The Divine Charter : Constitutionalism and Liberalism in Nineteenth-Century Mexico Paperback / softback

Edited by Jaime E. Rodriguez O.

Part of the Latin American Silhouettes series

Paperback / softback

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Description

Although Mexico began its national life in the 1821 as one of the most liberal democracies in the world, it ended the century with an authoritarian regime.

Examining this defining process, distinguished historians focus on the evolution of Mexican liberalism from the perspectives of politics, the military, the Church, and the economy.

Based on extensive archival research, the chapters demonstrate thatâ€”despite widely held assumptionsâ€”liberalism was not an alien ideology unsuited to Mexico's traditional, conservative, and multiethnic society.

On the contrary, liberalism in New Spain arose from Hispanic culture, which drew upon a shared European tradition reaching back to ancient Greece. This volume provides the first systematic exploration of the evolution of Mexican liberal traditions in the nineteenth century.

The chapters assess the changes in liberal ideology, the nature of federalism, efforts to create stability with a liberal monarchy in the 1860s, the Church's accommodation to the new liberal order, the role of the army and of the civil militias, the liberal tax system, and attempts to modernize the economy in the latter part of the century.

Taken together, these essays provide a nuanced and comprehensive analysis of the transformation of liberalism in Mexico. Contributions by: Christon I. Archer, William H. Beezley, Marcello Carmagnani, Manuel Chust, Brian Connaughton, Robert H.

Duncan, Aldo Flores-Quiroga, Alicia HernÃ¡ndez ChÃ¡vez, Sandra Kuntz Ficker, AndrÃ©s ResÃ©ndez, Jaime E.

RodrÃguez O., and JosÃ© Antonio Serrano Ortega