Mexican Constitution of 1857

We explain what the Mexican Constitution of 1857 was and how its structure was. In addition, its characteristics and consequences.

The 1857 Constitution was against the interests of the Catholic Church.
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What was the Mexican Constitution of 1857?

The Political Constitution of the Mexican Republic, promulgated on February 5, 1857 It was the Magna Carta written by the Constituent Congress of Mexico between 1856 and 1857. This was given during the presidency of the liberal politician Ignacio Comonfort, predecessor of Benito Juárez.

In the drafting of this Constitution The liberal spirit that consecrated numerous civil freedoms prevailed For Mexican citizens without distinction and abolished practices of the feudal and noble order that remained in Mexico since the colonial era.

His promulgation was very controversial since He went against the interests of the Catholic Church and the conservative sectors of society so the conservative party opposed its approval. This caused social polarization and political confrontations that led to the War of Reform or War of the Three years (1858-1861) that culminated in the defeat of the conservatives and the establishment of the liberal government of Benito Juárez.

During the Mexican revolution, A new Constitution approved in February 1917 reformed and replaced the Mexican Constitution of 1857 .

History of the Mexican Constitution of 1857

Background of the Mexican Constitution of 1857

Liberalism was strengthened after the end of the dictatorship of General Santa Anna.

The Mexican Constitution of 1857 obeyed the liberal spirit that had been gradually gestured since the time of the Mexican Empire. In those years, the ideas of the Enlightenment had prevented the consolidation of their own monarchy in the old territory of the Viceroyalty of New Spain and had led to the formation of a Republic through the promulgation of the Constitution of 1824.

Liberal thought was strengthened after the end of the dictatorship of Antonio López de Santa Anna, who exercised power between 1853 and 1855. Liberal Ignacio Comonfort assumed the interim presidency in 1855 and summoned a constituent congress To write a new Constitution, according to the provisions of the Ayutla Plan that had allowed to organize the overthrow of Santa Anna.

Drafting and promulgation of the Mexican Constitution of 1857

The Constituent Congress convened by the liberals in 1855 began to meet in February 1856. It was made up of two groups:

  • The moderate liberals who advocated the return of the Constitution of 1824
  • Pure liberals which sought a new Magna Carta with much more radical changes.

Finally, Pure liberals managed to impose their proposals despite the fact that President Comonfort supported the moderate bench. Among the pure liberals Ponciano Arriaga, Guillermo Prieto, Francisco Zarco, José María Mata and Santos Degollado stood out.

The 1857 Constitution was promulgated on February 5, 1857 when it was sworn by the President of the Republic (Ignacio Comonfort), the president of Congress (Valentín Gómez Farías) and the rest of the constituents.

Reactions to the Mexican Constitution of 1857

Félix María Zuloaga called to ignore the new Constitution.

The main opponents of the new legal order established by the Constitution of 1857 They were the Catholic Church and the members of the Conservative Party whose privileges and ways of life were directly affected by the liberalization of society.

After Pope Pius IX pronounced against the Constitution and Archbishop José Lázaro de la Garza and Ballesteros announced that no Catholic should subscribe it, Many conservative sectors began a counterrevolutionary movement .

There was a first uprising in Zacapoaxtla and Puebla, which was quickly suffocated by the army. Then, some opponents of the Magna Carta, such as General Félix María Zuloaga, prompted a coup d’etat and called to ignore the new Constitution. With this objective, the Tacubaya Plan was prepared at the end of 1857, which proposed to convene a new Constituent Congress.

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Many public officials were arrested by conservative troops and others resigned from their positions. The governments of the Mexican states were divided between those who adhered to the conservative reaction and those that maintained their support for the constitutional government. This situation led to the reform war between liberals and conservatives .

Validity and repeal of the Mexican Constitution of 1857

The Benito Juárez government adopted the 1857 Constitution.

The Constitution was promulgated in 1857 but, due to the war of reform that faced the liberals with the conservatives between 1858 and 1861, In many parts of the country it was not applied until 1861 .

After the liberal triumph in the Civil War, the conservatives collaborated with the French during the second French intervention in Mexico. Thus the temporal fall of the liberals in 1862 and the proclamation of the second empire of Mexico (or Maximilian empire) in 1864 were produced.

The Maximilian Empire fell in 1867, when the liberals headed by Benito Juárez restored the Republic. Since thenthe 1857 Constitution remained in force throughout the Mexican territory, until in 1917 a few years after the Mexican revolution began, A new Magna Carta was promulgated that remains in force today.

Characteristics of the Mexican Constitution of 1857

Constitution structure

The Mexican Constitution of 1857 It was structured based on eight titles and 128 articles plus a transitory article. The titles contemplated the following topics:

  • Title I.
    • Section I: Of the rights of man
    • Section II: From Mexicans
    • Section III: Foreigners
    • Section IV: From Mexican citizens
  • Title II.
    • Section I: of national sovereignty and the form of government
    • Section II: Of the integral parties of the Federation and the national territory
  • Title III. Of the division of powers
    • Section I: of the Legislative Power
    • Section II: of the Executive Power
    • Section III: of the Judiciary
  • Title IV. Of the responsibility of public officials
  • Title V. of the states of the Federation
  • Title VI. General prevention
  • Title VII. Of the Constitution reform
  • Title VIII. Of the inviolability of the Constitution

Division of powers, civil liberties and individual guarantees

The 1857 Constitution prohibited noble titles and monopolies.

Among the most important changes included in the Constitution of 1857 were highlighted the Freedom of expression freedom of meeting, the right to carry weapons and other individual rights and freedoms for Mexican citizens.

In political terms, he adopted The division of powers that had already been consecrated by the Constitution of 1824 . Likewise, he confirmed the abolition of slavery, eliminated the possibility of going to prison for civil debts and prohibited the different forms of torture and the death penalty.

He also eliminated alcabalas (trade taxes) and internal customs, prohibited noble titles, monopolies and honors and hereditary privileges. Besides, He promulgated secular education and ordered the transfer of real estate of the Catholic Church to other owners . Some of these measures gave the State a preponderant role in matters that were previously administered by religious institutions.

Territorial organization

The Constitution of 1857 proclaimed the Mexican State as a representative, democratic and federal republic that is, composed of free states but united in a federation, as had been arranged in the Constitution of 1824.

However, unlike the Constitution of 1824, which recognized nineteen sovereign states, four territories dependent on the Center and the Federal District in Mexico City, the territorial organization of the Constitution of 1857 consisted of twenty -three states and a federal territory (Baja California), in addition to the Federal District .

These states were: Mexico, Guanajuato, Oaxaca, Puebla, Michoacán, San Luis Potosí, Veracruz, Yucatán, Jalisco, Zacatecas, Querétaro, Sonora, Tabasco, Tamaulipas, Nuevo León and Coahuila, Durango, Chihuahua, Chiapas, Sinaloa, Guerrero, Tlaxcala, Colima and Aguascalientes.

References

  • Cosío Villegas, D. (2014). The Constitution of 1857 and its critics. Economic Culture Fund.
  • Parkes, H. et al. (2022). Mexico. Britannica Encyclopedia. https://www.britannica.com/
  • Ministry of Culture (2017). Mexico Constitutions. Government of Mexico. http://constitution1917.gob.mx/
  • Von Wobeser, G. (coord.) (2014). History of Mexico. Economic Culture Fund.
  • Wikipedia (SF). Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States (1857). Wikipedia. https://es.wikipedia.org/

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