Mexico was a former Spanish colony which established its independence in the early nine- teenth century. However, a war with the United States lost it much territory in the 1850s (now mainly included in the states of California, New Mexico, and Texas). In 1857, a new constitution was established, acknowledging that Catholicism was the chief religion of the nation, but refusing to allow it any privileges. Growing anti-clericalism was reflected in a secular constitution, which stripped the church of much of its property, and limited its social role.
Following the long and despotic presidency of Portino Diaz (president from 1876 until 1911), a revolution established a new constitution in 1917. This secularist constitution imposed secular education on the schools, outlawed monastic orders, prohibited public worship outside church buildings, placed severe limits on the right of religious organiza- tions to hold property, and denied priests or nuns the right to wear clerical attire, to vote, to trial by jury, or to criticize government officials or comment on public affairs in religious periodicals. These anti-Catholic measures were not popular, and were initially only imple- mented to a limited extent.