Porfirio Diaz was the president of Mexico who was responsible for the modernization and industrialization that took place in the country. His motto was paz, orden y progresso, he didn’t want there to be wars in Mexico like there had been in prior years. He wanted there to be change and progress. In order to accomplish paz y orden he was known to be ruthless and crude. Diaz was not going to tolerate disloyalty or disobedience and for those who chose to do it anyways suffered the consequences. For some it would be exile and for others it would be going to work in the haciendas as peones. Furthermore for the first time Mexico had shown its potential and had begun to catch up with a rapidly changing world. The nation’s achievements in technology and culture went on display around the globe at world fairs and expositions in Europe and the United States (Deeds, Meyer & Sherman, p. 347). Diaz built the railroads that tied the nation together and provided the vision and the reality of modern economic development (Wasserman, p. 166). In addition to the railroads, two technological innovations spurred mining: the general use of electricity provided light, but more important, powered pumps, trams, and other crucial equipment (Wasserman, p. 175). Mexico was finally becoming the modern, industrialized country that people had envisioned. The railroad and mining brought jobs to Mexico so there were employment opportunities for those who wanted to work. For many Mexicans it meant leaving
Judas at the Jockey Club written by William H. Beezley provides an accurate description of a struggling and developing Mexico while during the rule of president Porfirio Diaz up until 1910. Being divided into three sections such as Sport & Recreation (elite class), Rocks & Rawhide in Rural Society (lower class) and the title itself Judas at the Jockey Club. Beezley covers the changing class of Mexico through the view of sports and leisure activities. I believe Porfirio Diaz allowed the social tensions to occur causing Mexicans to separate from unity even though destruction and chaos reigned much of Mexico before him. During the presidency of Porfirio Diaz its often remembered as a period of oppression and social degradation of freedoms in Mexico. Diaz has also been associated with the general decline of quality of life of an average Mexican and the decline of social welfare institutions. Diaz was a liberal whose sole goal was to modernize Mexico and put a stop to any ethnic uncivilized actions. Mexico during that time was in a crossroads of two very different cultures: the industrial and the traditional.
The era of the Porfiriato (1876-1911) came with the innovation of technology, political and economic development, revalue of social issues, and artistic renovation. However, these new profound developments were geared toward the middle and upper classes leaving the lower class overlooked and underdeveloped. Poor working and living environments, pay, diet, and recognition of Mexican culture and intellectuality are just some of the issues the lower class experienced during the Porfiriato. The social issues of the lower class had become hostile and unfair in an era of socioeconomic rehabilitation (Meyer 339-363).
In the book “A Glorious Defeat, Mexico and its War with the United States” written by Timothy J. Henderson. Henderson, a professor of History at Auburn University, Montgomery, Alabama, analyses the political and social history of Mexico before and during the Mexican American War of 1846-1848. After the battel with Spain in 1821, the Mexican Government was a disaster, although they manage to be victorious for their independence. The main problem with the Mexican government and its social class was their racial system, for example the higher class will never share power with the lower classes. A small number of Mexicans were educated and most of them were from the upper class, and the lower class were considered to be troublemakers who needed
In the first essay of Chapter 7 of “Major Problems in California”, the author Michael Kazin discusses how the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869, “thrust California into a burgeoning national economy.” According to the author, “The completion of the transcontinental attracted entrepreneurs in large-scale farming, food processing, petroleum, and other extractive industries who created new markets.” While many believed railroads did not offer benefits, I believe railroads did offer benefits because, “By 1940, California led the nation in production of most crops, was the center of the international film industry, and the foremost manufacturer of ships and aircraft frames.” Also, according to Kazin, “An ever-increasing flow of
I like the essay, “Mexican Deserve More Than La Mordida” written by Joe Rodriguez. With the upcoming presidential election, this essay really ignites my uncertainties and concerns on who would be the best candidate that will change such crooked and twisted government system. Overall, corruptions has been a very controversial issues, not just in Mexico—sadly— around the world. Some countries are brutally manifested and ferociously corrupted than others, but many countries are said—generally—to have “serious corruption problems.” Jose Rodriguez, is a man with a strong opinion and I personally admire and respect how he distinguish the bribery as way of Mexico’s corruptive manifestation.
The secondary source is about Mexico in the late 1800s and its path to modernization. It states how president Diaz is an important figure in Mexico’s history due to the fact he was able to make Mexico great by achieving political stability and resolving disputes with foreign powers. There is a
The Transcontinental Railroad was one of the most ambitious engineering projects, economic stimulants, and efficient methods of transportation in the early United States. If completed, the United States would be truly be united from east to west. The purpose of this paper is to examine how the Transcontinental Railroad helped develop new opportunities for many aspects of American life.
Industrial development began with the railroad, with the help of Republican governments, who provided subsidies, loans and tax exemptions to railroad corporations. Over 52,000 miles of railroad were laid all over the nation between 1854 and 1879. Railroads stimulated growth. They required many resources to build, such as coal, wood, glass, rubber, and brass. Most importantly, the railroad connected the country.
II. Thesis Statement: Mexico is an interesting country, with many different and people and customs, as well as major problems.
The article I chose to read regarding Mexico’s head of government talked about how under Enrique Nieto Pena’s control, his party(The PRI) was responsible for numerous scandals involving graft and corruption. When he first got elected, the nation of Mexico saw drastic declines in homicide rates and unexplained disappearances of large groups of people such as the “Ayotzinapa 43 case”, in which 43 student teachers vanished without a trace, leading people to think they were killed. However, in the next 2 years homicide cases suddenly rose up which caused a lot of controversy leading people to suspect some sort of change to the police force system was present. Enrique was subject to a lot of criticism because he would use members of the PRI for his own interests.
Díaz Ordaz successfully created a peaceful image of Mexico internationally throughout the Olympic Games, in reality Mexico’s domestic political situation became much more shaky as his administration lost support throughout many sectors of society after the events in Tlatelolco. The loss of support was clear after Octavio Paz, Mexico’s ambassador to India, resigned in protest of the government’s repressive actions in Tlatelolco. The government’s actions as well as Paz’s resignation served as a setback to the legitimacy of the ruling regime. Paz was also an advisor to Ordaz’s administration as he worked closely with the government on the investigation of student movements throughout Mexico. Paz had always advised the President that rather than use force against the students, the government should hear the students demands for democratization. Díaz Ordaz did not take Paz’s advice, instead he (Ordaz) paid lip service when affirming that “poets sometimes have the most accurate intuitions,”(QUOTE) and his choice to violently crack down on the movement showed that Paz’s input was essentially ignored. The decision to deploy the military was met with anger by Paz and resulted in his resignation as advisor and ambassador for the Mexican government.
Díaz served as Mexican president until 1910. During his time in office, the Mexican economy and lifestyle were fairly successful; Mexico had good trade relations with the U.S. and other countries, and the wealthy landowners were making a sizeable profit. However, the huge population of laborers who worked to produce that success were suffering bitterly. Mexico
The people in power became rich along with the nation, however, the majority of the population in the cities and the countryside remained poor. Along with those people, rich and poor Mexicans began to resent their trust on foreign investments. More importantly, the new generation of Mexicans was full of political ambition, and the Diaz era had such control of the government that no one new was able to enter their league. This combination of factors was what sparked the revolution of 1910. In 1908 US journalist James Creelman interviewed Porfirio Diaz. In the interview Diaz
Most wealth in the colonial era started in the beginning of the nineteenth century, with agriculture being the main economic activity with the labor of indigenous and mixed-race peasants. The mid-nineteenth-century Liberal Reforma attempting to decrease the economic power of the Roman Catholic Church and to modernize and industrialize the Mexican economy. after the civil war and a foreign intervention, the late nineteenth century found political stability and economic prosperity during the presidential regime of General Porfirio Díaz. Mexico opened up to foreign investment and to foreign workers. the Foreign capital built a railroad network which was going to help the Mexican economy, by spreading regions of Mexico, major cities,
The most revolutionary features of the United States’ Industrial Revolution were the further development of railroads and the invention of the Atlantic cable in 1866 because trains allowed for products to be marketed nationally and brought urbanization to small towns and the cable allowed instant, international communication. 1) Eric Foner claims that “The growing population formed an ever-expanding market for the mass production, mass distribution, and mass marketing of goods, essential elements of a modern industrial economy.” (Foner, GML, 596), which also spread national brands and continued the transition of the economy. 2) Andrew Carnegie writes in Triumphant Democracy, “Railroads and highways connect him with the rest of the world, and