Between 1836 and 1861, Mexico's difficulties as a sovereign state became fully exposed. Its example provides a case study for all similarly emerging independent states that have broken away from long-standing imperial systems. The leaders of the Republic in Mexico envisaged the construction of a nation, in a process that often conflicted with ethnic, religious, and local loyalties. The question of popular participation always remained outstanding, and this book examines regional and local movements as the other side of the coin to capital city issues and aspirations. Formerly an outstanding Spanish colony on the North American sub-continent, financial difficulties, economic recession, and political divisions made the new Republic vulnerable to spoliation. This began with the loss of Texas in 1836, the acquisition of the Far North by the United States in 1846-8, and the European debt-collecting Intervention in 1861. This study examines the Mexican responses to these setbacks, culminating in the Liberal Reform Movement from 1855 and the opposition to it.

The text is free of jargon and written in straightforward style. Beyond the customary university and college readership, it provides access for governing and business sources to understand issues shaping the complex societies with which they deal.

Acknowledgements
Introduction
Part One Issues and Contexts
1 What is to be done?
2 Villages, landlords and businessmen
3 Financing Mexican government
4 Political reconstruction: before the War with the United States 1836-1846
5 Political reconstruction: during and after the War, 1846-1855
6 Persistent pressure from the United States
Part Two Responses and Reactions
7 Social and ethnic tensions in their local contexts
8 Conflict in the Sierra Gorda - Querétaro, Guanajuato,
San Luis Potosí
9 The struggles in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec
Part Three Reform and Frustration
10 The Revolution of Ayutla and the first stage of the Liberal Reform, 1854-1855
11 The Lerdo Law of 1856
12 The Federal Constitution of 1857 and the road to disaster.
13 The Civil War of the Reform, 1858-1861
14 The continuation of the Reform and the final phase of the war, 1859-61
15 The Liberals return to power in 1861
Final Remarks
Sources and Bibliography