Carranza and the Constitutionalists
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Carranza issues call for the election of
deputies to frame a new constitution.
Excluded women
Did not contemplate agrarian reform
Labor = “right to work”
Labor Organizations = “lawful purposes” and
“peaceful” assemblies.
Unsatisfactory to a majority of the deputies
that formed the radical wing of the
convention.
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Spokesman for the left wing
Article 3 – struck a heavy blow to church
influence over education. Forbid “religious
corporations” from establishing or
conducting schools.
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Women were very interested in Articles 34
and 35, which dealt with citizenship and
voting rights.
Argument – women paid taxes, obeyed the
same laws, and participated in the
revolutionary struggle.
Ultimately, women were denied citizenship
and political rights.
Small victory for women with Article 123,
dealing with rights of labor.
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Property rights – national ownership of water
and soil were inalienable, but individual and
companies could obtain concessions for their
exploitation.
Agrarian provisions – if pueblos needed more
land, they could acquire it by expropriation
from neighboring haciendas.
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Massive assault on the latifundio
Weakening power of the church
Regulation of foreign capital
Not anti-capitalist = protection of private
property and control, not elimination foreign
enterprises.
Favorable conditions for developing national
capitalism.
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In 1917, he became the first legally elected
president since Madero.
Obregon, his secretary of war resigned
because he distrusted the men around
Carranza as reactionaries of the Porfiriato.
The 3 remaining years of his presidency were
marked by a sharp swing to the right or
conservative side.
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Did not implement many of the reform
articles of the constitution.
Land was not redistributed; corruption
existed on a massive scale; working class
continued to suffer; and free education was
ignored.
Foreign policy – marked by genuine
revolutionary nationalism (resisted US
pressure and remained neutral throughout
WWI).
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Carranza’s forces battled with Zapata in the
South and Villa in the North.
Carranza’s legal term was up in 1920, and
per the constitution was not allowed to run
for reelection.
Tried to extend it by establishing a puppet
president.
This was rejected and he was killed. Obregon
and his Labor Party assumed control of
Mexico.
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Carranza to Obregon
Obregon to Calles