Mexican Constitution of 1917

We explain what the Mexican Constitution of 1917 is, how is its structure and articles. In addition, its characteristics and history.

What is the Political Constitution of the United Mexican States?

The Mexican Constitution of 1917, whose official name is “Political Constitution of the United Mexican States”, is the Magna Carta or Fundamental Standard that organizes political, legally and legally to the Mexican nation today. Like every modern constitution, the terms of the separation of powers governs, define the procedures for the choice of the authorities, collects the fundamental rights and duties of citizens and the entire regulatory framework that defines life in Mexico.

This Constitution It was promulgated at the beginning of the 20th centuryafter the end of Porfiriato and in a period of political instability that moved the Executive Power to convene a constituent congress that began its functions in Santiago de Querétaro on December 1, 1916.

The Constituent Congress had deputies from all federal states and territories of the country, which allowed the representation of various political forces in Pugna. Some of the social and economic demands that were demonstrated during the Mexican Revolution of 1910 were taken into account at the time of writing.

The Political Constitution of the United Mexican States It was promulgated on February 5, 1917 and is currently in forcealthough he experienced many reforms over the years.

History of the Mexican Constitution of 1917

Promulgation

Between 1876 and 1911, Mexico ruled a dictatorial regime known as Porfiriato, since most of the time chaired by the politician and military Porfirio Díaz was. The discontent of broad social sectors with the Porfiriato originated in 1910 a revolutionary process known as the Mexican Revolution, which caused the resignation and exile of Porfirio Díaz in 1911.

In the following years they took place violent conflicts between various factions And there were a series of presidents, including Francisco I. Madero (who had won extraordinary elections but was overthrown by a coup d’etat in 1913) and José Victoriano Huerta (architect of the coup and president until 1914).

Venustiano Carranza brought together a constitutionalist armywhich grouped some of the revolutionary sectors that opposed the Government of Huerta. When this was forced to resign, Carranza went to lead the Executive Power and in September 1916 he summoned a Constituent Congress to reform the Constitution of 1857.

The new Constitution was promulgated on February 5, 1917 and May 1 of the same year Carranza assumed as a constitutional president.

Reforms

The 1917 Constitution It was renovated more than two hundred occasions From their promulgation, which is why their articles experienced more than seven hundred reforms. This is due to article 135, which allows additions and reforms to the Magna Carta whenever they are agreed by the Congress of the Union with the vote of two thirds of the individuals present and approved by most of the legislatures of the states.

The Mexican Constitution, unlike that of other Latin American countries, It has not been replaced by a new and more modern, but has been gradually renovated by decrees and laws as changes or needs have emerged. For example, the first chapter, which was entitled “of the individual guarantees”, was reformed in 2011 to adapt it to human rights legislation, and now takes the title “of Human Rights and their guarantees.”

Characteristics of the Mexican Constitution of 1917

Constitution structure

The text It consists of nine titles with 136 articles and 19 transient articles. All this is divided into two parts:

• A dogmatic partwhich covers the first 38 articles and establishes the rights and obligations of citizens
• An organic partwhich covers the remaining 98 articles and stipulates the organization of the State’s public authorities.

Transient articles are rules about the way of applying the main articles. In the current state of the Constitution are 17, since transient articles 18 and 19 were repealed.

Articles

The articles that make up the 1917 Constitution are distributed in two parts (dogmatic and organic), which are organized as follows:

• Title First. It occupies the entire dogmatic section and is divided into four chapters:
  • Chapter I.. Of human rights and their guarantees (arts. 1 to 29).
  • Chapter II. Of the Mexicans (arts. 30 to 32).
  • Chapter III. Of foreigners (art. 33).
  • Chapter IV. Of Mexican citizens (arts. 34 to 38).
• Second title. The organic part of the Constitution begins. This title is divided into two chapters and contains 10 articles (from 39 to 48), referring to national sovereignty, the form of government, the national territory and the integral parties of the Federation.
• Third title. It contains four chapters that cover 59 articles (from 49 to 107) on the division of powers.
• Fourth title. It contains seven articles (from 108 to 114) that deal with the responsibilities of public servants.
• Fifth title. It contains eight articles (from 115 to 122), about the states of the Federation and Mexico City (formerly Federal District).
• Sixth title. It contains a single article (123), which refers to work and social forecast.
• Seventh title. It contains eleven articles (from 124 to 134), on general prevention.
• Eighth title. It contains an article (135) that contemplates the possibility of reforming the Constitution.
• Ninth title. It contains the last article (136), which provides for the inviolability of the Constitution.

National territory

With the Constitution of 1917, the Mexican Nation It was composed of 28 states2 federal territories and a Federal District (Mexico City). Subsequently, the division of the territory of Baja California was admitted to the north and south, and its conversion into states, as well as the creation of the state of Quintana Roo. On the other hand, Mexico lost sovereignty over France on Clipperton Island.

Currently, the Mexican Constitution includes 31 free states and Mexico City, which since 2016 is an autonomous city and constitutes federative entity number 32.

Form of government

The Constitution of 1917 establishes that national sovereignty resides in the people and that the Mexican nation constitutes a representative, democratic and federal republic. One of its reforms adds that it is also secular.

The Republic consists of free states and Mexico City, united in a federation that is governed by the division of powers:

• Executive powerwhose holder is the president of the United Mexican States (elected by direct suffrage)
• Judicial Branchdeposited in the Supreme Court of Justice, an Electoral Court, regional plenary, collegiate courts and district courts.
• Legislative Powerwhich resides in the Congress of the Union, divided into two cameras: the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies.

Social rights

One of the particularities of the 1917 Constitution is that in its original writing It included not only individual guarantees of the liberal thinking of the time but also a series of social rights. This was largely due to the context in which the Constituent Congress met, characterized by the social and economic demands of various sectors that were part of the revolutionary process opened in 1910.

Among the provisions that were incorporated, they stand out:

• Compulsory, secular and free education (article 3);
• The original property of the nation on land and water, which allowed the State to process the appropriation of land that were private property, fractione the estates and reserve the property of the subsoil, that is, the exploitation of minerals and hydrocarbons (article 27);
• Labor rights, which consisted of maximum working days, minimum wages, strike rights and unionization, among others (article 123);
• The separation between Church and State as well as the primacy of the second and some restrictions on aspects of religious worship (article 130).

Changes regarding the Constitution of 1857

The Constitution of 1917 collected many provisions that had been part of the Constitution promulgated in 1857:

• The representative and federal nature of the Republic.
• Freedom of expression, association, press and worship.
• Free education.
• The prohibition of monopolies.
• The division of powers.
• The presidential regime.

However, it also introduced changes:

• The replacement of the indirect election by the direct election of the president.
• The disqualification of presidential re -election.
• The restoration of the Senate (since the Constitution of 1857 had arranged a unicameral system).
• The creation of the free municipality as a measure of greater autonomy within the federative entities.
• Some social rights derived from demands arising during the revolutionary process.

Inviolability of the Constitution

As in the Magnas provides for your own inviolabilitythat is, the permanence of the principles and rights enshrined in it even if its observance is interrupted by a rebellion or a government.

This means that, for example, If freedom of expression is violated in practice by a government contrary to it, the constitutional guarantee does not disappear; Therefore, once its observance is restored, those who attempted against it must be judged. In a more general sense, this principle applies to any violation of constitutional rights and guarantees.

Historical importance of the Constitution of 1917

The 1917 Magna Carta is Very important in the constitutional history of Mexicowhich explains that it is still in force despite the multiple reforms to which it was submitted. But it also stands out worldwide for being one of the first to include social rights.

The validity of the Constitution was consolidated once the constitutionalist faction led by Venustiano Carranza managed to overcome the opponents, especially after the murder of the revolutionaries Emiliano Zapata in 1919 and Francisco Villa in 1923 (although the latter had moved away from the dispute previously). The triumph of Carrancism forced a model of coexistence protected by the Magna Carta.

The Constitution was also criticized. For example, His original text did not recognize female suffrage and this was incorporated as part of the reforms that took place in the mid -twentieth century. Nor did he contemplate the rights to the self -determination of indigenous populations of the Mexican territory. These were incorporated from the end of the 20th century together with the recognition of the Mexican nation as a multicultural composition.

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References

• “The Constitution of 1917” Government of Mexico. Ministry of Culture (1917).
• “Mexico” Willey, Gr et al. (2022). Britannica Encyclopedia.
• “History of Mexico” von Wobeser, G. (coord.) (2014). Economic Culture Fund.