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Governor Carranza and the Revolution in Coahuila*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 December 2015

William H. Beezley
William H. Beezley*
Affiliation:
North Carolina State University, Raleigh, North Carolina
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Extract

It’s easier to make a revolution, than it is to make a revolution work,” Fidel Castro once told a packed audience listening to him discuss the progress of Cuba. His remark, made with characteristic candor, expressed the challenge that confronts all rebels who manage to achieve power. For the Anti-reelectionists in Mexico, the revolution had been made in the victory over federal troops at Ciudad Juárez in May, 1911. It then fell to Francisco Madero to direct the program that would make it work. He intended to justify the violent overthrow of the porfirian dictatorship by invigorating Mexican politics as a means to restore democratic government and to establish the mechanism for responsive reform of the economy and society. The critical element in his proposal was the redemption of the authority of the state governors, to whom he delegated the responsibility and the opportunity to reconstruct Mexico. This policy represented no casual abdication of authority, but a carefully devised scheme of decentralization. Madero’s opposition to highly-centralized government resulted from his birthright as a son of remote Coahuila, the native state of Mexico federalism, his political convictions, including an abiding faith in the confederated government posited in the 1857 Constitution, and his philosophic precepts, based on the ideals of Karl Christian Friedrich Krause and a reaction to the governmental consolidation rationalized by Comtean Positivism (promoted in Mexico by the Positivists, the Científicos, and the dictator).

Type
Articles
Information
The Americas , Volume 33 , Issue 1 , July 1976 , pp. 50 - 61
Copyright
Copyright © Academy of American Franciscan History 1976

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Footnotes

*

This paper is part of a larger study of state governors during the Madero revolution. Research has been assisted by financial support from the American Philosophical Society (1972) and the Faculty Research and Professional Development Fund, North Carolina State University (1973).

References

1 José Miguel Ramos Arizpe, one of Coahuila’s Congressmen, is known as the “Father of Mexican Federalism” because he was the principal author of the national constitution of 1824. The state remained a stronghold of federalism throughout the nineteenth century; the residents subscribed to the remark by Quirino Benavente, “…. those profound politicians in Mexico City … preoccupied with their European theories, know nothing of the necessities which … must be adopted by our northern states.” [ Harris, Charles H., The Sánchez Navarros: A Socio-economic Study of a Coahuilan Latifundio, 1846–1853 (Chicago: Loyola University Press, 1964), 83–84.].Google Scholar

2 Madero, ’s views on these subjects are replete in his La sucesión presidencial en 1910 (San Pedro, Coahuila, 1908).Google Scholar

3 Raat, William D., “Ideas and Society in Don Porfirio’s Mexico,” The Americas, 30, no. 1 (July, 1973): 32–53, especially 50–53;Google Scholar Pike, Fredrick B., Spanish America, 1900–1970: Tradition and Social Innovation (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1973) : 15–28.Google Scholar

4 Chihuahua’s governor also attempted a reform program, see Beezley, William H., Insurgent Governor: Abraham González and the Mexican Revolution in Chihuahua (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1973)Google Scholar. For a general discussion of the governors during the revolution, see Beezley, , “Research Possibilities in the Mexican Revolution: The Governorship,” The Americas, 29, no. 3 (January, 1973) : 308–313.Google Scholar

5 Cumberland, Charles C., The Mexican Revolution: The Constitutionalist Years (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1972).Google Scholar

6 Cumberland, Charles C., Mexican Revolution: Genesis under Madero (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1952) : 154–155.Google Scholar

7 Minutes of the executive committee, Coahuila State Legislature, May 26, 1911, Periódico Oficial del Estado de Coahuila 19, no. 51 (July 26, 1911) : 2; the proclamation was published in ibid., no 34 (May 27, 1911): 1 (Hereinafter cited as PO).

8 Gómez, Francisco Vázquez, Memorias Políticas, 1905–1913 (Mexico City: Imprenta Mundial, 1933), pp. 276–277.Google Scholar

9 See official reports of the Torreón Massacre, in Archivo General del Estado de Coahuila (hereinafter cited as AGEC), legajo 293, expediente 11,145; Payne, Evelyn, Tulitas of Torreón (El Paso: Texas Western Press, 1969): 116–123.Google Scholar

10 Presidente Municipal, Parras, to Governor, April 16, 1911, AGEC, legajo 293, expediente 11,097.

11 Exchange of telegrams, Madero to Alfredo Robles Domínguez, May 25, 1911, and Robles Domínguez to Madero, May 26, 1911, Archivo Particular de Alfredo Robles Domínguez, Instituto Nacional de Estudios Históricos de la Revolución Mexicana, tomo 1, expediente 5, folios 33 and 36.

12 Minutes of the executive committee, Coahuila State Legislature, May 27, 1911, PO 19, no. 51 (July 26, 1911) : 2; Madero to Emilio Madero, May 27, 1911, Archivo Madero. Correspondencia del Presidente Francisco I. Madero, Biblioteca Nacional, box 3, #1211 (Hereinafter cited as BN).

13 A convenient summary of Carranza’s policies is contained in his resignation as interim governor August 1, 1911, Manuscritos de Venustiano Carranza, Centro de Estudios de Historia de México. Fundación Cultural de Condumex, s.a. (Hereinafter cited as Condumex/AC), carpeta 1.

14 Madero refused to intervene in behalf of office seekers, although he did offer a nominee for mayor of Torreón, which Carranza accepted. See Madero to Rafael Aguirre, May 23, 1911, BN box 1, #31; Madero to Alfonso Madero, May 23, 1911, BN box 1, #35 and #35; Madero to Carranza, May 25, 1911, BN box 1, #327. The appointment of various state officials, including judges, was recorded in the official newspaper. See PO, nos. 39, 42, 43 (June 14, 22, 28, 1911) for lists of new office holders. The state congress authorized Carranza to establish a commission to revise the legal code, January 13, 1912, and Carranza named a three-man committee to begin work immediately. See AGEC, legajo 311, expediente “Congreso”.

15 Correspondence concerning railroad service in the state is contained in AGEC, legajo 292, expedientes 11,087 and 11,089. The railroads inaugurated the new service August 4, 1912.

16 A convenient summary of efforts to revise the tax structure is contained in Ildefonso Villarello Velez, Historia de la Revolución Mexicana (Mexico: Talleres Gráficos de la Nación, 1970), p. 215. Carranza’s statement to the deputies on the need for tax reform is in AGEC Legajo 311, expediente “Congreso”, and the efforts of each municipality to reform real estate taxes are collected in AGEC, legajos 305–307; for example, legajo 307, expediente “Sabinas”.

17 See Petition from merchants, Sabinas, to Carranza, August 26, 1912, and Report of the Cloete Coal Mining Company to the Governor, Nov. 1, 1912, AGEC, legajo 317, expediente misceláneo: González, Manuel W., “Guarda … Tropa Desarmada.,” El Legionario 2, no. 24 (Feb., 1953): 78–79.Google Scholar

18 Andrés G. García to Governor, Sept. 10, 20, Oct. 3, 1911, AGEC, legajo 293, expediente 11,177; On Gutiérrez de Lara, see AGEC, legajo 317, expediente misceláneo; and Manuel W. González, , “Y se lavantó y ando,” El Legionario, 3, no. 29 (July, 1953): 42–43 Google Scholar. Philip Holland to the Secretary of State, Nov. 18, 1911, Records of the Department of State Relating to the Internal Affairs of Mexico, 1910–1929. National Archives Microfilm Publication. 812.00/2541 (hereafter cited as RDS, with document number); Ellsworth, Luther to Secretary of State, Nov. 16, 1911 Google Scholar, RDS 812.00/2516; Hamm, Theodore C. to Secretary of State, Nov. 27, 1911 Google Scholar RDS 812.00/2586.

19 AGEC, Legajo 293, expediente 11,142; legajo 294, expediente Saltillo; legajo 306, expediente San Pedro, and expediente Torreón; Petition from miners in La Rosita, June 24, 1912, legajo 317, expediente misceláneo.

20 For a summary of Carranza’s educational programs see his statements to the legislature, June 29, 1912, AGEC, Legajo 311, expediente Congreso; on salaries see, as an example, legajo 306, expediente Saltillo, and PO 19, no. 46 (July 8, 1911): 2.

21 The Coahuila state archive contains expedientes that document the denunciation of lands and the appropriation of water usage especially in the years from 1890 to 1910. As examples of these records see AGEC, legajo 150 (1894), expediente 6353, recording the denuciation of lots within the ejidos of Jiménez; and expediente 6488, a complaint from the residents of Sabinas against the local coal mining company that had opened a ditch and was draining off water necessary for the town. On the question of the Río Nazas, see Kroeber, Clifton B., “La cuestión del Nazas hasta 1913,” Historia Mexicana 20, no. 79 (Jan. 1971): 412–427.Google Scholar

22 Carranza, circular #124, Jan. 6, 1912, AGEC, legajo 307. As example of land cessions to restore village lands (in Abasolo), September 6, 1912, see AGEC, legajo 303, expediente 11,192; while illustrative of the question of water rights is Andrés G. García to Carranza, Oct. 3, 1911, AGEC, legajo 293, expediente 11,177.

23 Madero to Carranza, June 18, 1911, BN box 1, #340; Calvert, Peter, Mexico (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1973): 86;Google ScholarPubMed The fraudulent practices surrounding the discharges provided an issue on which to demand that the provisional Minister of Internal Affairs resign his post. See Madero to Francisco León de la Barra, July 15, 1911, Manuscritos de Francisco León de la Barra, Centro de Estudios Historia de Mexico, Funcación Cultural de Condumex, carpeta 2.

24 Efforts to recruit former rebels into the rurales are reported in Carranza’s correspondence with the Minister of Internal Affairs, AGEC, legajo 293, expediente 11,152; Roberto Rivas to Governor, July 27, Aug. 9 and Nov. 17, 1911, AGEC, legajo 293, expediente 11,185.

25 Carranza’s correspondence to secure surplus arms for his auxiliary units is continued in AGEC, legajo 293, expediente 11,174 and legajo 305, expediente 11,298. Lists of the state forces and their equipment are in legajo 305, expedientes 11,301 and 11,311, while the state and national financing of the troops is reported in legajo 303, expediente 11,186.

26 Reports of the battle outside Cuarto Ciénegas are found in AGEC, legajo 318, expediente “Cuarto Ciénegas”; the following battle at Puerto del Carman is described in Gonzélez, Manuel W., “Y se levantó y andò,” El Legionario 3, 29 (July, 1953): 38–39 Google Scholar, and Carranza, to Madero, , May 13, 1912, in “Archivo de Carranza,” edited by Valadés, José C., La Opinión (Los Angeles, Calif.), March 13, 1938 Google Scholar. (Hereafter cited as “Carranza Archive.”)

27 Madero, to Carranza, , September 9, 1912, “Carranza Archive,” March 13, 1938;Google Scholar Gonzalez, , “Y se lavantó y andó,” p. 44.Google Scholar

28 On state and national finances used for the state security forces, see correspondence of the Coahuila state treasury, AGEC, legajo 303, expediente 11,186; the demobilization of the state forces, with an account of the arms and ammunition collected by local officials is reported in AGEC, legajo 305, expediente 1,321. The activities of Pablo Gonzalez’s troop in Chihuahua can be followed in his correspondence with Manuel Caballero, Jan. 26, 1913, document #52, and Antonio Rábago, Jan. 27, 1913, document #54 in the Manuscritos de Manuel W. González, Centro de Estudios de Historia de Mexico. Fundación Cultural de Condumex, carpeta 2. (Hereafter cited as Condumex/MWG). This collection contains the budget for wages of the González unit for January, 1913, Condumex/MWG, carpeta 2, document 49.

29 Cardenas’s views are reported in Holland to Secretary of State, March 26, 1912, RDS 812.00/3448. Holland, who was the U. S. consul in Saltillo, reported worsening conditions in the capital city through March, April, and May, 1912; his reports seem to reflect the attitudes of the foreigners and Mexicans he consulted rather than any anti-Carranza bias of his own. See his report of March 26, 1912, RDS 812.00/3388.

30 Bishop Echavarria, pastoral circular #4, March 12, 1913, Archivo de la Catedral de Santiago, Saltillo, Libro de Gobierno, vol. 5,

31 AGEC, legajo 307, expediente “Monclova”.

32 Carranza received permission from the state legislature, Dec. 11, 1912, to go to Mexico City. His interview with the president is recorded in Breceda, Alfredo “Madero Presenta a Carranza con Huerta,” El Legionario 4,41 (July 1954): 4–5.Google Scholar

33 Carranza’s telegram is found in Condumex/MWG, carpeta 2, document #61; González note to Carranza is published in Breceda, Alfredo, “Presènte, mí general!” El Legionario 4,42 (Aug. 1954): 6.Google Scholar

34 Wilkie, James W., The Mexican Revolution: Federal Expenditure and Social Change (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967): 3; 1–1 Google Scholar, shows that the national government since 1910 has collected 70% of the revenue, leaving the states and localities to divide unequally the remaining monies.