The Restored Republic () was the era of Mexican history between 1867 and 1876, starting with the liberal triumph over the Second French Intervention in Mexico and the fall of the Second Mexican Empire and ending with Porfirio Díaz's ascension to the presidency. It was followed by the three-decade dictatorship known as the Porfiriato.
The Liberal coalition that had weathered the French intervention split after 1867, to the point of resulting in armed conflict. Three men would dominate politics in this era: Benito Juárez, Porfirio Díaz, and Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada. Lerdo's biographer summed up the three ambitious men: "Juárez believed he was indispensable; while Lerdo regarded himself as infallible and Díaz as inevitable."Knapp, Frank A. Jr. Life of Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, 1823-1889. Austin: University of Texas Press 1951, 120
Juárez was seen by his supporters as the embodiment of the struggle for national liberation against the recent French invasion, but his continuation in office after 1865, when his term as president ended, led to accusations of autocracy, and opened the door to liberal rivals challenging his hold on power. In 1871, Juárez was challenged by General Porfirio Díaz under the Plan de la Noria, which objected to Juárez's hold on power. Juárez suppressed the rebellion, but died in office, after which Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada succeeded him as president. When Lerdo ran for a second term, Díaz once again rebelled in 1876, under the Plan of Tuxtepec. A year-long civil war ensued, with Lerdo's government troops waging war against the guerrilla tactics of Díaz and his supporters. Díaz triumphed in 1876 and began the next political era, the Porfiriato.
History Fall of the Empire
Napoleon III officially decided upon abandoning the Second French Intervention in Mexico as early as January 1866. French officials warned Emperor Maximilian that the Second Mexican Empire would not survive independently without French support, but the emperor did not abdicate, and as the last French troops departed in 1867, Maximilian and his supporters headed to Querétaro, northwest of Mexico City, to make a last stand. The last French troops departed in March, 1867 and the Empire hardly survived two months more. The Siege of Querétaro ended on May 15, 1867.
On June 13, while President Juárez was now in San Luis Potosí, the government of the Mexican Republic placed Maximilian on trial at the Iturbide Theater in Querétaro for aiding the French invasion of Mexico, attempting to overthrow the Mexican government, and prolonging the bloodshed when his cause was already lost. His leading Mexican generals Tomás Mejía and Miguel Miramón were placed on trial alongside him for treason. All three were found guilty and sentenced to death. President Juárez rejected multiple appeals for clemency, including multiple official appeals from European governments and the three prisoners were eventually shot by firing squad at the Hill of the Bells on June 19, 1867.
The capital returned to Republican rule shortly afterwards before the end of June, and President Juárez entered the city on the morning of July 15, accompanied by his ministers José María Iglesias and Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada who would both go on to play notable roles during the era of the Restored Republic.
Third Juárez presidency Juárez Returns to Mexico City
Juárez reentered the capital on the morning of July 15, to public acclaim, the ringing of bells, and ceremonial artillery fire. He commuted the death sentences of several imperialists, but showed no mercy to the more important collaborators. Santiago Vidaurri was shot without even a trial. Juárez used his emergency presidential powers to abrogate a law of confiscation that was reducing collaborationist families to poverty, instead replacing their penalty with a fine.
Juárez reorganized his cabinet and reestablished the department of development. He decreed that the governments of the states should now return to their respective capitals. The army was also reduced in size. The Supreme Court was re-established under the presidency of Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada. Day to day judicial acts during the French occupation, such as the granting of marriage certificates, were decreed valid.
A political organization known as the Zaragoza Club lobbied the government to increase the integrity of elections and encourage foreign immigration. They also promoted the establishment of a permanent Pan-American congress.
Political disturbances broke out as soon as Juárez assumed his new term. The Caste War continued to flare up in Yucatán, and the Revolución de los Ríos had broken out among the Yaqui and the Mayo in Sonora. The latter would end in the Bacum Massacre in which Mexican troops killed over a hundred Yaqui men, women, and children. The government suppressed other minor insurrections.
A more serious insurrection occurred at the end of the year at San Luis Potosi, headed by Francisco Aguirre, Martinez, and Larranaga. It was joined by the governor of Zacatecas, Trinidad García de la Cadena, who placed himself at the head of the entire movement. Juárez declared an emergency and crushed the rebellion in four months. General Rocha defeated the insurgents on February 22, 1870, at a location known as Lo de Ovejo, after which they were dispersed.
On August 17, 1867, a long delayed law was published decreeing new elections to be held for the presidency and for the congress. An opposition party, calling itself constitutionalist and supporting the candidacy of Porfirio Díaz now emerged, but when elections were held in October, 1867 Juárez obtained a majority of the votes. On December 19 congress certified the election and he assumed office on the 25th.
On October 13, 1870, congress passed a general amnesty law absolving anyone accused of treason, with the exception of certain high officials and deserters who had worked with the Second Mexican Empire.
Elections of 1871
President Juárez had provoked opposition by choosing to retain the same ministers he had held during his term of emergency powers during the French Intervention. The opposition alleged that the elections of 1867 had been fraudulent, and Juárez was suspected of harboring unconstitutional ideas. This suspicion was increased when his ministers asked congress several times and particularly on 25 January 1868 to grant him stronger powers, which was done on May 8, 1868.
He further provoked opposition, when he decided to run for office again in 1871. Juárez had great prestige and substantial support, but liberal critics believed that successive reelections were against the spirit of democracy. The other prominent candidates were Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada and Porfirio Díaz. None of the candidates achieved a majority and the selection of the winner then fell upon congress which on October 12, 1871, chose Juárez who was inaugurated on December 1 amidst accusations of electoral fraud.
Plan de la Noria
Among the opposition to Juárez were found certain congressmen who petitioned Porfirio Díaz to take up arms against the government. On November 8, 1871, he issued from the town of La Noria a manifesto proclaiming loyalty to the constitution of 1857 and electoral freedom, and called forth a plan for reconstituting the nation.
The rebels gained support throughout the country, but suffered a significant defeat at Cerro de la Bufa in Zacatecas. Díaz approached Mexico City with a column of cavalry but then turned towards Jalisco when support from within Mexico City was found to be unreliable.
In the early part of June, 1872 while fighting was still ongoing Juarez suffered a ministerial crisis. Matías Romero and Castillo Velasco resigned, and Juarez had to shuffle his cabinet, with Joaquín Ruiz refusing the offer to serve as Minister of Justice and Public instruction.
President Juárez began to experience heart problems in July, 1872 and he died on the 18th, before the Plan of La Noria had been entirely suppressed. The presidency passed to Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada who as President of the Supreme Court was next in the line of succession.
Lerdo presidency
Lerdo retained Juárez' ministers, and proposed an amnesty to the Noria rebels. Most of the insurgents accepted.
Porfirio Díaz however rejected the amnesty and on August 1 sent his response to the president, threatening future insurrection in case the government did not reform, and urging the government to pass measures to protect the integrity of elections. President Lerdo was unyielding and made it clear that he would not negotiate with Díaz. By the end of September most of the revolutionary forces had accepted the amnesty. The revolution increasingly dissipated as its entire motive, the removal of Juárez, had been rendered irrelevant by his death. On October 26, Díaz finally unconditionally accepted President Lerdo's amnesty.
In 1873, the Lerdo government had to deal with an insurrection led by the indigenous leader, Manuel Lozada in Tepic in the western part of the country. He was captured and executed in August.
The question of finances, railroad development, and internal security continued to occupy congress and the presidency. Murder and kidnapping was so rampant that on May 2, 1873, President Lerdo brought the matter before congress which subsequently proclaimed martial law against bandits, even allowing summary executions for such individuals caught in the act, with suspected bandits to be tried, and if found guilty to be executed within fifteen days with no possibility of appeals.
The Lerdo presidency continued to enforce and add to the anti-clerical reform laws first passed in the 1850s. Two hundred nuns in Mexico City were expelled from their communities, and certain Jesuits and nuns were banished from the country. The establishment of monastic orders was late completely outlawed and this measure was incorporated into the constitution. Protestants and Mormons were also at this being allowed to settle in the nation and establish missions.
From 1874 to 1876 the government faced no major military coups, although a few local disturbances did flare up. Violence was nonetheless rampant throughout the nation, the aforementioned law against bandits being extended, and a decree of 1875 stripping them of all citizen's rights within the court system.
Amidst increasing opposition to his rule, such as from prominent liberal general Vicente Riva Palacio who accused the president of violating the constitution, Lerdo decided to run for reelection in 1876.
Plan of Tuxtepec
On January 15, 1876, General Fidencio Hernandez in Oaxaca issued a pronuniciamiento against Lerdo in the town of Tuxtepec. He marched against Oaxaca City with two thousand poorly armed indigenous troops and the garrison there joined him without firing a shot. The revolutionary army then declared Porfirio Díaz to be their leader.
By March, the insurgency had spread throughout the entire country, and government forces began to clash with the rebels. Mariano Escobedo succeeded in pacifying Michoacan, while the loyalist General Alatorre was repulsed at Oaxaca.
General Díaz meanwhile had crossed over to the United States from which he published a reformed version of the Plan of Tuxtepec. He condemned Lerdo for interfering with elections and with the affairs of state governments.
In November, 1876, president of the supreme court José María Iglesias condemned the presidential elections that had just occurred as fraudulent, and from the town of Salamanca, Guanajuato, called upon the nation to overthrow Lerdo. Iglesias now, claiming to be president headed to Guanajuato with two of his chosen ministers, Guillermo Prieto and Felipe Berriozábal, where they were received with great enthusiasm.