• I. Periodization
• A. Age of Empire and Early Republic
• B. Age of Santa Anna and the Mexican-American War – 1833-1855
• C. Rise of Liberalism and the French Intervention – 1855-1876
• D. The Porfiriato – 1876-1910

• II. Economic Impact of Independence
• A. Economy ruined by war
• 1. Individual savings lost
• 2. Mines flooded and machinery destroyed – engines of prosperity gone
• 3. Many farms ruined
• 4. Domestic trade drops off; international trade almost gone
• 5. Most buildings in Mexico City damaged, several cities also hurt badly
• B. Beginnings of a slow recovery
• 1. Agriculture and real estate recover by 1830s
• a. Haciendas begin to expand, take more land
• b. without Crown control, more freedom to take Amerindian land
• c. Consequences of large estates
• (a) Rise in price of basic foodstuffs
• (b) Weakening of central authority
• (c) Increased disparity between rich and poor
• 2. New mining equipment imported in 1840s, produces mixed results
• 3. Textile industry returns to Puebla in 1840s
• 4. Political troubles meant government couldn’t collect taxes, stayed bankrupt
• 5. Government barely survives on customs receipts

• III. New political ideas – philosophical distortions
• A. Elite view of violence
• 1. Blamed lower classes for violence and destruction
• 2. Saw these classes as something to be controlled
• 3. Ignored the fact that many Amerindian communities and small farmers had lost all
• B. Elite view of Amerindian culture
• 1. Reoriented themselves to Europe, dismissing native culture as degenerate
• 2. Indians seen as dead weight, auxiliary mass holding Mexico back
• 3. Miscegenation or extermination viewed by many as only real solutions
• 4. Elites came to support immigration as solution to “problem” of Indians
• 5. This, of course, led to Texas problem

• IV. Early politics of independent Mexico
• A. Who will rule? Political legitimacy a serious problem
• B. Politics tended to be conspiratorial
• 1. Secret societies developed
• 2. Paranoia and suspicion the norm
• 3. No real public discourse – only pronouncements for public manipulation
• C. Mexico City vs. the Provinces
• 1. Under this atmosphere of paranoia, both mistrusted each other
• a. National elite thought provinces would break away
• b. Provinces saw themselves as defenders of liberalism against reaction
• c. Provinces saw grasping desire of center to control authority
• d. Lower classes never included – there were elite debates/wars
• 2. Geography doesn’t help  - mitigates against unity
• D. Constitution of 1824
• 1. Weak center, strong provinces
• 2. Local governments saw themselves as deposit of popular sovereignty
• 3. No national consensus develops
• 4. Only politics are power politics and opportunism – no true political parties develop
• 5. Instead, secret societies serve to bind elites together

• V. Rise of the Caudillos
• A. Under such political conditions, government tends to be personal, not institutionalized
• B. Thus develops the caudillo – strongman charismatic rule
• C. Two kinds of caudillo
• 1. Elitist caudillo
• a. Believes in limited modernization
• b. Preserves most institutions of elite rule
• c. A “king” more powerful than any Spanish monarch
• d. Expedient, but brought order when successful
• 2. Folk of populist caudillo
• a. Power rooted in the masses
• b. Charismatic ruler seen as “one of us” by people
• c. Guardian of folk traditions
• d. Power based on personal relations, like the patron
• D. Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna
• 1. Most obvious examples
• 2. Swings in and out of power
• 3. Politics never clear – guided primarily by personal ambition