FERRIS WHEEL PLAN: CAUSES, EVENTS, CONSEQUENCES - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The Plan de la Noria was a document written by Porfirio Díaz to start a rebellion against Benito Juárez, who had been re-elected president of Mexico for the third time. The main argument of this appeal was that Juárez had breached the constitutional article that prohibited presidential reelection.

In addition to this reason, the proclamation of the plan was also influenced by the numerous accusations of fraud that appeared after the elections won by Juárez. On the other hand, Porfirio Díaz had previously been a candidate for president, but without being a winner and his intentions to reach the presidency were clear.

Portrait of Benito Juárez -Source: portrait depicting Benito Juárez by Salvador Martínez Báez in the Library of Congress Hispanic Reading Room, derived from

Even before the Plan de la Noria was made public, some military uprisings had broken out against Juárez. Díaz's document obtained the support of those insurgents and that of Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, then president of the Supreme Court of Justice and candidate in the last elections won by Juárez.

For a year Mexico suffered a civil war that pitted the supporters of Juárez with the insurgents. The death of the president in 1872 stopped the conflict and Lerdo de Tejada acceded to the presidency. One of his first steps was to enact an amnesty law.

Causes

After defeating the Second Mexican Empire, federal elections were held in Mexico. The winner was one of the heroes of that conflict, Benito Juárez, who assumed office for the period 1867 - 1871. His vice president was Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada.

The Juárez presidency, although fruitful in many respects, was not without clashes with some opposition groups, especially with the Catholic Church.

In 1871, the date scheduled for the new elections, Juárez showed his intention to run again, something prohibited by the constitution in force at that time. His candidacy found rejection among many sectors of the country. Among the critics stood out Porfirio Díaz, another hero of the war against the French who had already shown his presidential aspirations.

Despite the criticism, Juárez ran for reelection and, on October 7, was the winner in the voting.

Re-election

Porfirio Diaz.

The issue of presidential reelection has been a frequent source of conflict in the history of Mexico. In the case of Plan de la Noria, opposition to this possibility was the first argument used by Porfirio Díaz:

“The indefinite, forced and violent reelection of the Federal Executive has put national institutions in danger. In the course of my political life I have given sufficient evidence that I do not aspire to power, in charge, or employment of any kind; but I have also made serious commitments to the country for its freedom and independence, "less government and more freedoms"

Díaz also took advantage of the document to outline his proposals for how the presidential election should be:

«That the election of the President be direct, personal, and that no citizen who in the previous year has exercised authority or charge for a single day whose functions extend to the entire National Territory may not be elected. the exercise of power, and this will be the last revolution ”.

Autonomy of the States

Although opposition to reelection was the central argument of the plan, there was also another important cause. Díaz and his supporters considered that the states that made up the country had difficulties in maintaining their autonomy, since the federal forces occupied part of their powers.

Fraud accusations

Another cause that led to the proclamation of the Plan de la Noria were accusations of electoral fraud. According to the law, the winner of the elections had to be the one who obtained half plus one of the votes counted, something that Juárez did.

At that time, there were some 12,266 voters in Mexico with the right to vote. Lerdo de Tejada won 2,874 votes, Porfirio Díaz won 3,555, and Benito Juárez won 5,837. Allegations of fraud quickly began to appear, accusing Juárez supporters of pressuring voters.

To this must be added the corruption of many officials appointed by Juárez during the previous presidential term.

Search for power by Porfirio Díaz

Although the document denied any ambition to come to power, the truth is that Porfirio Díaz had already been a candidate for the presidency. The first time was in 1867, when he only obtained 30% of the votes. Later, in 1871, he lost Benito Juárez before.

Events

Benito Juárez's victory in the elections was followed by numerous complaints of irregularities during the voting. For this reason, many did not recognize the validity of the results and considered the entire process as a fraud.

The immediate consequence was a series of armed uprisings against the government and many social, military and political sectors joined the accusations against Juárez.

Among the critics of Juárez was Porfirio Díaz, who accused the winner of the elections of violating the Constitution of 1857, then in force. Díaz also did not recognize his opponent as president.

Promulgation of the La Noria Plan

Before Porfirio Díaz made the Plan public, there had been a series of armed pronouncements that were the prelude to civil war. Thus, General García de la Cabeza took up arms in Zacatecas, General Treviño did the same in Monterrey, and other soldiers also did so in Sinaloa and other states.

Most of these insurgents declared their allegiance to Porfirio Díaz, who was at his farm in La Noria. He responded on November 8, 1871 by making public a plan that would bear the name of the hacienda. In the document he did not know Juárez and summoned a Board to temporarily direct the country.

Ferris Wheel Revolution

The La Noria Plan drawn up by Porfirio Díaz found support among various military personnel, who proceeded to take up arms in various areas of the country. Likewise, the pronouncement was supported by Lerdo de Tejada, who had participated in the 1871 elections and at that time was the president of the Supreme Court of Justice.

During the following months, insurrections followed and in several states a war began against the supporters of Juárez.

Juárez reaction

Despite the uprisings, Benito Juárez resisted in power. At the head of the counterattack he placed his Minister of War, Ignacio Mejía. He ordered the deployment of several units that managed to stop the insurgents. In addition, there were numerous summary executions.

The so-called Noria Revolution soon entered a stalemate. For almost a year, the government managed to neutralize each of the insurrections, but these continued to occur.

Benito Juarez dead

Only one fact that nobody expected managed to end the conflict: on July 18, 1872, Benito Juárez died. Given this, the two sides agreed to a ceasefire and Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, as the highest leader of the Supreme Court, temporarily assumed the presidency.

Juárez's death left the insurgents without their main motive for continuing the war. In addition, Lerdo enacted an amnesty law and most of the rebels accepted it.

Despite this, the amnesty law did not satisfy the porfiristas, since it equipped them with traitors and did not contemplate their recovery of their jobs, honors or pensions. For this reason, on September 13, 1872, Díaz published a document in which he demanded that Lerdo change the law so that his supporters would not lose their military ranks and privileges.

The government, however, did not accept Porfirio's proposal. This, however, preferred to recognize Lerdo as president and seemed to withdraw, again, from politics.

Consequences

After the conflict ended, the situation seemed to calm down. The government called elections and Díaz, after accepting the amnesty, withdrew to Veracruz.

Government of Lerdo de Tejada

Sebastian Lerdo de Tejada

The elections held gave power to Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, who was already serving as interim president. His four years in office were, according to historians, positive for the country. He dedicated a good part of his efforts to stabilize and pacify Mexico, although he had to use force.

On the other hand, Lerdo kept the constitution of 1857 and deepened the search for a secular education started by Juárez. In addition, it got several foreign companies to invest in the country, which led to an important development of communications and industry.

In 1875, when new elections were to be held, Lerdo de Tejada announced his candidacy to renew the position despite the constitutional prohibition of reelection.

Tuxtepec Plan

As with Juárez, the announcement that Lerdo was seeking re-election provoked anger in part of the country. The government tried to carry out the necessary legal reforms so that Lerdo could run again and, with the support of the Legislative Branch, he achieved his goal.

The result of the voting was favorable to Lerdo. However, the Judiciary denounced electoral fraud.

For his part, before the elections, Porfirio Díaz launched the so-called Tuxtepec plan. This new document was made public on January 10, 1876 and it again showed itself against presidential reelection.

The plan called for a rebellion against Lerdo and that power be held by José María Iglesias until new elections were called.

Contrary to what happened with the Plan de la Noria, Díaz and his followers defeated the government forces. However, given the refusal of Iglesias to accept the Plan of Tuxtepec, Porfirio Díaz proclaimed himself president of the country on February 15, 1877.

Porfiriato

From that moment began a long period in the history of Mexico called Porfiriato. Díaz won the elections that were called after the fall of Lerdo and, except between the years 1880 and 1884, he retained power until 1911.

References

1. Carmona Dávila, Doralicia. Porfirio Díaz proclaims the Plan de la Noria, organizes the rebellion against the reelection of Juárez. Obtained from memoriapoliticademexico.org
2. Know Learn. Ferris Wheel Plan - Ferris Wheel Revolution. Obtained from independencedemexico.com.mx
3. Mexico history. Plan of the Ferris Wheel. Obtained from historiademexico.info
4. Encyclopedia of Latin American History and Culture. Plan of La Noria. Retrieved from encyclopedia.com
5. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada. Retrieved from britannica.com
6. Biography. Benito Juarez. Retrieved from biography.com
7. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Porfiriato. Retrieved from britannica.com