General Rosecrans' Forthright Diplomacy with Juárez's Mexico, 1868-1869

One Mexican historian has described the post-war years of Benito Juárez' Administration (1867-72) in Mexico and that of his successor, Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada (1872-76) as “a dictatorship without peace or progress.” The nation suffered from a breakdown in public order and morality; misery, anarchy and banditry were widespread. Indian uprisings occurred in Yucatán, Chiapas, Durango, Chihuahua, Nuevo León and Coahuila. Insurrections against the government of Juárez broke out in Tamaulipas, Puebla, Sinaloa, Jalisco, Guerrero; and conflicts between candidates for the government in Aguascalientes, Guanajuato and San Luis Potosi destroyed the public order. The causes of this breakdown in commonweal may be attributed to the long history of civil war in Mexico, the inadequacy of governmental institutions and lack of respect for a Constitution (1857) which incorporated many injustices within its Liberal framework. An important cause of recurring revolt was the presidential ambition of Juárez and his conflicts with Congress and the Supreme Court. His suspension of the Constitutional guarantees, by decree of January 17, 1870, and his dictatorial use of extraordinary powers brought much resentment; and, in the election of 1870, the Constitutional Party (Liberal) supported Porifirio Díaz against Juárez. Through a “reform” of the electoral law, Benito Juárez was able to gain a plurality. He was only exceeded in his autocratic use of power by his successor, Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada who vigorously enforced theReform Lawsthat made of the anti-Church program a Lerdistkulturkampf. It was during a year of Juárez' Administration that Brevet Major General William S. Rosecrans served as Envoy Extraordinary & Minister Plenipotentiary of the United States to Mexico. Officially he held this post from July 27, 1968 to June 26, 1869. The American Minister spoke bluntly in criticism of the Juárez Administration, and of Lerdo de Tejada who was then President of the Supreme Court, a position equivalent to the Vice-presidency.