Reform War

The Reform War (17 December 1857 – 11 January 1861) or War of Reform (Spanish: Guerra de Reforma), also known as the Three Years' War (Spanish: Guerra de los Tres Años) and the Mexican Civil War, was a complex civil conflict in Mexico that was fought between Mexican liberals and conservatives with regional variations over the promulgation of the Constitution of 1857. It has been called the "worst civil war to hit Mexico between the War of Independence of 1810–21 and the Revolution of 1910–20." Following the liberals' overthrow of the dictatorship of the conservative Antonio López de Santa Anna, the liberals passed a series of laws that codified their political program that were incorporated into the new constitution. It aimed to limit the political power of the executive branch, as well as the political, economic, and cultural power of the Catholic Church. Specific measures were the expropriation of church property, the separation of church and state, reduction of the power of the Mexican Army by the elimination of its special privileges, the strengthening of the secular state through public educations, and measures to develop the nation economically. The constitution had been promulgated on February 5, 1857 and was to come into force on September 16, 1857. There was intense opposition from conservatives and the Catholic Church over its anti-clerical provisions, but there were also moderate liberals, including President Ignacio Comonfort, who considered the constitution too radical and likely to trigger a civil war. The Lerdo Law forced the sale of most of the Church's rural properties. The measure was not exclusively aimed at the Catholic Church but also at Mexico's indigenous peoples, who were forced to sell sizable portions of their communal lands. Controversy was further inflamed when the Catholic Church decreed the excommunication of civil servants who took...