202 CHAPTER 9 DECOLONIZATION AND THE SEARCH FOR NATIONAL IDENTITIES, 1821–1870
One of Juárez’s fi rst offi cial acts was to issue a
decree, the Ley Juárez, proclaiming the state’s right
to limit clerical and military fueros to matters of
internal discipline. The Ley Lerdo (Lerdo Law) of
1856, drafted by Lerdo de Tejada, also struck a
heavy blow at the material base of the church’s
power: its landed wealth. The law barred the church
from holding land not used for religious purposes
and compelled the sale of all such property to ten-
ants. It also auctioned unrented real estate to the
highest bidder, with payment of a large sales tax to
the government.
The law aimed to create a rural middle class,
but because it made no provision for division of the
church estates, the bulk of the land passed into the
hands of great landowners, merchants, and capi-
talists, both Mexican and foreign. Worse, the law
barred indigenous villages from owning land and
ordered the sale of such land in the same manner
as church property, excepting only land and build-
ings designed exclusively for the “public use” of the
inhabitants and for communal pastures (ejidos).
As a result, land-grabbers descended on the native
villages, “denounced” their land to the local courts,Mexico’s José Clemente Orozco celebrated Mexican national resistance to French colo-
nialism and the heroic leadership of Benito Juárez in this painting entitled The Triumph
of Juarez. It depicts ordinary Mexican citizens rising to assist outgunned and over-
matched Mexican regular army soldiers in a great victory over the French Legion at the
Battle of Puebla on May 5, 1862. [Archivo Iconografi co, S.A./Corbis]