Editing History of Mexico (section)

===Northern revolutionary generals as presidents===
[[File:Alvaro Obregón.jpg|thumb|President Obregón. Note that he lost his right arm in the [[Battle of Celaya]] (1915), earning him the nickname of ''Manco de Celaya'' ("the one-armed man of Celaya").]]
Three Sonoran generals of the Constitutionalist Army, [[Álvaro Obregón]], [[Plutarco Elías Calles]], and [[Adolfo de la Huerta]] dominated Mexican politics in the 1920s. Their life experience in Mexico's northwest, described as a "savage pragmatism"<ref>Jean Meyer, "Revolution and Reconstruction in the 1920s" in ''Mexico Since Independence'', Leslie Bethell, ed. New York: Cambridge University Press 1991, p. 201.</ref> was in a sparsely settled region, conflict with Natives, secular rather than religious culture, and independent, commercially oriented ranchers and farmers. This differed from the subsistence agriculture of the dense population of central Mexico's strongly Catholic indigenous and mestizo peasantry. Obregón was the dominant triumvirate member, the leading general in the [[Constitutionalist Army]], who had defeated Pancho Villa in battle. All three were also skilled politicians and administrators. In Sonora, they "formed their professional army, patronized and allied themselves with labor unions, and expanded the government authority to promote economic development." Once in power, they scaled this up to the national level.<ref>Thomas Benjamin, "Rebuilding the Nation" in ''The Oxford History of Mexico'', Michael C. Meyer and William Beezley, eds.  New York: Oxford University Press 2000, p. 471.</ref>

====Obregón presidency, 1920–1924====
{{Main|Álvaro Obregón}}
Obregón, Calles, and de la Huerta revolted against Carranza in the [[Plan of Agua Prieta]] in 1920. Following the interim presidency of [[Adolfo de la Huerta]], elections were held, and Obregón was elected for a four-year presidential term. His government accommodated many elements of Mexican society except the most conservative clergy and wealthy landowners.<ref>Meyer, Mexico in the 1920s", p. 204.</ref>

He was able to implement policies emerging from the revolutionary struggle successfully; in particular, the successful policies were the integration of urban, organized labor into political life via [[CROM]], the improvement of education and Mexican cultural production under [[José Vasconcelos]], the movement of [[Land reform in Mexico|land reform]], and the steps taken toward instituting women's civil rights. His main tasks in the presidency were consolidating state power in the central government and curbing regional strongmen (''[[caudillo]]s''), obtaining diplomatic recognition from the United States, and managing the presidential succession in 1924 when his term ended.<ref>Jean Meyer, "Mexico in the 1920s" in ''Mexico since Independence''ed. Leslie Bethell. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1991, p. 203.</ref> His administration began constructing what one scholar called "an enlightened despotism, a ruling conviction that the state knew what ought to be done and needed plenary powers to fulfill its mission."<ref>Meyer, ''Mexico in the 1920s'' p. 203.</ref> After the nearly decade-long violence of the Mexican Revolution, reconstruction in the hands of a strong central government offered stability and a path of renewed modernization.

Obregón knew his regime needed to secure recognition in the United States. With the promulgation of the [[Mexican Constitution of 1917]], the Mexican government was empowered to expropriate natural resources. The U.S. had considerable business interests in Mexico, especially oil, and the threat of Mexican economic nationalism to big oil companies meant that diplomatic recognition could hinge on Mexican compromise in implementing the constitution. 1923, when the Mexican presidential elections were on the horizon, the two governments signed the [[Bucareli Treaty]]. The treaty resolved questions about foreign oil interests in Mexico, largely favoring U.S. interests, but Obregón's government gained U.S. diplomatic recognition. With that, arms and ammunition began flowing to revolutionary armies loyal to Obregón.<ref name="Meyer p. 206">Meyer, ''Mexico in the 1920s'' p. 206.</ref>

[[File:Plutarco Elias Calles.jpg|thumb|[[Plutarco Elías Calles]] politician and revolutionary general who served as President of Mexico from 1924 to 1928, known for his role in shaping modern Mexico through reforms and the consolidation of state power.]]

Since Obregón had named his fellow Sonoran general, Plutarco Elías Calles, as his successor, Obregón was imposing a "little known nationally and unpopular with many generals,"<ref name="Meyer p. 206"/> thereby foreclosing the ambitions of fellow revolutionaries, particularly Adolfo de la Huerta. De la Huerta staged a serious rebellion against Obregón but was suppressed with aid from the United States. Fifty-four former Obregonistas were shot in the event.<ref>Meyer, "Mexico in the 1920s", p. 207.</ref> Vasconcelos resigned from Obregón's cabinet as minister of education.

Although the Constitution of 1917 had stronger anticlerical articles than the previous constitution, Obregón largely sidestepped confrontation with the [[Mexican Catholic Church]]. Since political opposition parties were essentially banned, the Catholic Church "filled the political void and played the part of a substitute opposition."<ref>Meyer, ''Mexico in the 1920s'', p. 205.</ref>

====Calles presidency, 1924–1928====
{{Main|Plutarco Elías Calles}}
The [[1924 Mexican general election|1924 presidential election]] was not a demonstration of free and fair elections, but the incumbent Obregón could not stand for re-election, thereby acknowledging that revolutionary principle. He completed his presidential term still alive, the first since Porfirio Díaz. Candidate Plutarco Elías Calles embarked on one of the first populist presidential campaigns in the nation's history, calling for land reform and promising equal justice, more education, additional labor rights, and democratic governance.<ref>Jürgen Buchenau, ''Plutarco Elias Calles and the Mexican Revolution'' (2007) p. 103</ref> Calles tried to fulfill his promises during his populist phase (1924–26) and a repressive anti-clerical phase (1926–28). Calles, a vehement anticlerical, took on the church as an institution when he succeeded to the presidency, bringing about violent, bloody, and protracted conflict known as the [[Cristero War]].

====Cristero War (1926–1929)====
{{Main|Cristero War}}
[[File:Ejército Unión Popular Cristera.jpg|thumb|A unit of Cristeros preparing for battle.]]
The Cristero War was a conflict that arose in response to the enforcement of secularist and [[anti-clerical]] provisions of the [[Mexican Constitution of 1917]] and the enactment of additional anti-clerical laws by President [[Plutarco Elías Calles]]'s government known as [[Calles Law]].<ref>{{cite book|author=Anthony James Joes|title=Resisting Rebellion: The History and Politics of Counterinsurgency|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=buHXFDFdeoQC|year=2006|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=0-8131-9170-X|page=4}}</ref> The rebellions began early in 1927, concentrated in the [[Bajío]] region of Mexico,<ref>Luis González (John Upton translator), ''San Jose de Gracia: Mexican Village in Transition'' (University of Texas Press, 1982), p. 154</ref> with the rebels calling themselves ''Cristeros'' because they felt they were fighting for Jesus Christ. The laity stepped into the vacuum created by the removal of priests.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Espinosa | first1 = David | year = 2003 | title = 'Restoring Christian Social Order': The Mexican Catholic Youth Association (1913–1932) | journal = The Americas | volume = 59 | issue = 4| pages = 451–474 | jstor=1008566 | doi=10.1353/tam.2003.0037| s2cid = 143528516 }}</ref> The Cristero War was resolved diplomatically, largely with the help of the U.S. Ambassador, [[Dwight Morrow]].<ref>David C. Bailey, ''!Viva Cristo Rey! The Cristero Rebellion and the Church-State Conflict in Mexico'' (1974)</ref>

The conflict claimed about 250,000 lives, including civilians and Cristeros killed during raids after the war's end.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Moreno |first=Consuelo |date=2020-07-08 |title=The Movement that Sinned Twice: The Cristero War and Mexican Collective Memory |url=https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/history-in-the-making/vol13/iss1/5 |journal=History in the Making |volume=13 |issue=1 |archive-date=2023-04-10 |access-date=2022-08-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410131440/https://scholarworks.lib.csusb.edu/history-in-the-making/vol13/iss1/5/ |url-status=live }}</ref> As promised in the diplomatic resolution, the anti-clerical laws remained on the books, but the federal government made no organized attempt to enforce them. Under President [[Lázaro Cárdenas]], the Calles Law was repealed in 1938.<ref>''Time'', Monday, 26 Dec. 1938, [https://web.archive.org/web/20121021210844/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,772205-4,00.html "Religion: Where Is He?"]</ref>