By 1917, Mexico had been at war with itself for seven years. Out of that chaos came something remarkable — a new Constitution, written at Querétaro, that tried to answer every grievance the revolution had raised.
This wasn't just a list of rules for government. It was one of the most radical documents of its time, promising land to peasants, rights to workers, and a state stripped of Church control. The key question for this micro is: how far did those promises actually change lives, and how far did they stay just words on paper?
Four articles, four revolutions in one: Article 27 (land), Article 123 (labour), Article 3 (education), and Article 130 (the Church) each tackled a separate cause of the revolution. Together they aimed to dismantle the old Porfiriato order for good.
- Article 27 — land and resources — declared that the nation, not private individuals, ultimately owned all land, water, and subsoil (including oil). This gave the state legal power to break up giant haciendas and hand land to villages as ejidos.
- Article 123 — labour rights — guaranteed an 8-hour day, a minimum wage, the right to strike, and safety standards. It was one of the most progressive labour codes anywhere in the world in 1917.
- Article 3 — education — made schooling free and secular, banning the Catholic Church from running schools. The state, not the clergy, would now shape what children learned.
- Article 130 — the Church — stripped the Catholic Church of legal personality, banned clergy from voting or wearing religious dress in public, and put church buildings under state ownership.
Notice how these four articles connect. Land, labour, schools, and the Church were the very things Zapata, Villa, and ordinary Mexicans had fought over since 1910. The Constitution tried to settle all four fights at once.
Radical on paper, cautious in practice: President Venustiano Carranza, who presided over the Constitution's drafting, was himself a wealthy landowner. He signed these radical articles into law but enforced them only weakly — real change came slowly, and mostly under later presidents.
This gap between the Constitution's promise and its early enforcement is central to any Paper 3 essay on this topic. Was 1917 a genuine turning point, or just a statement of intent that took decades to fulfil?
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Writing a law is one thing. Making it real is another. Let's look at how each of the Constitution's four promises actually played out in the years after 1917.
Land reform and property rights
Land redistribution under Article 27 started slowly. Carranza distributed very little land — he feared upsetting large landowners and foreign investors, especially US oil companies who owned Mexican subsoil rights.
Obregón and Calles distributed more, but still cautiously — around 3 million hectares combined by 1934. It was under Cárdenas, from 1934, that land reform truly exploded, with roughly 18 million hectares redistributed as ejidos, more than double all previous presidents put together.
Labour reform
Article 123 gave workers legal tools, but unions needed government backing to use them effectively. The Confederación Regional Obrera Mexicana (CROM) grew powerful in the 1920s under Calles's patronage, though it often served the government's interests as much as workers'.
Cárdenas went further, actively encouraging strikes and founding a rival, more independent labour federation (the CTM) in 1936 — a genuine shift of power toward organized labour.
Impact on the Church
Article 130's anti-clerical rules were enforced unevenly at first. Under Calles from 1924, enforcement turned harsh — churches were closed, foreign priests expelled, and religious processions banned. This provoked the Cristero War, which we cover in detail in the next section.
Education reforms
Article 3's promise of secular, free education became real mainly through the work of José Vasconcelos, Obregón's education minister, who built thousands of rural schools and sent teachers into remote villages to spread literacy and a shared national identity.
| Reform area | Constitution's promise (1917) | How far fulfilled by 1934 |
|---|---|---|
| Land (Art. 27) | Nation owns land; can redistribute to peasants | Slow — under 3 million hectares given out by Carranza-Calles |
| Labour (Art. 123) | 8-hour day, right to strike, minimum wage | Partial — unions grew but often controlled by the state |
| Church (Art. 130) | Strip Church of legal status and property | Enforced harshly under Calles, triggering armed revolt |
| Education (Art. 3) | Free, secular, state-run schooling | Real progress — thousands of rural schools built |
Use this for 'continuity and change': A strong essay shows the Constitution promised sweeping change in 1917, but actual change was gradual and uneven — a slow-burning revolution stretched across two decades, not an instant transformation.
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Having a Constitution was one thing. Building a stable government that could actually rule Mexico was another challenge entirely — and it took four very different leaders to get there.
Álvaro Obregón (1920-1924)
Ended years of armed conflict between revolutionary generals. Won US recognition through the 1923 Bucareli Agreements (protecting US oil interests) and expanded rural education under Vasconcelos.
Plutarco Elías Calles (1924-1928) and the Maximato
As president, enforced anti-clerical laws harshly, sparking the Cristero War. After his term ended, he kept ruling from behind the scenes through puppet presidents — a period called the Maximato.
Opposition and the Cristero War (1926-1929)
Catholic peasants in central-western Mexico rose up against Calles's church closures. The brutal conflict killed roughly 90,000 people before US-brokered talks ended it in 1929, without repealing the anti-clerical laws.
Lázaro Cárdenas (1934-1940)
Broke free of Calles's control, expelling him from Mexico in 1936. Accelerated land reform dramatically, backed labour unions, and nationalized the oil industry in 1938 — truly renewing the revolution's radical spirit.
O-C-C-C: Obregón stabilizes, Calles controls (and clashes with the Church), Cristeros resist, Cárdenas renews.
Calles's creation of the Partido Nacional Revolucionario (PNR) in 1929 mattered enormously. Instead of generals fighting — sometimes literally, with assassinations — over who would be president, the party now managed succession internally. This ended the cycle of coups that had plagued Mexico since 1910.
Case for the Maximato as stabilizing
- Ended assassination-driven succession crises after Obregón's 1928 murder
- Created the PNR, ancestor of the party that would rule Mexico for 70 years
- Kept economic and political order during the Great Depression's early shock
Case for the Maximato as a betrayal of the revolution
- Calles ruled through puppet presidents, undermining real democracy
- Land reform slowed to a crawl as Calles grew more conservative
- Anti-clerical crackdown provoked a war that killed tens of thousands
This is exactly the kind of debate a Paper 3 essay wants you to weigh. Was the Maximato a necessary stabilizing force, or a conservative retreat from the revolution's original promises? Strong answers argue both sides before reaching a judgement.
Don't confuse the Cristero War's cause: It was religious persecution — church closures, expelled priests — that caused the uprising, not a dispute over land. Keep the land-reform debate and the Church debate separate in your essay planning.