The Mexican Nation Historical Continuity and Modern Change

by Richmond, Douglas W.

• ISBN13: 9780130922274
• ISBN10: 0130922277
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-10-09
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

The Mexican Nation is a readable, straightforward, and down-to-earth narrative of Mexican history from its earliest origins to the beginning of the twenty-first century. Utilizing a chronological organization, this book emphasizes how the concepts of region, religion, and ethnicity have shaped the development of Mexico. The author shows how regional complexities are vital in understanding the Mexican past. A discussion on the Aztec and Maya religions, as well as emphasis on the Catholic church, provides important clues to the multi-cultural dimension of the country. A discussion on the intermingling of indigenous people with Europeans and Africans demonstrates Mexico's unique social blending. The Mexican Nation also offers new interpretations of Mexican leaders who have been misunderstood. Consistent themes and conclusions emerge from the author's research. Mexican history is also analyzed from the perspective of international relations. Experimentation with indigenous, European, and U.S. political models is also examined. The economic analysis of this book enables readers to understand how Mexico has attempted free trade strategies and how the country has responded to U.S. and European pressures. Key features are: Up-to-date scholarship Extended discussions of women Cultural patterns Jargon-free writing style Economic and financial overviews Artistic and intellectual trends Recent U.S. migration patterns

Table of Contents

Preface	xi
Acknowledgments	xiii
Mexico's Indigenous Roots	1	(18)
Ancient Mexico	1	(4)
The Worldly Maya	5	(5)
The Aztec Hegemony	10	(7)
Suggested Reading	17	(2)
The Spanish Invasion, 1519--1598	19	(16)
The Iberian Background	19	(5)
Defeat of the Aztecs	24	(4)
Administration of New Spain	28	(5)
Suggested Reading	33	(2)
Society and Culture	35	(21)
Social Structure	35	(4)
Mestizaje	39	(2)
Indian-White Relations	41	(5)
Colonial Culture	46	(8)
Suggested Reading	54	(2)
Hispanic Foundations	56	(27)
Mexico's Mercantilist Economy	56	(6)
Labor Systems and Land Ownership	62	(8)
The Catholic Church	70	(9)
Settlements East and North	79	(2)
Suggested Reading	81	(2)
Revival, Restriction, and Crisis, 1700--1810	83	(18)
The Bourbon Dynasty Revives Spain	83	(2)
Contradictions of Imperial Reform	85	(7)
Mexico by 1810: Causes for Upheaval	92	(7)
Suggested Reading	99	(2)
Independence from Spain, 1810--1821	101	(25)
Hidalgo Initiates Social Revolution	101	(7)
Morelos Continues the Insurgency	108	(7)
Spanish Hegemony and Colonial Stalemate	115	(5)
Iturbide and the Criollo Consensus	120	(4)
Suggested Reading	124	(2)
The Early Republic, 1821--1835	126	(23)
Failure of Iturbide's Empire	126	(5)
Breakdown of the Socioeconomic Order	131	(7)
The 1824 Constitution	138	(4)
Rise of the Caudillos	142	(5)
Suggested Reading	147	(2)
War with the United States, 1835--1854	149	(20)
The Texas Revolt	149	(5)
The Santa Anna Revival	154	(4)
Manifest Destiny and the Rape of Mexico	158	(9)
Suggested Reading	167	(2)
Civil War and French Intervention, 1855--1876	169	(19)
Benito Juarez and the Liberal Triumph	169	(5)
Maximilian and French Intervention, 1861--1867	174	(7)
Juarez and the Restored Republic	181	(6)
Suggested Reading	187	(1)
The Era of Porfirio Diaz, 1876--1910	188	(19)
Political and Ideological Foundations	188	(5)
The Curse of Newly Acquired Wealth	193	(8)
Discontent during the Porfiriato, 1900--1910	201	(4)
Suggested Reading	205	(2)
The Revolution Begins, 1910--1914	207	(17)
Reformist Leadership under Madero, 1910--1913	207	(7)
The Huerta Dictatorship, 1913--1914	214	(5)
Nationalism and Class Conflict	219	(3)
Suggested Reading	222	(2)
Revolution and Civil War, 1914--1920	224	(18)
Pancho Villa: An Incomplete Revolutionary	224	(4)
Emiliano Zapata: A Sincere Revolutionary	228	(4)
Venustiano Carranza's Nationalist Victory	232	(8)
Suggested Reading	240	(2)
Obregon, Calles, and the Maximato, 1920--1934	242	(32)
Alvaro Obregon: An Accommodating President	242	(5)
Educational Revival and Artistic Renewal	247	(9)
Calles and the Maximato, 1924--1934	256	(16)
Suggested Reading	272	(2)
Lazaro Cardenas Redefines the State, 1934--1940	274	(21)
Political Perspectives	275	(3)
Political Consolidation	278	(3)
Cultural Horizons	281	(3)
Independent Foreign Policy	284	(5)
The 1938 Transition	289	(5)
Suggested Reading	294	(1)
Industrialization and Political Stability, 1940--1970	295	(26)
World War II	295	(8)
PRI Presidents, 1946--1970	303	(12)
Economic Growth	315	(5)
Suggested Reading	320	(1)
Social Change and Migration, 1940--1970	321	(25)
Cultural and Intellectual Trends	321	(5)
The Social Fabric	326	(7)
The Mexican Diaspora al norte	333	(11)
Suggested Reading	344	(2)
A Crisis Emerges, 1970--1982	346	(15)
The Echeverria Regime Decays	346	(4)
Economic and Financial Crisis	350	(3)
The Rise and Fall of Lopez Portillo	353	(6)
Suggested Reading	359	(2)
Dismay and Drift, 1982--2000	361	(44)
Fiscal Crash under de la Madrid	361	(14)
Salinas de Gortari Disappoints Mexico	375	(17)
The Zedillo Recovery	392	(12)
Suggested Reading	404	(1)
Glossary	405	(2)
Index	407

Excerpts

Three basic factors stimulated the formation of a Mexican nation. The interaction of regional, religious, and ethnic elements and their relation to economic as well as international forces both reveal and clarify the continuity of Mexican history. Continuity slowed and shaped these factors, but they remained constant features of the Mexican past. Scholars have begun to interpret continuity in the context of historical themes. Recent studies, for example, emphasize greater continuity in economic history. The 1910 revolution interrupted the development of the Mexican economy more than changing its essential nature. The theme of continuity in modern Mexican intellectual history has become entrenched since 1985. This book emphasizes how some leaders have succeeded and others failed. Rulers who interpreted the needs of regions, religion, and ethnicity and responded to them within a nationalistic criteria by the eighteenth century usually did well. Nationalism can be defined simply as the urge of every society to live according to its traditional customs and to be governed responsibly. The most successful nationalist leaders were the statesmen who harmonized religious, regional, and ethnic sensitivities while molding Mexico into a connected body as much as possible. Until the nineteenth century, political leaders represented their regions, and scholars of Mexico have noted the power of regional identities in shaping Mexican history. The dominant trends, particular in the early periods, have moved through regional variants. Gradually, modern Mexico found itself locked in a struggle between provincial elites and groups in Mexico City attempting to displace established regional structures. Cultural, economic, and political trends complicated the process, but geography also imposed a tremendous burden upon Mexico. High mountain ranges and the lack of navigable rivers made it difficult to link various regions. These two physical obstacles increased regional transportation expenses, consequently raising labor costs and lowering productivity, and ultimately, impeding national integration. An appreciation of the significance of religion is essential to understanding Mexican history. When the sacred and daily routines were still fused, religion pervaded daily life. The sustaining rituals of existence were spiritual, and people''s understanding of politics, war, economics, justice, literature, and art, as well as their concepts of death and their aspirations for life, were usually shaped within a religious context. The Church provided continuity through its traditions, rituals, and services and appealed to all groups, indigenous peoples as well as mestizosand whites. Ethnicity is the other vital theme in Mexican history. The indigenous foundation of the nation in large part explains much of its uniqueness. The Spanish invasion resulted in the fusion of Europeans and Africans with native peoples. Colonial society was dynamic in part because the Church adopted culturally inclusive strategies and consciously retained many indigenous traditions. Consequently, Mexico possessed a national culture long before a sense of political nationalism emerged. At various times in Mexican history, ethnic, religious, and regional tensions sub-, sided sufficiently to permit the formulation and implementation of national programs. Particularly notable are the pre-Hispanic era, the seventeenth century, the Porfiriato, and the period of confidence between 1940 and 1967. Few regimes succeeded if they failed to respect the religious, ethnic, and regional continuities that bound the country together. The pre-Hispanic centuries were notable for scientific and technological breakthroughs, economic success, and healthy living. Religion, however, had become a fundamental weakness of this epoch by the time Spaniards arrived. The seventeenth century witnessed the establishment of institutions that provided stability during a century of unusual change. Mexico adapted itself to the transatlantic system, while the interaction between religion and region became practical as well as harmonious. Perhaps the Porfiriato (1876-1911) succeeded more than any other system. During this era, the north and south experienced far greater economic growth than the center. Religion no longer divided society as it had during Mexico''s tempestuous first half century of independence. Favoritism, however, became the fatal weakness of the Porfirian era. Between 1940 and 1967, Mexico enjoyed an era of self-confidence; civilian leaders placed economic growth at the head of their agenda and minimized ideological zeal and social conflict. The political crisis of 1968, however, soon brought economic as well as fiscal nightmares that plagued Mexico in the final decades of the twentieth century. As the twenty-first century begins, Mexico appears to be entering a new age under recently elected President Vicente Fox. Sensitive to religious tradition, determined to balance regional growth, and promising a more harmonized relationship with the United States, Fox offers great hope. Mexico seems to be passing from an authoritarian, one-party state to a more complex and sophisticated society empowered by representative government, economic freedom, and social equality. As a leader who favors local and regional industrial development to complement Mexico''s abundance of export-related plants, Fox seems to understand the continuities of the past while articulating the necessity for sensible change.