! University Microfilms, A XEROX Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Finally, with the triumph of the Reform movement
came a new social and economic restructuring. The Con­
stitutional Congress brought forth a new Constitution that
established the separation of Church and State and tried
to bring forth a juridical order which would establish the
equality of all citizens. Juan Alvarez, Melchor Ocampo
and Benito Juarez were the champions and apostles of this
new social gospel; their mission was "el establecimiento de
una verdadera nacion dentro de la orbita de un Estado de
tipo moderno."^ Though it was hoped that his Constitution
would put an end to all the previous revolutions and revolts,
it became the cause of one of the most bitter of all Mexican
internal struggles. Called the "Guerra de tres afios," it
was the clash of the new liberals against the clergy and
other conservatives who hated to see a change in the status
O
quo. And though the next twenty years of history are
almost as restless and turbulent as the thirty previous,
the Constitution of 1857 had accomplished one important pur­
pose. It became the emblem of liberty. The revolutions
after 1857 at least did not promise a new Constitution; they
invoked the one of 1857 as proof that the government in
power was not complying.with its responsibilities.
^Agustin Cue Canovas, "La obra historica del Congreso
Constituyente de 1856-7*" Revista Mexicana de Cultura
(March , 1956), 1.
Q In 1891 Rabasa writes a novel over this period of
history titled La guerra de tres aflos.
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