Restored Republic (Mexico)

Mexican Republic República Mexicana
1867–1876
Flag Coat of arms
Anthem: "Himno Nacional Mexicano" (English: "National Anthem of Mexico")
Government	Federal presidential republic
President
• 1867-1872	Benito Juárez
• 1872-1876	Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada
• 1876	José María Iglesias
History
• Established	1 December 1867
• Disestablished	28 November 1876
Preceded by Succeeded by Second Mexican Empire Porfiriato

The Restored Republic (Spanish: República Restaurada) is the Mexican political era between the 1867 and 1876, starting with the defeat of the French imperial monarchy and their conservative Mexican allies and the return of republican rule under Benito Juárez. The French intervention was a continuation of the domestic conflict between Mexican conservatives and liberals in which conservatives challenged the liberals' reforms of that sought to rein in the power of the Catholic Church and the Mexican army, resulting in the civil war. When the conservatives lost that war, they turned to foreign allies, resulting in the French imperial intervention. Those supporting the Mexican republic waged guerrilla warfare during this era, giving rise to an organized liberal military force. Although formally the Republic of Mexico continued to exist during French imperial rule, Juárez's republican government was in exile from the capital and pushed to the extremity of northern Mexico in El Paso del Norte, Chihuahua, now Ciudad Juárez.^[1] The U.S. steadfastly refused to recognize the imperial government of Maximilian of Mexico in favor of the Mexican republic under Juárez. Civilian liberal politicians united sufficiently to outlast the French incursion, which collapsed following Napoleon III's recall of French troops.

The liberal coalition that had weathered the French intervention disintegrated after 1867. Three men dominated politics in this era, two from Oaxaca, Juárez and Díaz, and Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada. Lerdo's biographer summed up the three ambitious men: "Juárez believed he was indispensable; while Lerdo regarded himself as infallible and Díaz as inevitable."^[2] Liberals split between moderates and radicals. There was also a generational split between older, civilian liberals like Juárez and Lerdo, and younger, military leaders, such as Díaz.^[3]

Juárez was seen by his supporters as the embodiment of the struggle for national liberation, but his continuation in office after 1865, when his term as president ended, opened the door to liberal rivals challenging his hold on power. With the exit of the French in 1867, Juárez built a political machine to keep himself and his supporters in power. It was a politically unstable time, with multiple rebellions in 1867, 1868, 1869, 1870, and 1871^[4] In 1871, Juárez was challenged by General Porfirio Díaz under the Plan de la Noria, which objected to Juárez's hold on power. Juárez crushed the rebellion. Following Juárez's 1872 fatal heart attack, Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada succeeded him as president. Lerdo also built a powerful political machine aimed at keeping his faction in power. When Lerdo ran for a second term, Díaz once again rebelled in 1876, under the Plan de Tuxtepec. A year-long civil war ensued, with Lerdo's government troops waging war against the guerrilla tactics of Díaz and his supporters.

Historian Daniel Cosío Villegas made the Restored Republic the starting point of his multi-volume Historia Moderna de México, considering it the high point of democracy in Mexico that brought new political players into the arena.^[5] "The most common and patriotic interpretation of politics during the Restored Republic is that Benito Juárez, Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, and a small group of determined liberals surrounding them were given the reins of power by a grateful nation to create a united democratic republic."^[6] Despite that optimistic vision, political opposition to Juárez and Lerdo grew in the period and gravitated to support of Porfirio Díaz. Díaz found success in the 1876 civil war against Lerdo and began the next political era, the Porfiriato.

References[]

Further reading[]

• Chassen-López, Francie, From Liberal to Revolutionary Oaxaca: The View from the South, Mexico 1867-1911. University Park: Penn State University Press 2004.
• Coatsworth, John H. "Obstacles to economic growth in nineteenth-century Mexico." The American Historical Review 83.1 (1978): 80–100.
• Cosío Villegas, Daniel. Historia Moderna de México, La Republica Retaurada: La Vida Política. Mexico City: Hermes 1955.
• Falcone, Frank Samuel. "Federal-state relations during Mexico's restored republic: Oaxaca, a case study, 1867-1872." (1973).
• García Granados, Ricardo. Historia de México Desde La Restauración de la República en 1867 Hasta la Caída de Huerta. 1. Ed. Completa.. ed. México: Editorial Jus, 1956.
• Hale, Charles A. The transformation of liberalism in late nineteenth-century Mexico. Princeton University Press, 2014.
• Hamnett, Brian R. "Liberalism Divided: Regional Polities and the National Project During the Mexican Restored Republic, 1867–1876." Hispanic American Historical Review 76.4 (1996): 659–689.
• Katz, Friedrich. "Mexico: Restored Republic and Porfiriato." The Cambridge History of Latin America (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986) 5: 16–20.
• Knapp, Frank Averill, Jr. The Life of Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada: A Study in Influence and Obscurity. Austin: University of Texas Press 1951.
• McNamara, Patrick J. Sons of the Sierra: Juárez, Díaz, and the people of Ixtlán, Oaxaca, 1855-1920. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2007.
• Perry, Laurens Ballard. Juárez and Díaz: Machine Politics in Mexico. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press 1978.
• Perry, Laurens Ballard. "El modelo liberal y la política práctica en la República restaurada 1867-1876." Historia mexicana 23.4 (1974): 646-699
• Powell, T.G. El liberalism y el campesinado en el centro de México, 1850 a 1876. Mexico City: SepSetentas 1974.
• Riva Palacio, Vicente. Historia de la administración de don Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada. Mexico: El Padre Cobos 1875.