Conflict between the Roman Catholic Church and the State in Mexico became prominent soon after independence in 1821, and during the next three decades national and state governments made various attempts to reduce ecclesiastical influence in the social, economic and political life of the nation. Few of such efforts met with much success, and it was not until 1856 that a major reform was initiated. Legislation was issued which affected all spheres of clerical activity but the most vital and controversial aspect of the reform involved the measures adopted to dispossess the Church of its wealth....

Jan Bazant has woven into a coherent whole the chaotic series of political and social upheavals that characterised Mexican history from the start of the struggle for independence through the completion of basic social reforms in 1940. The colonial reaction to the forced loans exacted by the Spanish government in 1805 to finance its war against Great Britain was, in Professor Bazant's view, the starting point of the Mexican independence movement. She argues that a new phase of Mexican history began when the liberals abolished the power and wealth of the Catholic Church. Mexico's rapid economic...