Children's book on the Mexican Constitution of 1917.

Calling for Change

The Calling for Change.................................................................................... pg 1

Carranza............................................................................................................ pg 2

Fransisco J Mugica........................................................................................... pg 3

Pastor Rouaix.................................................................................................... pg 4

Article 123....................................................................................................... pg 5-6

Constitution Congress...................................................................................... pg 7

Articles 3 &amp; 27................................................................................................... pg 8

The New Constitution................................................................................. pg 9-10

Constitutions: old vs new............................................................................. pg 10-11

The effects of the Constitution...................................................................... pg 12

Glossary.............................................................................................................. pg 13

Many just like Venustiano Carranza ...

... hated Profiro Diaz and wanted Change, just like Francisco J. Múgica. He was a radical leader and was an influence in writing the constitution

In his lifetime, he served as an assistant to Carranza and in 1913 he joined the constitutionalists

He also was a general and lieutenant, and led the revolutionary forces.

Múgica was known as one of the best delegates and fundamentals of the Mexican Revolution

He worked on part of the constitution concerning matters of religion, politics, economics and education.

He wrote many articles in Constitution.

But not only did he work on the constitution.... 

After two months of work the congress presented the constitution proposal and the congress was given power to establish the articles and on February 5th, 1917 the constitution was promulgated&nbsp;

The Mexican constitution was the first in the world including labor rights in their articles&nbsp;!!!

Legaslating in such a way on workers rights was innovative for this time.

The 1917 Constitution is the result of a more than 200-year struggle by the Mexican people to unite as a nation. The delegates were successful in incorporating revolutionary ideas into the 1917 constitutional provisions.

Citizens refer to it like the Magna Carta, where the rights and obligations are contained. The Constitution of 1917 has continued to be enforced even a century later showing how the Congress's great job implementing the citizens social backgrounds

For the first time, not only men received justice but women. Women's labor rights were increased, ensuring equality, respect, and acceptable working circumstances. Women were able to vote.

The Mexican Constitution reformed the land, labor, and social issues of Mexico. 

The 1824 Constitution was based on separation of powers...

However, the President had more power than Congress.

The Constitution of 1824 failed (three years after independence)

&nbsp;The 1824 constitution&nbsp;did not expressly state the rights of citizens which the 1917 made sure to exaggerate on.

...since it did not address how to enforce and apply laws.

The old constitutions were unorganized and hard to understand.

The Constitution of 1917, has 137 articles.

Divided into ten titles,

it lists human rights...

outlines associated rights...

...and specifies freedoms of foreigners residing in the country.

defines national citizenship...

Constitution: a body of fundamental principles or established precedents according to which a state or other organization is acknowledged to be governed.

Debt ponage: a system where an employer compels a worker to pay off a debt with work.

Promulgated: promote or make widely known (an idea or cause) [Authors note] basically to put out, or celebrate&nbsp;

Back in the 1900s, you find Mexico following the script as all revolutions do...

At the time, Mexico was being ruled over by Porfirio Diaz,

And though the railroad construction and foreign investment made the economy boom in Mexico...

 an unfair Dictator to the poor, who ruled for a total of 34 years!!

...it was at the expense of the laborers.

They would work seven days a week, ten or more hours a day for as little as 25 cents!!

These years of unrest led to uprisings and to the writing of a new constitution.&nbsp;

Article 123's importance to its people of Mexico:

The constitution consisted of many things promising for a better future for Mexico. 

One of the things it stated was that a workday could not be longer than eight hours.

It also declared that strikes were to be legal means of calling for change.

Not only that but debt peonage, a system of forced labor to get rid of debt, was abolished.

Furthermore, government standards and regulations had to be set to benefit workers.

Bibliography:

Ash, P. D. (2017). Analysis: Political Constitution of the United Mexican States (1917). Defining MORTON, W. M. (1952). The Mexican Constitutional Congress of 1916-1917. The Southwestern Social Science Quarterly, 33(1), 7–27. http://www.jstor.org/stable/42865554 "Porfirio Díaz." Britannica School, Encyclopædia Britannica, 15 Dec. 2020. The Mexican Constitution Establishes Workers’ Rights. (1999). In Great Events (Vol. 2, p. 151). Salem Press. The Mexican Revolution Ends in Constitutional Government. (1999). In Great Events (Vol. 1, p. 64). Venustiano Carranza. (2021). Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th Edition, 1. A SMOLSKI, A. (2015). Conflict and Consensus. CounterPunch, 22(3), 11–15

The Calling for Change: The Constitution of 1917

Another leader not as radical as Múgica, Pastor Rouaix

...was a politician deputy to&nbsp;the Constituent Congress in 1917.

He along with a few others held meetings and decided to choose Mexico's national government as the main responsibility to improve the lives of these Mexican workers.

He wrote and was the main author of Article 123.

The goal was to get all the social demands that were made during the armed struggle to be reflected in constitutional articles (like articles 123, 3, 27 etc..)

The nation has full right over the land and waters of its territory and will only be granted the exploitation of rescources under the conditions that the republic establishes.

Schools cant do as they please

It will be secular --non religous and free in all official establishments of the government.

Article 27 mandated that lands taken from the peasantry during the Porfiriato had to be returned, even if they did not have written titles.

On February 5th, the constitution was proclaimed the theatre of the republic due to its social contents&nbsp;

The new constitution was made so there'd be an obligatory role of promoting the social, economic, and cultural well-being of their citizens.

The Mexican Constitution of 1917&nbsp;promised land...

The constitution addressed three major issues:&nbsp;land, religion, and labor.

and educational reform...

limited foreign ownership of Mexican industry and resources...

guaranteed rights of workers...

and limited the Church's ownership of land.

The new constitution of 1917 were able to incorporate the various revolutionary principles on land distribution, labor rights, secular and free education, and democratic renewal in its pages.

Mexico compared to then is now a federation of free and sovereign state

It also changed the ideals of building a federal republic in Mexico, as well as the division of powers and equality that had been established in Mexico since the Republic's establishment. Comparing to the originals&nbsp;1824 and 1857 with 20,000 words, the 1917 has about 60,000.

...started to gather a team to write a new constitution!

...Venustiano Carranza, the leading politician in Mexico...

Carranza was senator from Coahuila in 1910. And during this time, he joined Francisco Madero in the revolution against Porfirio Díaz.

And, Carranza was urged by Obregón to accept the Constitution of 1917, which contained radical reform measures that Carranza disliked. Thankfully, he ultimately did.

However, Carranza didn’t enforce Article 123 immediately,

He first called for the formation of a congress to draft the new constitution.

“Buenvenidos, Buenvenidos” -Carranza

It was a call to name deputies who will represent everyone states of the country. Each state would have the right of one deputy for every 60,000 inhabitants.

There was many representatives of many political factions which gave the opportunity to independent spokespersons to express their demands.

This call had a huge demand and a vast majority prepared to send their representatives.

People were peasants, teachers, miners, etc...

... Having people from all these social backgrounds talk about their needs gave a “social tint” to the drafting of the constitution.&nbsp;

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