Since declaring independence in 1821,
Mexico
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...
has adopted a number of
constitution
A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organization or other type of entity, and commonly determines how that entity is to be governed.
When these pri ...
s or other documents of basic law with constitutional effects. Not all these can be considered constitutions, and not all of them enjoyed universal application. Those enacted in 1824, 1857, and 1917 are generally considered full-fledged, operational constitutions. The Constitution of 1824 established the framework of a federated republic, following the
short-lived monarchy of
Agustín de Iturbide (in 1821–22). The Constitution of 1857 was the framework set by Mexican liberals that incorporated particular laws into the constitution. The Constitution of 1917 was drafted by the faction that won the
Mexican Revolution
The Mexican Revolution () was an extended sequence of armed regional conflicts in Mexico from 20 November 1910 to 1 December 1920. It has been called "the defining event of modern Mexican history". It saw the destruction of the Federal Army, its ...
, known as the
Constitutionalists for their adherence to the Constitution of 1857. It strengthened the
anticlerical framework of the 1857 constitution, empowered the state to expropriate private property, and set protections for organized labor. The 1917 Constitution was significantly revised in 1992 under
Carlos Salinas de Gortari,
eliminating anticlerical restrictions and strengthening
private property rights against the State.
References
{{Reflist
External links
Las constituciones de México– Links to on-line versions of the current and historical constitutions of Mexico (in Spanish)
– A brief history of the Mexican constitution from the U.S. Library of Congress
Law of Mexico
*
Constitutional history