrosio Figueroa in the State of Morelos and others who drive us to the precipice of bloody conflicts, sustained by the caprice of the dictator Madero and the circle of científicos and landlords who have influenced him.

Renunciation= formally reject

What does Zapata offer Madero the opportunity to do?

14. If President Madero and other dictatorial elements of the present and former regime want to avoid the immense misfortunes which afflict the fatherland, and [if they] possess true sentiments of love for it, let them make immediate renunciation of the posts they occupy and with that they will with something staunch the grave wounds which they have opened in the bosom of the fatherland, since, if they do not do so, on their heads will fall the blood and the anathema of our brothers.

How does Zapata use ethos, pathos, or logos to motivate the people to follow him in the revolution?

15. Mexicans: consider that the cunning and bad faith of one man is shedding blood in a scandalous manner, because he is incapable of governing; consider that his system of government is choking the fatherland and trampling with the brute force of bayonets on our institutions; and thus, as we raised up our weapons to elevate him to power, we again raise them up against him for defaulting on his promises to the Mexican people and for having betrayed the revolution initiated by him, we are not personalists, we are partisans of principles and not of men!

Mexican People, support this plan with arms in hand and you will make the prosperity and well-being of the fatherland.

.

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Guadalupe Plan: Manifesto to the Nation

March 26, 1913 By Venustiano Caranza in response to the overthrow and execution of Francisco I. Madero.

From John Womack, Jr, Zapata and the Mexican Revolution (New York: Vintage Books, 1968, 400-404).

What does Caranza think about the actions of Zapata against Madero?

Considering that General Victoriano Huerta, to whom the constitutional President Don Francisco I. Madero had trusted the defense of the institutions and legality of his Government, when siding with the enemies who rebelled against that same Government, to restore the latest dictatorship, committed the crime of treason to scale in power, arresting the President and Vice-president, as well as their Ministers, demanding of them by violent means to renounce their posts, which is verified by the messages that the same General Huerta sent to the Governors of the States communicating to them that he had taken prisoner the Supreme Magistrates of the Nation and their Cabinet. Considering that the Legislative and Judicial Powers in spite of the laws and constitutional rules have recognized and protected General Victoriano Huerta and his illegal and unpatriotic procedures, and considering, finally, that some Governments of the States of the Union have recognized the illegitimate Government imposed by that part of the Army that carried out the treason, headed by the same general Huerta, in spite of having violated the sovereignty of those States, whose Governors should have been the first to not recognize him, the following subscribers, Chiefs and Officers commanding the constitutional forces, have agreed and will sustain with arms the following:

PLAN

1º. - General Victoriano Huerta is not recognized as President of the Republic.

2º. - The Legislative and Judicial Powers of the Federation are also not recognized.

3º. - The Governments of the States that still recognize the Federal Powers that form the present Administration, are also not recognized thirty days after the publication of this Plan.

Whom does Caranza give power to become Governor of Coahuila?

When will Caranza call for elections?

4º. - For the organization of the army entrusted with fulfilling our intentions, we name as First Chief of the Army that will be denominated "Constitutionalist", the citizen Venustiano Carranza, Governor of the State of Coahuila.

5º. - When the Constitutionalist Army occupies Mexico City, the citizen Venustiano Carranza, First Chief of the Army, will be in interim charge of the Executive Power, or whoever would have substituted him in command.

6º.- The interim president of the republic will call for general elections as soon as the peace has been consolidated, handing over power to the citizen who is elected.

7º.- The citizen acting as First Chief of the Constitutionalist Army in the states whose governments have recognized that of Huerta, will assume command as provisional governor and will call for local elections, after having taken possession of their posts the citizens having been elected to carry out the powers of the federation, as called for by the previous rule. 

Note: This document was the immediate answer of the constitutionalist forces against the militay coup d'etat against the Madero regime which, from its inception confronted uprisings from civilian and military groups discontent with its way of governing, seeking the restoration of the Porfirista regime. The most important were the revolts headed by Generals Bernardo Reyes, in November 1911 and Félix Díaz in October 1912. Once the Plan de Guadalupe was drafted, among the principal signers of this document were Jacinto B. Treviño, Lucio Blanco, Cesáreo Castro y Alfredo Breceda.

The Constitutionalist Army, headed by Venustiano Carranza, and with the Plan of Guadalupe as its standard, managed to defeat to the Federal Army in August of 1914, thus initiating another stage of the history of Mexico that culminated in February of 1917 with the promulgation of the Political Constitution of the United States of Mexico, whose text incorporated the principal demands of the revolutionary groups.

The Plan of Guadalupe of March 26, 1913, Venustiano Carranza would say in 1917, was "the war cry that the most select of the Mexican youth propelled to the four corners of the nation against the triumphant iniquity, and that cry was no more than the vibrant and sonorous expression of the national conscience, expression that reassumed the firm intention, the deliberate will of the Mexican people of not consenting any more that the pretorianism would again seize the destinies of the Nation. . . Under such virtue, with the Plan of Guadalupe it was perfectly planted the issue of legality against the usurpation of the law, against the disturbance of the free institutions; against the military dictatorship."

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1917 Constitution of Mexico

By: The Constituent Congress of 1917

TITLE ONE

Chapter I

Individual Guarantees

Article 1. Every person in the United Mexican States shall enjoy the guarantees granted by this Constitution, which cannot be restricted or suspended except in such cases and under such conditions as are herein provided

Article 2. Slavery is forbidden in the United Mexican States. Slaves who enter national territory from abroad shall, by this act alone, recover their freedom and enjoy the protection afforded by the laws.

Article 3.(1) The education imparted by the Federal State shall be designed to develop harmoniously all the faculties of the human being and shall foster in him at the same time a love of country and a consciousness of international solidarity, in independence and justice.

I. Freedom of religious beliefs being guaranteed by Article 24, the standard which shall guide such education shall be maintained entirely apart from any religious  doctrine and, based on the results of scientific progress, shall strive against ignorance and its effects, servitudes, fanaticism, and prejudices. Moreover:         a. It shall be democratic, considering democracy not only as a legal structure and a political regimen, but as a system of life founded on a constant  economic, social, and cultural betterment of the people;         b. It shall be national insofar as -- without hostility or exclusiveness -it shall achieve the understanding of our problems, the utilization of our resources, the defense of our political independence, the assurance of our economic independence, and the continuity and growth of our culture; and         c. It shall contribute to better human relationships, not only with the elements which it contributes toward strengthening and at the same time inculcating, together with respect for the dignity of the person and the integrity of the family, the conviction of the general interest of society, but also by the care which it devotes to the ideals of brotherhood and equality of rights of all men, avoiding privileges of race, creed, class, sex, or persons. 

II. Private persons may engage in education of all kinds and grades. But as regards elementary, secondary, and normal education (and that of any kind or grade designed for laborers and farm workers) they must previously obtain, in every case, the express authorization of the public power. Such authorization may be refused or revoked by decisions against which there can be no judicial proceedings or recourse. 

III. Private institutions devoted to education of the kinds and grades specified in the preceding section must be without exception in conformity with the provisions of sections I and II of the first paragraph of this article and must also be in harmony with official plans and programs. 

  IV. Religious corporations, ministers of religion, stock companies which exclusively or predominantly engage in educational activities, and associations or companies devoted to propagation of any religious creed shall not in any way participate in institutions giving elementary, secondary and normal education and education for laborers or field workers

VI. Elementary education shall be compulsory. 

VII. All education given by the State shall be free. 

VIII. The Congress of the Union, with a view to unifying and coordinating education throughout the Republic, shall issue the necessary laws for dividing the social function of education among the Federation, the States and the Municipalities, for fixing the appropriate financial allocations for this public service and for establishing the penalties applicable to officials who do not comply with or enforce the pertinent provisions, as well as the penalties applicable to all those who infringe such provisions.

Article 4. No person can be prevented from engaging in the profession, industrial or commercial pursuit, or occupation of his choice, provided it is lawful. The exercise of this liberty shall only be forbidden by judicial order when the rights of third parties are infringed, or by administrative order, issued in the manner provided by law, when the rights of society are violated. No one may be deprived of the fruits of his labor except by judicial decision.

The law in each state shall determine the professions which may be practiced only with a degree, and set forth the requirements for obtaining it and the authorities empowered to issue it.

Article 5.(2) No one can be compelled to render personal services without due remuneration and without his full consent, excepting labor imposed as a penalty by the judiciary, which shall be governed by the provisions of clauses I and II of Article 123.

Only the following public services shall be obligatory, subject to the conditions set forth in the respective laws: military service and jury service as well as the discharge of the office of municipal councilman and offices of direct or indirect popular election. Duties in relation to elections and the census shall be compulsory and unpaid. Professional services of a social character shall be compulsory and paid according to the provisions of law and with the exceptions fixed thereby.

The State cannot permit the execution of any contract, covenant, or agreement having for its object the restriction, loss or irrevocable sacrifice of the liberty of man, whether for work, education, or religious vows. The law, therefore, does not permit the establishment of monastic orders, whatever be their denomination or purpose.

Likewise no person can legally agree to his own proscription or exile, or to the temporary or permanent renunciation of the exercise of a given profession or industrial or commercial pursuit.

A labor contract shall be binding only to render the services agreed on for the time set by law and may never exceed one year to the detriment of the worker, and in no case may it embrace the waiver, loss, or restriction of any civil or political right.

Non-compliance with such contract by the worker shall only render him civilly liable for damages, but in no case shall it imply coercion against his person.

Article 6. The expression of ideas shall not be subject to any judicial or administrative investigation, unless it offends good morals, infringes the rights of others, incites to crime, or disturbs the public order.

Article 7. Freedom of writing and publishing writings on any subject is inviolable. No law or authority may establish censorship, require bonds from authors or printers, or restrict the freedom of printing, which shall be limited only by the respect due to private life, morals, and public peace. Under no circumstances may a printing press be sequestrated as the instrument of the offense.

The organic laws shall contain whatever provisions may be necessary to prevent the imprisonment of the vendors, newsboys, workmen, and other employees of the establishment publishing the work denounced, under pretext of a denunciation of offenses of the press, unless their guilt is previously established.

The Mexican Revolution and the United States in the Collections of the Library of CongressViewpoints on Women in the RevolutionSoldaderas and the Mexican Revolution

Women fought on the battlefield during the Mexican Revolution. Soldaderas or female soldiers, with rebel or federal forces, fought either by choice or coercion. Soldadera comes from the word soldada, or soldier’s pay. The men gave their wages to women to pay for food, meal preparation, clothes cleaning, and other services. Soldaderas often did many things besides domestic chores. Some women willingly followed soldiers, believing it safer than remaining where they were. Most were unmarried and without children and could move freely. When the troops took a place, they often seized guns, horses, and women, some of whom became soldaderas.

During the Revolution, soldaderas were so important that leaders among the Zapatistas included coronelas (female colonels) in their lists of troops with the coronels (their male counterparts). When the Secretary of War, Ángel García Peña tried to keep soldaderas from fighting, federal leaders warned of revolts among the troops. Yet, Villa believed soldaderas slowed troop progress. Villa let them march because he needed more troops and the men wanted soldaderas. After Villista forces lost the battle of Horcasitas, Chihuahua in 1917, Villa angrily massacred a group of 90 women in the city of Camargo.

Margarita Neri

Margarita Neri was one of the few women singled out during the Revolution. Born in Quintana Roo in 1865, Neri was a landowner prior to the Revolution. After she was abandoned by men during the fighting, Neri raised her own troops, numbering about 200 workers at the beginning and increasing to 1,000 in just two months. Her forces followed her because she could shoot and ride as well as any of them. She led her troops through Tabasco and Chiapas on looting raids, frightening the governor of Guerrero so thoroughly he fled in a shipping crate when he learned of her approach. Stories about her contradict each other, so it is hard to know what to believe. Eventually she was executed, but who gave the order and when it took place remains unknown.

The Mexican Revolution and the United States in the Collections of the Library of CongressOverview & Timeline

Presidents Benito Juárez (1858-1872) and Porfirio Díaz (1876-1880, 1884-1911), who brought peace, stability, and economic progress to Mexico, coupled with repression and dictatorship. In 1908, Díaz told U.S. reporter James Creelman that he thought Mexico was ready for democracy and that he might be willing to step down as President.

The interview was quickly published in Mexico and soon Francisco Madero, son of a hacendado in the northern state of Coahuila, wrote and published the seminal book, “La Sucesión presidencial en 1910,” in which he put forth his candidacy for the presidency. Díaz tried to stop Madero, but the young man wanted to bring real democracy to his country. His determination and the wretched conditions forced on Mexicans by Porfirian modernization, among many other movements and events, led to a revolution lasting until 1917.

The section on Madero takes him from his famous book to his unanticipated victory over federal troops in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua in May 1911. But even as Madero was riding triumphantly into Mexico City, Emiliano Zapata was demanding the return of lands grabbed by agribusiness in the state of Morelos. Zapata wasn’t the only threat to the Madero presidency. Many of his former allies, including Pascual Orozco and Emilio Vásquez Gómez, rebelled against him, as did his enemies such as Bernardo Reyes, former governor of Nuevo León, and Félix Díaz, nephew of the former president abetted by the U.S. Ambassador, Henry Lane Wilson. In February 1913, President Madero and Vice-President José Pino Súarez were assassinated.

Victoriano Huerta, leader of the army, took over as former Madero supporters and some of his enemies rose up in the name of the slain leader. Unhappily for Huerta, Woodrow Wilson was inaugurated as President of the United States just as the new Mexican president sought recognition. Although many other countries saw no problem in accepting the man known to his opponents as “the Usurper,” Wilson steadfastly refused to support the unelected leader and provided help to his opposition. Part of his favor to the rebels consisted of a U.S. invasion of Mexico’s Gulf Coast and the stationing of U.S. troops in Veracruz in 1914.

Once Huerta resigned the Presidency, those who had opposed the regime in the name of Madero began fighting among themselves. They seemingly divided according to their support of the Convention held in Aguascalientes. Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata agreed to ally with the Conventionists against former senator Venustiano Carranza, known as the First Chief, and his general Álvaro Obregón. Obregón discovered ways to defeat Villa’s cavalry and decimated his troops in 1915. Zapata, for his part, never marched north of Mexico City. Carranza achieved U.S. recognition and the Mexican Presidency. Although neither Villa nor Zapata ever became president, their struggles for local interests captured the imagination of Mexicans and students abroad in a way that the more prosaic Carranza and Obregón never did.

March 1908

Pearson's Magazine publishes "Creelman interview" with President Díaz, stating that Mexico is ready for democracy and a new leader.

October 1910

Francisco Madero writes "Plan of San Luis Potosí" in San Antonio, Texas, calling for all Mexicans to rise up against the dictator on November 20, 1910.

Late 1910

Francisco Madero persuades Pascual Orozco and Francisco "Pancho" Villa to join the revolution.

March 1911

Emiliano Zapata leads uprising of villagers in Morelos for land and water rights. Simultaneously armed revolts begin in other parts of Mexico.

May 10, 1911

Orozco and Villa capture Ciudad Juárez (sister city to El Paso).

May 25, 1911

Francisco Madero elected President of Mexico.

March 1912

Pascual Orozco leads rebellion in Chihuahua, after losing gubernatorial election. General Victoriano Huerta, representing Madero, defeats Orozco and arrests Pancho Villa.

February 18, 1913

Huerta leads coup against Madero, who is deposed, arrested and jailed.

February 22, 1913

President Madero and Vice President Pino Suárez are shot to death. Huerta declares himself President of Mexico.

March 1913

United States declares itself against Huerta.

April 1913

Venustiano Carranza, governor of Coahuila, is declared First Chief in the fight against Huerta ("The Usurper") and including both Villa and Zapata. Alvaro Obregón leads Carranza's army.

April 21, 1914

United States forces occupy Veracruz.

June 15, 1914

Huerta resigns as President and flees to Europe on a German ship.

June 23, 1914

Zacatecas captured by Villa's "División del Norte."

November 1914

World War I starts in Europe. United States leaves Veracruz.

October 19, 1915

United States recognizes Venustiano Carranza as provisional President of Mexico.

March 9, 1916

Pancho Villa sacks Columbus, New Mexico in retaliation for the United States' recognition of his enemy Carranza. Eight U.S. soldiers and 10 U.S. civilians killed.

March 1916

General John J. Pershing leads a force into Mexico in a futile search for Villa.

February 5, 1917

Mexico adopts the Constitution of 1917, claiming rights over the subsoil, instituting new regulations to benefit organized labor and decreeing sanctions against the Catholic Church.

April 6, 1917

United States declares war on Germany.

April 10, 1919

Zapata slain in ambush.

June 1, 1919

Obregón announces his campaign for the presidency.

April 20, 1920

Obregón declares himself in revolt against Carranza, whose support collapses.

May 20, 1920

Carranza murdered.

October 26, 1920

Obregón elected President.

November 30, 1920

Obregón sworn in as President. The Revolution is over.

Emiliano Zapata

Biography.com

Military Leader (1879–1919)

Emiliano Zapata was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution (1910–1920), during which he formed and commanded the Liberation Army of the South, an important revolutionary brigade. Followers of Zapata were known as Zapatistas.

Synopsis

Born on August 8, 1879, Anenecuilco, Mexico, Emiliano Zapata was a Mexican revolutionary and advocate of agrarianism who fought in guerrilla actions during the Mexican Revolution. He formed and commanded the Liberation Army of the South, an important revolutionary brigade, and his followers were known as Zapatistas. Zapata died on April 10, 1919.

Early Years

Born on August 8, 1879, Emiliano Zapata was orphaned at the age of 17. A revolutionary from an early age, in 1897 he was arrested because he took part in a protest by the peasants of his village against the hacienda (plantation) that had appropriated their lands. After he was pardoned, he continued to agitate among the peasants, and because of his rabble-rousing, he was subsequently drafted into the Mexican army. In 1909 his leadership skills were already well known, and he was summoned to his village of birth, Anenecuilco, where he was elected as the village’s council board president.

Early Agrarian Battles

A man of the people, Emiliano Zapata became a leading figure in Anenecuilco, where his family had lived for many generations, and he became involved in the struggles of the local peasant farmers. There were many conflicts between villagers and landowners over the continual theft of village land, and in one instance, the landowners set an entire village on fire in response to peasant protests. Zapata managed to oversee the return of the land from some haciendas peacefully, but it was an ongoing struggle. At one point, after failed negotiations, Zapata and a group of peasants occupied by force the land that had been appropriated by the haciendas and distributed it among themselves.

During this time, and for many years to follow, Zapata continued to faithfully campaign for the rights of the villagers, using ancient title deeds to establish their claims to disputed land, and then pressuring the governor of the region to act. Finally, in the face of the glacial pace of governmental response and the clear favoritism toward the wealthy plantation owners, Zapata started to use force, simply taking over the disputed land and distributing it as he saw fit.

The Revolution Begins

Around this time, Mexican president Porfirio Díaz was being threatened by the candidacy of Francisco Madero, who had lost the 1910 election to Díaz but had subsequently fled the country, declared himself president and then returned to confront Díaz.

In Madero, Zapata saw an opportunity to promote land reform in Mexico, and he made a quiet alliance with Madero. Zapata was wary about Madero, but he cooperated once Madero made promises about land reform, the only issue Zapata truly cared about.

In 1910, Zapata joined Madero’s campaign against President Díaz, taking on an important role as the general of the Ejército Libertador del Sur (Liberation Army of the South). Zapata’s army captured Cuautla after a six-day battle in May 1911, a clear indication that Díaz’s grasp on power was tenuous at best. The battle was described as "six of the most terrible days of battle in the whole Revolution,” and it was clearly a clarion call to the Zapatistas. When Díaz’s men withdrew, Zapata’s forces took control of the town.  This defeat, paired with defeat at the First Battle of Ciudad Juárez at the hands of Pancho Villa and Pascual Orozco, led Díaz to determine that his time was up. A week later, he resigned and headed to Europe, leaving behind a provisional president.

Francisco Madero entered Mexico City in victory, and Zapata met him there to ask him to exert pressure on the provisional president to return misappropriated land to its original landowners, again returning to the cause most deeply embedded in his heart.

Madero insisted on the disarmament of Zapata’s guerrillas and offered Zapata money to buy land if he could ensure the disarmament. Zapata rejected the offer but began to disarm his forces regardless. He soon stopped the process, however, when the provisional government sent the military to confront the guerrillas.

The Revolution Deepens: The Plan of Ayala

Following Zapata’s rebuff of Madero’s offer, relations between the two soured, and in the summer of 1911, Madero appointed a governor who supported plantation owners’ rights over those of the peasant farmers, angering Zapata. Attempts at compromise between the two fell flat in November 1911, days after Madero became president of Mexico, and Zapata fled to the mountains.

Disillusioned with Madero’s stances on land ownership and his post-revolutionary stances generally, Zapata prepared the Plan of Ayala, which declared Madero incapable of fulfilling the initial and ongoing goals of the revolution.

With the Plan of Ayala, the Revolution was renewed, this time with Madero in its sights instead of Díaz. The Plan promised to appoint a provisional president until there could be legitimate elections and pledged to buy back a third of the (stolen) land area held by the haciendas and return it to the farmers. Any hacienda that refused to accept this plan would have their lands taken, without recompense.

Zapata also adopted the slogan "Tierra y Libertad" ("Land and Liberty").

With Zapata’s Revolution an ongoing event, in 1913 General Victoriano Huerta  assassinated Francisco Madero and took control of the country. Huerta soon approached Zapata, offering to unite their troops, but Zapata rejected Huerta's offer.

This prevented Huerta from sending his troops to confront the guerrillas of the north, who, under the direction of Venustiano Carranza, had organized a new army, led by Pancho Villa, to defeat him. Huerta was then forced to leave the country in July 1914.

Pancho Villa

Biography.com

Military Leader(1878–1923)

Pancho Villa was a top military leader of the Mexican Revolution whose exploits were regularly filmed by a Hollywood company.

Synopsis

Born on June 5, 1878, in San Juan del Rio, Durango, Mexico, Pancho Villa started off as a bandit who was later inspired by reformer Francisco Madero, helping him to win the Mexican Revolution. After a coup by Victoriano Huerta, Villa formed his own army to oppose the dictator, with more battles to follow as Mexican leadership remained in a state of flux. He was assassinated on July 20, 1923, in Parral, Mexico.

Birth of a Bandit

Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa was born Doroteo Arango on June 5, 1878, in San Juan del Rio, Durango. Villa spent much of his youth helping out on his parents' farm. After his father's death when Villa was only 15 years old, he became head of the household. With his new role as protector of his houshold, he shot a man who was harassing one of his sisters in 1894. He fled, spending six years on the run in the mountains. While there, he joined a group of fugitives and became a bandit.

Although the specifics of what occurred in Villa's life during this time are unknown, it's confirmed that he changed his name while on the run to avoid getting caught by the authorities. In the late 1890s, he worked as a miner in Chihuahua in addition to selling stolen cattle. But it wasn't long before he added more serious crimes to his record, robbing banks and taking from the wealthy.

Mexican Revolutionary Leader

In 1910, while still living as a fugitive, Pancho Villa joined Francisco's Madero successful uprising against Mexican dictator Porfirio Díaz. With Villa's skills as at reading, writing, fighting and his knowledge of the land, Madero was named a revolutionary leader and his company won the first Battle of Ciudad Juárez in 1911. The rebels eventually drove Díaz out of power, and Madero took the position of president, having named Villa a colonel.

It wasn't smooth sailing under the authority of the new government, as Madero's position was challenged by another rebellion, this time led by Pascual Orozco—a revolutionary who worked with Madero and felt scorned by his position in under Madero's regime—in 1912. General Victoriano Huerta and Villa sought to protect Madero's newfound authority, but after Huerta accused Villa of stealing his horse, Villa's execution was ordered. Although Madero was able to grant Villa a reprieve shortly before his execution, he was still required to serve time in prison in June 1912.

After escaping in December, it was revealed that Huerta was now against Madero's regime, and he assassinated Madero on February 22, 1913. As Huerta rose to power, Villa teamed up with a former ally, Emiliano Zapata, and Venustiano Carranza to overthrow the new president. As an experienced revolutionary leader, Villa controlled much of northern Mexico military forces during the revolt. Known as Division del Norte, or "Division of the North," Villa led soldiers into battles by the droves, to the pleasure of onlookers the United States.

Lights, Camera, Revolution

The fact that the majority of Villa's battles were on the northern border of Mexico brought the revolutionary to the spotlight in terms of photographs and stories covering the events in Mexico. And surprisingly, the bandit who once hid his presence and changed his name to avoid attention loved being photographed. He even signed a contract with Hollywood's Mutual Film Company in 1913 to have several of his battles filmed.

Civil Unrest and Death

The U.S. supported Villa in more ways than simply behind a lens. After the numerous battles that occurred, Carranza rose to power in 1914. Disappointed with Carranza's skills as a leader, a rebellion broke out yet again, with Villa joining forces with Zapata and President Woodrow Wilson to bring down Carranza. With Mexico's move towards democracy under Carranza, Woodrow withdrew his support of Villa the following year, leading to Villa kidnapping and killing 18 Americans in January 1916. Only months later, on March 9, 1916, Villa led several rebels in a raid of Columbus, New Mexico, where they ravaged the small town and killed 19 additional people.

Wilson retaliated by sending General John Pershing to Mexico in order to capture Villa. Despite Carranza's support in searching for Villa, the two hunts that occurred in 1916 and 1919 for the Mexican rebel produced no results. In 1920, Carranza was assassinated and Adolfo De la Huerta  became the president of Mexico. In an effort to restore peace to the unstable nation, De la Huerta negotiated with Villa for his withdrawal from the battlefield. Villa agreed and retired as a revolutionary in 1920. He was killed three years later on July 20, 1923, in Parral, Mexico.

Mexican Revolution

WRITTEN BY:  The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Mexican Revolution, (1910–20), a long and bloody struggle among several factions in constantly shifting alliances which resulted ultimately in the end of the 30-year dictatorship in Mexico and the establishment of a constitutional republic. The revolution began against a background of widespread dissatisfaction with the elitist and oligarchical policies of Porfirio Díaz that favoured wealthy landowners and industrialists. When Díaz in 1908 said that he welcomed the democratization of Mexican political life and appeared ambivalent about running for his seventh reelection as president in 1910, Francisco Madero emerged as the leader of the Antireeleccionistas and announced his candidacy. Díaz had him arrested and declared himself the winner after a mock election in June, but Madero, released from prison, published his Plan de San Luis Potosí from San Antonio, Texas, calling for a revolt on November 20. The revolt was a failure, but it kindled revolutionary hope in many quarters. In the north, Pascual Orozco and Pancho Villa mobilized their ragged armies and began raiding government garrisons. In the south, Emiliano Zapata waged a bloody campaign against the local caciques (rural political bosses). In the spring of 1911 the revolutionary forces took Ciudad Juárez, forced Díaz to resign, and declared Madero president.

Battle of Columbus

March 8, 1916 - March 9, 1916

Madero’s regime faltered from the start. Zapata turned against him, angered at his failure to effect the immediate restoration of land to dispossessed Indians. Orozco, initially a supporter of Madero, was also dissatisfied with the slow pace of reform under the new government and led a revolutionary movement in the north. The U.S. government then turned against Madero as well, fearing that the new president was too conciliatory to the rebel groups and concerned about the threat that civil warin Mexico was posing to American business interests there. Tensions reached a peak when yet another faction of rebel forces, led by Félix Díaz (the former dictator’s nephew), clashed with federal troops in Mexico City under the command of Victoriano Huerta. On Feb. 18, 1913, after the ninth day of that melee (known as La Decena Trágica, or “The Ten Tragic Days”), Huerta and Díaz met in the office of U.S. Ambassador Henry Lane Wilson and signed the so-called “Pact of the Embassy,” in which they agreed to conspire against Madero and to install Huerta as president. Huerta assumed the presidency the following day, after arresting Madero, who was assassinated a few days later.

Opposition to Huerta’s drunken and despotic rule grew in the north, and an uneasy alliance was formed between Pancho Villa, Álvaro Obregón, and Venustiano Carranza, whose Plan de Guadalupecalled for Huerta’s resignation. In the spring and summer of 1914, the rebel forces converged on Mexico City, forcing Huerta into exile. Carranza declared himself president on August 20, over Villa’s objections. A state of anarchy and bloodshed ensued until Villa, Obregón, and Zapata held a convention at which it was agreed that the rivalry between Villa and Carranza made order impossible, and they elected Eulalio Gutiérrez interim president. Villa retained the support of Zapata and backed Gutiérrez. Obregón, however, re-allied himself with Carranza and routed Villa in a bloody battle in April 1915 at Celaya. Thereafter, both Zapata and Villa lost ground, and Villa, blaming his defeat on U.S. Pres. Woodrow Wilson’s support of Carranza, launched a vendetta against Americans in Mexico and in U.S. border towns. He executed about 17 U.S. citizens at Santa Isabel in January 1916, and his raid on Columbus, New Mexico, two months later, which claimed the lives of some 17 Americans, prompted Pres. Woodrow Wilson to order Gen. John J. Pershing into the Mexican hills in futile pursuit.

Carranza, president again, presided over the writing of the constitution of 1917, which conferred dictatorial powers on the president but gave the government the right to confiscate land from wealthy landowners, guaranteed workers’ rights, and limited the rights of the Roman Catholic Church. Carranza remained in power by eliminating those who opposed him (Zapata was assassinated in 1919), but in 1920 opposition reached a climax when he tried to break up a railroad strike in Sonora. Deserted by virtually all his supporters, including Obregón, he was killed attempting to flee the capital on May 21. Adolfo de la Huerta became interim president until Obregón was elected in November.

Many historians regard 1920 as the end of the revolution, but sporadic violence and clashes between federal troops and various rebel forces continued until the reformist president, Lázaro Cárdenas, took office in 1934 and institutionalized the reforms that were fought for during the revolution and were legitimized in the constitution of 1917.

The Mexican Revolution and its aftermath, 1910–40

WRITTEN BY:  The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

The initial goal of the Mexican Revolution was simply the overthrow of the Díaz dictatorship, but that relatively simple political movement broadened into a major economic and social upheaval that presaged the fundamental character of Mexico’s 20th-century experience. During the long struggle, the Mexican people developed a sense of identity and purpose, perhaps unmatched by any other Latin American republic. Many reforms had been established by 1940, when the goals of the revolution were institutionalized as guidelines for future Mexican policies. The violence of 1910 gave a clear start to the Mexican Revolution, but scholars disagree on an end point: as a convention many use the year 1920, but some end it with the 1917 constitution or events in the 1920s, and still others argue that the revolution slowly unravelled until 1940.

On Feb. 14, 1911, Madero crossed into Mexico near Ciudad Juárez to head his forces. In the next few months the rebels learned how debilitated the Díaz army had become; led by aged generals, the Federalist troops lacked discipline, cohesion, unity of command, and effectiveness. Under these circumstances the revolution gained ground and momentum. The surrender of the Federal commander at Juárez at May 10 marked the beginning of the end. An agreement negotiated with the Díaz regime provided that Díaz would resign, that an interim president, Francisco León de la Barra, would call general elections, and that revolutionary forces would be discharged. On May 25 Díaz resigned and sailed for Paris. Several revolutionary bands, including that of Emiliano Zapata, resisted the military demobilization previously agreed upon.

Madero won the presidential election in October 1911, but his new government was able to withstand constant attacks from the right and left for only 15 months. A series of unsuccessful revolts culminated in a successful plot in Feb. 1913. From Feb. 9 to Feb. 18, 1913—known in Mexican history as the Decena Trágica (“Ten Tragic Days”)—downtown Mexico City was converted into a battle zone. Civilian casualties were high, and the fighting ended only after the commander of the government forces, Victoriano Huerta, together with his troops, changed sides and joined the rebels. Madero and his vice president, José María Pino Suárez, were promptly arrested, enabling Huerta to seize the presidency for himself.

Shortly thereafter, presumably on Huerta’s orders, Madero and Pino Suárez were shot while being transferred from one prison to another. Their deaths rekindled revolutionary fires. In northern Mexico, Venustiano Carranza, refusing to recognize Huerta as president, demanded that the office be elective, as specified in the constitution. He called his new movement the Constitutionalist Revolution. Former chieftains such as Villa made loose alliances with Carranza. The revolution had begun to fragment, and the fighting would last for many years.

Venustiano Carranza (seated) and other leaders of the forces that rebelled against Pres. Victoriano Huerta during the Mexican Revolution, photographed probably in Sonora, Mex., 1913.Bain Collection/Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (LC-DIG-ggbain-14637)

The new president of the United States, Woodrow Wilson, was determined to oust Huerta and, on flimsy pretexts, landed U.S. troops at Veracruz and occupied it . All of the revolutionary leaders except Villa rejected this external intervention in a national struggle. The combined revolutionary forces unseated Huerta in 1914 but then split over who was to exercise presidential power. Zapata in Morelos and Villa in the north joined to fight the revolutionary groups under Carranza, the most important of which was headed by General Álvaro Obregón. Obregón won a decisive victory over Villa at the Battle of Celaya in April 1915 but failed to bring the civil war to an immediate end. Sporadic warfare continued until 1920, and less organized violence reappeared even after that time.

The constitution of 1917

With most of central and southern Mexico under Constitutionalist control, Carranza in 1916 convoked a constituent congress in Querétaro to revise and update the constitution of 1857. In the course of fighting, the economic and social demands of the radical precursors had become common slogans as contending revolutionary bands bid for popular support. The constitution of 1917 incorporated the aspirations of those groups involved in the revolution. While Zapata’s followers championed the cause of agrarian reform, others in the constitutional assembly pushed for the protection of urban labour. Several groups advocated widening the educational base by making primary school available to the Mexican masses, most of whom had never had the opportunity to learn to read and write.

The constitution of 1917 specifically incorporated the major features of the 1824 and 1857 charters regarding territorial organization, civil liberties, democratic forms, and anticlerical and antimonopoly clauses. The constitution completely reversed the concept widely held in Mexico that government should take only a limited, passive role. It argued that the national government had an obligation to take an active role in promoting the social, economic, and cultural well-being of its citizens. Article 3 sketched a vast plan of secular, free, compulsory public education. Article 14 reaffirmed the sanctity of private property and contracts, but Article 27 interjected concepts of social utility and national benefit to limit the untrammeled use of private property. The most-important new concepts came in Articles 27 and 123. The former reasserted national ownership of subsoil resources and outlined alternative land-reform and agrarian programs. The latter, the Magna Carta of labour and social welfare, was set apart to highlight its importance; in addition to guaranteeing minimum wages and the right to organize and strike, it gave labour social status and destroyed the concept of it as an economic commodity to be bought at the lowest rates to maximize profits. Article 123 also outlined a comprehensivesystem of social security, including public health and welfare programs. Reflecting the nationalistic feelings of the revolutionaries, foreigners and foreign interests were placed under limitations.

The constitution of 1917 set the goals toward which presidents were to work. As expected, Carranza was elected president and given de jure recognition by the United States. When Zapata was betrayed and killed in 1919, the last organized opposition to the Carranza-Obregón reorganization dissolved. Villa retired from active campaigning after his raids across the border, especially one in Columbus, N.M. (March 9, 1916), had failed to embroil the United States in conflict with Carranza. Ultimately, Villa was ambushed and killed by political enemies in 1923.

The northern dynasty: Obregón and Calles

When Carranza failed to move toward immediate social reforms, General Obregón enlisted two other powerful northern Mexican chieftains, Plutarco Elías Calles and Adolfo de la Huerta, to join him in an almost bloodless coup; together they formed the northern dynasty. Carranza was killed as he fled from Mexico City, and Obregón took office as president Dec. 1, 1920. The dynasty agreed that peace was needed to rehabilitate Mexico from the devastations of nearly a decade of civil upheaval. Using a combination of force and political incentives, Obregón placated many ambitious military leaders.

Obregón began to implement the ideals set forth in the constitution. Administrative machinery was set up to distribute land to the landless and to restore communal holdings (ejidos) to villages. The government supported the Regional Confederation of Mexican Labour (Confederación Regional de Obreros Mexicanos; CROM). José Vasconcelos, who was named minister of education, was to implement the program of rural education. He sponsored a cultural program that brought Mexico worldwide fame and importance. Radical mural painters such as Diego Rivera, José Clemente Orozco, and David Alfaro Siqueiros, who were commissioned to portray Mexican and especially revolutionary history on public buildings, exalted the indigenous past. Frida Kahlo expressed similar concerns in social and political arenas, but her paintings were less public. Novelists Martín Luis Guzmán, Gregorio López y Fuentes, and Nellie Campobello used the written word to convey radical and revolutionary messages.

At the end of his term, Obregón stepped aside for Calles. Calles’s presidency followed the same general lines as had Obregón’s. Land distribution was stepped up, an irrigation program was begun, and in 1925 renewed pressure was put on the petroleum companies to exchange for leases the titles they had obtained from Díaz. Problems with the church developed when Calles instituted vigorously anticlerical measures; in retaliation the church suspended all religious ceremonies and approved and possibly sponsored a rebellion in western Mexico known as the Cristeros. Mediation of the church-state controversy was unofficially accomplished by Dwight W. Morrow, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, whose sympathetic and skillful diplomacy also eased tensions between the two countries.

In 1928 the presidential term was extended from four to six years, and the doctrine of “no reelection” was modified to mean “no successive reelection.” Obregón was the successful presidential candidate in 1928, but, as president-elect, he was assassinated by José de León Toral, a religious fanatic.

With Calles legally barred from succeeding himself, a peculiarly Mexican political party was formed: the National Revolutionary Party, which, after several incarnations, would eventually become the Institutional Revolutionary Party. Its monopoly on power would occasion major controversy in the years ahead. Formed under Calles’s inspiration, it was initially a coalition of regional and local military bosses and labour and peasant leaders. To safeguard the gains of the revolution, Calles excluded the Roman Catholic Church and other possible reactionary elements. With Calles at its head, the official party governed in the name of the revolution. A congress, drawn from party ranks, named successive, short-term presidents to fill out the term to which Obregón had been elected.

In the period 1928–34 a worldwide depression (see Great Depression) and increasing personal vested interests caused many of the older, now conservative revolutionaries, including Calles, to go slowly in implementingthe reform mandates of the constitution. The ruling clique continued to be militantly anticlerical, but it withdrew support from CROM, which disintegrated. It also slowed the pace of land distribution and curtailed educational programs. On the positive side, the Calles years saw the beginnings of an irrigation and road-building program.