Development of Mexico 27

8/8/2019 Development of Mexico 27

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Mexico's 27 Obstacles to Development.

Comparative Differences with the United

States.

1) Mexico's Place in World Times. New Spain misses

out on (Charts A-B):

a) Industrial, Ag, & Commercial Revolutions

b) Enlightenment & Catholic Reformation,

c) Transportation Revolution,

d) Print Revolution & Rise of Active Citizens


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e) Technological Revolution in Europe and in Britains13 American Colonies,

f) Rise of real town councils, free speech and free

press - all enjoyed by British Colonies and denied inSpanish Colonies, where printing presses only permitted

under Church supervision.


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g) New Spain watches rise of capitalism in & world trade

by American colonies, which defy the British crowns

orders to only produce raw materials. 1776 Declaration ofIndependence comes to legitimize a new economic,

social, political order already in place & won by defeat of

British Crown in 1783.

VERSUS:

h) Mexico (based on mining and haciendas) hears in 1810

a call to make Mexico for the Mexicans by expelling

Spanish Colonial authorities-- Independence comesaccidentally in 1821 to maintain in power the Spanish

monopolists & conserve the old anti-capitalist order--not

lay the legal basis for a new one, which must await the rule

ofPorfirio Daz, 1876-1911.


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2) Geography (Chart 1A-2A):

a) Most of country has too much, or too little rainfall.

b) High Mountain ranges, North to South, impede

travel between Gulf and Pacific.

c) Only two major sea ports (Veracruz and Acapulco) no coastwise shipping.


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d) No navigable rivers as enjoyed by British Colonies -

such rivers allowed British Colonies to engage insmuggling.

e) Tropical coasts a hardship place to live until the

advent of electrical refrigeration and air conditioning inthe 1950s.


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3) Loss of Territory and Mineral Wealth (Chart 2B-C):

a) Mexico lost Central America in 1823; reduced to

1,618,000 sq. mi

b) Mexico lost American West in 1848, reduced to

760,000 sq. miles, or now only 47% of the country in

1824.

b) Mexico lost Gold, oil, and silver (in California. Texas,

and todays U.S. West)


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4. Population decrease (Charts 3-4):

a) 25 million in 1521 and 1950. In 1608 population fell

to one million,

b) Missions brought disease, especially in the parts of

Mexico which suffer from high heat all year, a problem

not faced by the American Colonies with their cold

winters

c) New Spains culture for classifying social status by

degrees of blood, thus stigmatizing dark people.


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5) Crown "taxes" on New Spain were 35 times greater

than taxes extracted in English Colonies to the North:

a) Depleted base for Mexico wealth.

b) Long term decline in GDP/C (gross domestic product

per capita) begins in Colonial period: In 1800 NewSpains GDP/C was 44% that of USA; today it is about

21%. See Chart 6 & CIA:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_

(nominal)_per_capita)

6) Lost Mining Revenue because mines destroyed

between 1810 and 1876.


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7) Reconstruction period after Independence

delayed by rural chaos--Hacienda becomes a "refuge"

for rural families. By 1880, a prison

8) Spaniards expelled so loss of:

a) Intellectuals, managers, engineersb) Flight of Spanish capital

9) Weak central government control & police:

a) Due to lack of communication

10) Disruption of countryside by warring factions:

a) Disruption of bureaucracy


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11) Three land systems:

a) Haciendas versusb) Ejidos

c) 50% of usable land to the Church, much

not used.

12) State fails to replace Church, 1821-1921:

a) The Church runs most hospitals, schools,

orphanages--State lacks necessary fund,

organization, personnel, buildings, etc

b) 3 Judicial Systems: Church, Military, Civil.

13) Govt. standing armies vs. Guerrilla Warfare.


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14) High rate of illiteracy.

15) Northern European migrants not admitted to NewSpain & after 1810 migrants avoid violent Mexico.

Rather they go to America with their knowledge with

their ideas of expanding Industrial, Tec, Educational

Revolutions.

16) Culture of domination by one group to 1910

a) Aztecs, then

b) Viceroy/Church, then

c) Generals, 1810--

d) French Army 1861-66 & Maximilian 1864-

1967,

e) Porfirio Daz


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17) Long Struggle to Achieve in Mexico:a) standard weights and measures

b) civil registry of births, marriages, deaths

18) Arbitrary State Intervention: History of corruption

and smuggling to protect against excessive powers of

Spanish crown.

19) System of bribery (too often called taxes):

Internal taxes at each state border (alcabala) withinMexico increases cost of goods in Calif. 400 times over

the landing price at Veracruz.


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20) Deficient Commercial System:

a) No joint stock companies

b) No patent law

21) Tradition of learning in Mexico's universities until

the 1950s by and for

a) eliteb) Church


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22) Mexico invented the amparo for a noblepurpose, which has been distorted to protect rich

criminals.

In theory, the amparo prevents persons from being

unjustly prosecuted by the Executive Power in Mexico,

by permitting judges to assume custody over the

accused.

This equals habeas corpus before the arrest.(Compared to U.S. legal system wherein habeas

corpus takes place after the arrest and indictment.)


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23) Accidental Independence of Mexico:

a) Protest in 1810 began in New Spain by Father MiguelHidalgo; his movement to readdress grievances

eventually becomes movement for Independence.

b) French 1808 capture of Spanish King Ferdinand VIIled Mexico to begin its own political culture 1810-1821,

but Independence in 1821was the made by

conservatives seeking to maintain their Spanish

Monopoly System by preventing the rise of democracyand private capitalism

c) 1821-1910 was occupied with battles between

Liberals and Conservatives (Chart 7B)


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24) Spread of Napoleons legal codes:

a) Napoleons 1807 war against Portugal to break its

alliance with Britain that had blockaded ships from

reaching his Continent, led him to seize Spain enroute

to Lisbon.

he places his brother Joseph I on the throne of Spain,

1808.

b) Iberians flee to Latin Am taking with them the

Enlightened idea of the rights of man and Napoleonic

Codes 1804-1810


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c) Many Spanish colonies refuse to obey Joseph I; as

in Spain, they seek to establish free town councils.

d) The small group that holds power in New Spainfears losing its privileges, and seeks to abort the

idea of new freedoms many based set to change

Spanish laws by transferring control of towns from

central control in Madrid (now held by France) to localcontrol, anti-state control.


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e) When Ferdinand VII returns to power in Spain, he

cannot stop the proclamation in Cdiz by a Constitution,

providing for the autonomy of town councils in Spain

and eventually the Colonies.

f) In 1821 Mexico, the Spaniards who had controlledpower and monopolies of all activity declared

themselves against the rise of capitalism (led by USA),

by breaking with Spain and declaring Independence

to create the Mexican Empire (1822-1823), includingCentral America and what is now the U.S. West

(California, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada,

and part of Colorado). Size 1,818,000 sq. miles.


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g) Civil war in Mexico 1821-1876 to determine whether

it will be Statist or Anti-Statist,

h) Napoleon, the Man on the White Horse, is modelfor hundreds of generals who seek unsuccessfully to

organize an army and impose order -- which in 1876

Porfirio Daz finally does (Napoleonic laws and harsh

treatment of the guilty have not directly contradictedmany Mexican laws).


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i) Under Napoleonic Code, accused are presumed

guilty until they prove themselves innocent -vice versathe situation in the U.S.)

25) Napoleonic Code persists through 20th-century in

Mexico (Chart 7A):a) no trial by jury, no right to face accuser or cross

examine police or witnesses

b) judges never meet most of the accused, only read

their depositions

c) no real ability for anyone to protest torture (Only in

21st century is change underway for above; Except no

jury)


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26) Mexico trapped by having mixed 3 legal systems:

a) Spanish Civil Code of Inflexibility--light years away

from the flexible U.S. & British Common Law Codes,

b) French Napoleonic Civil Codes of Ministerial inflexibly

centralizing harsh power (and as under Spanish law)causing Statism to further putrefy, and

c) U.S. Governing System limiting centralism by dividing

national power between the Executive, Legislature, and

Judiciary,

d) establishing the same division of powers at the state

level which also gives the states some autonomy against

federal intervention.


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27) The confused combination of a+b+c, above,

has led to the need f or bribes t o k eep Mexico

functioning in face of the fact that, under a and

28) b, no acts are legal unless previously

approved in the detailed civil codes (which

discourage innovation because are years ordecades behind reality), yet under c all acts are

legal unless they are made illegal in the codes of

common law (which encourage innovation).

Development of Mexico 27

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