Conservative Party (Mexico)

Lucas Alamán, founder of the Mexican Conservative Party.

Its founder was Lucas Alamán, along with Ignacio Aguilar y Marocho, Francisco de Paula Arrangoiz, Antonio de Haro y Tamariz, Miguel Miramón and Leonardo Márquez, among others, who supported the centralist thinking and insisted that the solution to the Mexican government was a monarchy and not a system of popular election. They hoped to establish a Spanish crown prince in Mexico. Conservatives sought paternalistic support of the kings from Spain, believing that under his rule the Indians would have a "special status" and protection, but the power would remain at hands of the élites and the Mexican nobility.[2]

The main point of conflict between liberals and conservatives was the church. Conservatives remained faithful to it and fought for their economic and social power to be maintained. His fighting motto was "Religion and fueros" [3] Among its main tenets was the preserve of Catholicism as a sole religion for all citizens. They also wanted to retain the monopoly of education, to prevent infiltrating liberal ideas. Similarly, they tried to keep military courts thus maintaining their autonomy [4] Conservative ideas were based on moral and religious ideas applied to various fields such as respect for family, traditions, individual and community property. They sought rulers who were honest and worthy bearers of traditional values.[5] Conservatives offered Maximilian of Habsburg the head of the second empire. The mixed liberal-royalist ideology implemented by Emperor Maximilian I disenchanted some conservatives, however, the policies were widely praised by most of the moderate conservatives.

Rulers with conservative ideology [6] who were in power at various stages were:

During the Reform War and simultaneous governments Benito Juárez (Liberal Party) and Miguel Miramón (Conservative Party) signed 2 treaties seeking international support:

• The McLane–Ocampo Treaty by liberals
• The Mon-Almonte Treaty by conservatives.

Both which were first signed on December 14, 1859 by Melchor Ocampo and Robert McLane, ambassador of the United States in Mexico. Simultaneously, conservatives sought help from Europe. On September 26, 1859, Juan Nepomuceno Almonte, the Mexican Conservative minister in Paris signed a treaty with Alejandro Mon, Spain's ambassador in France. The Almonte-Mon treaty re-established relations with its former metropoli (Spain).

Maximilian receiving a Mexican delegation at Miramar Castle in Trieste, Italy.

During the Reform War in Mexico (1858–61), Zuloaga was repeatedly named provisional president by conservatives and abolished the Constitution and the liberal laws affecting the privileges of the church and the lerdo law. In 1860, he began the decline of the Conservative government. On May 10, General Miguel Miramon replaced Zuloaga and sought to defeat the Liberals, but they outnumbered him because unlike conservatives, who only had a presence in the city, also had the support of the Mexican peasantry. Finally they were defeated in the Battle of Capulalpan in December 22, 1860. This battle ended the War of Reform, as a result, Miguel Miramon moved to Cuba and left Benito Juárez as the only president.

In 1861 the governments of Spain, France and Great Britain, after the Treaty of London, faced the Juarez government, which filed for bankruptcy. Liberals managed to convince Spain and England to leave the country peacefully, on the other hand the French sent troops by orders of Napoleon III, and had the aim of establishing a Catholic empire in Mexico to stop the advance of American Protestantism and its growing expansionism. Conservatives supported this policy and strategy that aligned with their interests to establish a monarchy.

On 10 June 1863 the French army took the city of Mexico. The same year the Conservatives convinced Maximilian of Habsburg to accept the crown of the Mexican empire. After being in power, conservatives noticed that regalist practices of Maximilian resembled closer to liberal than conservative policies, thus he lost a substantial part of its support. This, coupled with the withdrawal of French troops at the approach of the Franco-Prussian war in 1867, as well as the American combatant support for the liberal government of Juarez, who perceived a monarchy in the Mexican territory as a menace for their interests in the region, resulted in a victory for the liberals who ordered to shoot Maximiliano and many conservatives such as Miguel Miramon and Tomas Mejia. Liberals took power and restored the federal republic, with Benito Juárez to the front.[7]

• First Mexican Empire
• Second Mexican Empire