La Coalicion was a newspaper that took the Liberal side in the Mexican Civil War of Reform (and was against the Conservative side). Benito Pablo Juarez was the leader of the Liberals in this Civil War and this newspaper strongly supported Juarez and his position.
Benito Pablo Juárez García (March 21, 1806 – July 18, 1872) was a Zapotec Amerindian who served five terms as president of Mexico: 1858–1861 as interim, 1861–1865, 1865–1867, 1867–1871 and 1871–1872. Benito Juárez was the first Mexican leader who did not have a military background, and also the first full-blooded indigenous national to serve as President of Mexico and to lead a country in the Western Hemisphere in over 300 years. For resisting the French occupation, overthrowing the Empire, and restoring the Republic, as well as for his efforts to modernize the country, Juárez is often regarded as Mexico's greatest and most beloved leader. Several towns, schools, parks, streets and monuments have been named to honor and remember him.
The War of Reform (La Guerra de Reforma) was a Mexican civil war fought from December 1857 to January 1861. It began with a coup of generals representing conservative elites. They refused to recognize the reformist Constitution of 1857, and issued a decree overturning it, called the Plan de Tacubaya. The coup was opposed by liberals and others who were dissatisfied with the Catholic Church's stronghold on government and economic affairs, and disgusted by the extra-legal actions of the generals. Civil unrest ensued, and quickly turned into a civil war. The Liberals, having the upper hand, moved their administration to Mexico City, but only for a time, as the French intervention - backed by conservatives - was under way.
Background
In 1857, the situation became unstable, to the point that this first Constituent Congress, which had elected Ignacio Comonfort president of the Republic and Benito Juárez as president of the Supreme Court of Justice as well as vice president, became worried over the extraordinary governing powers conferred to the executive. The tenor of events precluded even the observance of constitutional articles regarding individual rights, which was seen as perpetuating instability. This instability grew into one of the bloodiest wars in Mexico's history.
In December 1857 General Félix Zuloaga and several other generals announced the Plan de Tacubaya, abolishing the Constitution while maintaining Comonfort's position as president, governing with broad powers. The plan called for a special session of Congress to draft a new constitution more to their liking, doing away in the meantime with all those individuals who did not support this plan. In this period, executions were common and many people fled north to the United States.
Pressured by events, Comonfort decided to unite with this coup of conservative generals. Part of his team of collaborators resigned their positions while Benito Juárez, president of the Supreme Court, Isidoro Olvera, president of Congress, and a number of congressmen were imprisoned. The States became divided between those that supported the Plan de Tacubaya and those that defended the constitutional order.
The Conservatives pressured Comonfort to repeal the Liberal reforms, which he refused to do. Later, Comonfort tried to reconcile the Liberal wing by releasing Juárez from prison and confronting the Conservatives militarily, but his poor performance rendered his resistance futile. Comonfort stopped fighting and fled Mexico.
Two parallel governments competed for legitimacy in the civil war. Benito Juárez, who, by virtue of his status as president of the Supreme Court, would have to occupy the Executive in case of the president's absence, led one of the governments. General Félix Zuloaga, one of a group of generals who decreed the Plan de Tacubaya, presided over the other government. The first defended the constitutional order, while the second paved the way to its destruction. Juárez established his government, at first, in Guanajuato, while Zuloaga in Mexico City governed with the so called Five Laws, which repealed some of the Liberal reforms like the Ley Lerdo, the Ley Iglesias, and the Ley Juárez, among others.
The Liberal army and government converted their regime into an itinerant government after suffering defeats. Despite the hardships, they continued issuing a series of legislative orders that symbolized a yet more radical posture than that maintained in the Constituent Congress of 1857. The legislation enacted in Veracruz considered a range of aspects affecting the nation and its inhabitants.
The laws enacted at this stage, known as the Reform Laws (Leyes de Reforma) separated the Catholic Church from the state. On June 12, 1859 the government nationalized church property. On June 23, the government passed a civil marriage law. On June 28, the organic law of Civil Registration and the Law concerning persons' marital status was instituted. On June 30 , a decree declared an end to all clerical involvement with cemeteries and burial grounds. On August 11, holidays were regulated and official attendance at Church functions was prohibited.
One year later, on December 4, 1860, the Liberal government issued the Law on freedom of religion. This group of laws was the beginning of a new era in politics, economics, and culture.
But while that came to pass, the civil war and the constant confrontations gradually exhausted the country's inhabitants. They tired of this fratricidal war, in which the Liberals were now winning. One event would put a radical spin on the situation: In 1859, the U.S. government in Washington recognized that of Juárez, and with that, Conservative chief Miguel Miramón promoted a reconciliation among both sides. After three years of civil war, the Liberal forces headed by Jesús González Ortega confronted what would be the last battle against the Conservative forces headed by Miramón in December 1860. The Liberals won in the battle of Calpulalpan in the valley of Mexico, and finally, on January 1, 1861, Juárez made his triumphant entry into the capital of the Republic.
A little before this took place, but already convinced that the constitutional forces would prevail over the reactionaries, Juárez issued on November 6, 1860 a call for elections for deputies to the Congress of the Union and the constitutional President of the Republic for two months time. The president had been governing with extraordinary powers, and so had a pressing need to reestablish the legality of the government by means of the Congress. At this time, the legislature had been shifting the balance of power in its favor, and becoming without a doubt the most important political power of the period, more so even than the Executive. The Executive, on the other hand, needed to succeed in the elections in order to be able to govern within the constitutional order.
After a very close vote, the Juarist government was scarcely able to triumph with just a few votes between them and their opponents. The Congress declared Benito Juárez President and González Ortega president of the Supreme Court of Justice, a post which made him a de facto legal runner-up for the presidency. The sessions in the chamber took place in the midst of great political tension, which forced the president to suspend some of the individual rights guaranteed in the constitution. As soon as the constitutional order was reestablished on a national level, the government sought the means to uphold the laws passed in Veracruz and also passed new laws, like the decree secularizing hospitals and charitable organizations issued in December 1861.
These new attacks on Conservative interests provoked uprisings on the part of the reactionary army. Despite having been overthrown by the Liberals, Zuloaga again proclaimed himself president. Political unease once again began to unfold and produced strong partisan confrontations, including against president Juárez, who took pains to keep within the constitutional order. Nevertheless, the assassinations of Melchor Ocampo and Santos Degollado, carried out by the Conservatives in 1861, made the social, economic and political situation critical. The Juarist government decided to suspend payments, look for a way to assemble funds by whatever means possible, and maintain the suspension of civil rights.
These measures would turn out to be insufficient to put a stop to problems with the reactionary wing and achieve the pacification of the country. Aiming to gain more resources to put a stop to the war and fix the Treasury, the Executive had to take drastic measures. The presentation before Congress of an initiative to suspend foreign debt and bond payments for two years was the natural consequence of the distressing situation. Debated in the well of the Legislative Assembly, the initiative was approved and made public in July 1861. The response of the affected European powers was immediate, and although the order was repealed in November of that same year, it was too late since the stance taken by the foreign governments foretold the start of a military intervention.