 |
 |
||||
 |
 |
 |
|||
 |
 |
I. MEXICO PRIOR TO INDEPENDENCE 20% A. Pre-Columbian Civilizations 1. Olmec, Teotihuacán, and Toltec
Civilizations a) Olmec, the mother culture of
Mesoamerica, c. 1200 b.c. b) Development of a calendar and a
hieroglyphic form of writing c) Main sites of San Lorenzo, La
Venta, and Tres Zapotes d) What is known about the Olmec e) Teotihuacán, c. 100–750 a.d. f) Architecture g) Trade, commerce, and manufacturing h) Destruction and population
dispersal i) Toltecs, the successors to Teotihuacán j) The city of Tula established
c. 968 as a focal point of culture k) Religious additions and refinements l) A militarized society and its
impact across the region m) Decline, fall to barbarians (chichimecas), and dispersal
2. Independent
Research Topic: Mayan civilization* a) The Classic Period (c.
250–900)* b) Science and mathematics* c) Ceremonial cities and
architecture* d) Political organization and major
sites* e) Postclassical Period (10th
to 16th centuries) and the move to Yucatán* f) Trade with Central America
and Mesoamerica* g) Independent city-states* h) Major sites of the postclassical
Maya*
3. Mexica-Nahua (Aztec) civilization
and its tribute empire a) The Mexica and the founding of Tenochtitlán (1325 a.d.) b) Rise to military power and
assumption of the Toltec mantle c) Religious beliefs, the
central role of war, and human sacrifice d) Social and political organization,
schools, and the oral tradition e) Conflict between status
conferred by merit and by wealth f) Deification of the paramount
ruler g) Military organization and
capabilities on the eve of the conquest B. The Spanish Conquest 1. The Cortés expedition of 1519 a) Consolidation of a Spanish
presence in the Antilles after 1492 b) Preliminary institutional
organization in the islands c) The Church declares Indians
to be human and pagans worthy of conversion d) Initial probing of the mainland before Cortés e) Confusion of the Mexica over the
nature of the threat f) Role of indigenous allies in Cortés' success
2. The destruction of Tenochtitlán a) Seizure of Moctezuma and the
consequences b) Retreat, regrouping, and the siege of Tenochtitlán c) Mexico City arises on the ruins of a destroyed Tenochtitlán
C. The Colonial Period (New Spain) 1. The religious conquest a) The arrival of the first
missionaries and their expectations b) Different approach of Indians to
Christianity c) Arrival of Juan de Zumarraga,
the bishop elect of Mexico City d) Methods used to convert in the
early decades e) Indian education f) Disillusionment of the friars g) Role of Our Lady of Guadalupe h) Conflict between the regular orders
and the secular clergy
2. Introduction of Spanish institutions a) Philosophical foundations of
the state b) Political organization following the destruction of Tenochtitlán c) Distrust between the Crown
and the Conquistadores d) Mission of Antonio Mendoza, first
viceroy of New Spain e) Mixton War—a threat to
the supremacy of royal authority f) Municipalities, merchant
guilds, taxes g) Educational institutions h) Eighteenth-century administrative reforms
3. Colonial society and economy a) Emergence of mestizos b) Deadly epidemics drastically reduce
the indigenous population c) African slaves and mulattoes
in multiracial cities d) Domestic economy, merchants,
manufacturers, and artisans e) Silver mining as the economic
engine of New Spain f) The Church as a credit
institution g) Trade with Spain h) Women in a patriarchic society i) Religious life, convents II. INDEPENDENCE TO THE REVOLUTION OF
1910 45% A. Armed Insurgency and Independence 1. Independent Research Topic: The
Hidalgo and Morelos Revolts* a) Colonial maturity and weakening
ties to Spain* b) Napoleonic invasion of Spain as the
immediate cause* c) Popular sovereignty and the
Spanish Constitution of 1812* d) Drive for political autonomy* e) Class interests in conflict
between Royalists and Autonomists* f) The Hidalgo Revolt and the
move to protracted civil war* g) José María Morelos as a template
for independence* h) The Plan of Iguala crystallizes a
consensus for independence*
2. The Constitution of 1812
3. Spanish Counterinsurgency
4. Independence and the first empire a) The
Army of the Three Guarantees secures independence b) Agustín Iturbide as emperor and his
failure
5. The early federal republic a) Role
of federal states vs. Federal government b) Weak notion of a center of union c) Influence of the U.S. Constitution
and experience d) Constitution
of 1824 e) Absence of political parties
and substitute role of Masonic lodges f) Question of national identity
and right to govern g) Role of the Indians in the new
nation h) Liberalism defined and perceived
enemies identified i) The rising importance of
Santa Anna j) Centralization of the government
by Santa Anna k) The disastrous centralized
Constitution of 1836
B. The Mexican-American War,
1846–48: Origins, Process, and Implications 1. Independent Research Topic: revolt
in Texas* a) Northern Mexico as a population
vacuum* b) Territorial threats after the
Louisiana Purchase* c) American settlers in Texas* d) Early efforts to restrict American
immigration* e) Reaction of Tejanos and
immigrants to centralization* f) Santa Anna's military battles in Texas* g) The Lone Star Republic
(1836–45)* h) Manifest Destiny and the annexation
of Texas (1845)*
2. Independent Research Topic: The
Mexican-American War, 1846–48—war, invasion, and defeat* a) Election of President James K. Polk
and American expansionism* b) Failed effort to buy territory* c) Searching for a pretext for
war* d) Mexico on the eve of war* e) American army at war, seizure
of California and New Mexico* f) Generals Taylor and Scott in
Mexico* g) Capture and occupation of Mexico City* h) Differing reaction of Liberals and
Conservatives to defeat* i) Opposition to the war in the
United States*
3. Independent Research Topic: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the aftermath a) Terms
of the treaty* b) Differing explanations of defeat by
Conservatives and Liberals* c) Differing solutions to the
problem of an expansionist United States* d) Consequences of the new border* e) The North under American
rule* C. The War of the Reform and the
Constitution of 1857 1. The ideological struggle between
Conservatives and Liberals a) Imposed reform derived from
the eighteenth-century Enlightenment b) Struggle over land held by the
Church and Indian communal land c) Role of anti-clericalism
2. War of the Reform and the
Constitution of 1857 a) Enshrining Liberal principles
within a constitution b) Clergy and bureaucrats forced to
accept the constitution c) Reaction of Pope Pius IX d) Outbreak of the War of the Reform
(1858–61) e) Desperate funding measures f) Atrocities and senseless
destruction g) Mexico and the United States on the
eve of disaster D. The French Intervention and the
Reign of Emperor Maximilian 1. Independent
Research Topic: French troops in Mexico* a) Mexican debt as a pretext for
intervention* b) Emperor Napoleon's grand scheme to revitalize monarchies* c) Mexican Conservatives in
Europe* d) Veracruz customhouse blockade by
Britain, Spain, and France* e) Temporary defeat at Puebla
followed by occupation of Mexico City* f) Influence of the U.S. Civil
War on events in Mexico*
2. Maximilian's government and the Mexican people a) Expectations of the clergy
and Conservatives b) A Liberal in monarchist robes c) Refusal to reverse Liberal
reforms angers the Vatican d) Withdrawal of the French and the
capture and execution of Maximilian
E. The Restored Republic and the Rise of Porfirio Díaz 1. Development of a
Liberal-Conservative consensus a) Benito Juárez and respect for discredited Conservatives b) Ideas of Auguste Comte fuse with Liberalism c) Founding of the National
Preparatory School d) Influence of Comtian positivism on
Mexican history e) Dissatisfaction with permanent
reelection of Juárez f) General Porfirio Díaz' unsuccessful revolt of La Noria g) Death of Juárez and the presidency of Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada h) Porfirio Díaz' Tuxtepec Revolt succeeds
2. Independent
Research Topic: Consolidation of the Porfiriato* a) Background, patriotism, and image* b) The economic importance of
appearing stable and orderly* c) An accommodation with the
Church* d) Dealing with old debt and
encouraging foreign investors* e) Commercialization of export
agriculture* f) The Porfirian social
structure* g) Relations with the United States* h) The illusion of strength, the army,
and the Rurales* i) Bi-national border region
becomes a reality* j) Assessing the importance of
the Porfiriato in Mexican history* III. THE MEXICAN REVOLUTION TO THE PRESENT 35% A. The Mexican Revolution 1. The problems of the Porfiriato and
the road to revolution a) The poverty of progress b) Food shortfall c) Critics within and radical
opposition d) The dilemma of the exporting
oligarchy
2. President Madero and the failed
Conservative revolution a) The unresolved problem of a successor to President Díaz b) Background of Francisco I. Madero,
wealth and family c) The Creelman interview causes
political uncertainty d) Madero misreads lower-class
complaints e) 1910, the independence
centennial, election, and the Madero revolt f) Rebels take the border city of Juárez, followed by Torreón g) Federal army in confusion, Díaz negotiates and goes into exile h) An elected President Madero
preserves the Porfirian structure i) Expectations of the
oligarchy, Church, and foreign investors j) Expectations of Emiliano
Zapata as a bellwether of coming violence k) Madero offers political democracy
as the panacea l) The "Tragic Ten Days" (Feb. 9–19, 1913) and the murder of Madero
3. Independent
Research Topic: Huerta, Wilson, and the Unfolding of the Revolution* a) General
Victoriano Huerta faces opposition from Woodrow Wilson* b) Supporters of Madero, the
Constitutionalists attack the Huerta regime* c) U.S. President Wilson reacts
to arms shipments by invading port of Veracruz* d) Anti-American reaction in Mexico* e) Wilson forces out Huerta* f) Opposition of Pancho Villa* g) Lower middle-class and rural
peasantry in revolutionary armies* h) Carranza opposed to popular social
and economic demands* i) Revolutionary generals as the
presidential hopefuls*
4. Carranza government and the
Constitution of 1917 a) Distribution of land as the
key to control b) Redistribution of Porfirian prosperity c) Radicals control the writing
of a new constitution d) Social and economic implications of
the most radical articles
5. The
revolutionary generals in the presidency a) Revolt of General Alvaro
Obregón b) Assassination of Carranza (1920) c) President Obregón and relations with the United States d) Agrarian Regulatory Law of 1922 e) Integration of revolutionary
soldiers into the federal army and reducing the
number of generals f) Calculated violence as a
political tool g) President Calles and successors
until 1934—The Maximato h) The Cristero Rebellion i) The creation of the PNR j) President Lázaro Cárdenas
re-radicalizes the revolution k) Expropriation of foreign oil
companies l) Manuel Avila Camacho
succeeds, ending the revolution m) Assessing the importance of the
revolution in Mexican history
B. The Origins and Purpose of the
Official Party 1. Partido Revolucionario Institucional, PRI (1946) a) The idea of an official party b) Predecessors of the PRI c) How the PRI functioned prior
to the 1990s d) Industrialization and urban growth
after 1940 e) Corruption and a mature
corporate state f) Nationalism fuses with a
rhetorical revolutionary state g) Importance of form, but not
substance of political democracy
C. The End of PRI Hegemony 1. Disillusionment with the government a) Economic growth unable to
keep up with population b) Urban poverty and makeshift
settlements c) Tlalteloco Massacre; government's inability to respond to 1985 earthquake d) The Zapatista revolt in Chiapas
(1994)
2. Shift to the opposition Partido Accíon Nacional (PAN) a) Origins of the PAN and
relationship with the PRI b) Attraction to the middle class c) Connection with the United
States d) PRI desperation and NAFTA (1994)
3. PAN wins presidency in 2000 and the
consequences a) End of the strong presidency b) Inexperienced congress takes over c) Disappointment in
effectiveness of President Vicente Fox d) PAN wins narrow presidential
victory in 2006 e) Andres López Obrador
challenges the new democratic system
D. Current Issues and Challenges 1. Illegal drug industry's threat to political authority a) Origins
of the problem in the 1920s b) WWII and demand for Mexican opium
cultivation c) Postwar demand for drugs in
the United States d) Early Mexican involvement in the
illegal industry e) Drug lords emerge who are able
to challenge the state f) Corruption of police, army,
and border violence
2. The extent of cultural integration
with the United States a) Nineteenth-century
debate between Conservative and Liberal views b) Postwar cultural impact of mass
tourism c) Technology from railways to
television, Internet to prepaid phone cards d) Mexican-Americans as a cultural
bridge e) Returning workers, attitudes,
NASCAR, NFL f) Consequences of allowing
Mexicans abroad to vote in national elections
3. Independent Research Topic: Dispute with the United States on the nature of the border and illegal immigration* a) History of the border after the
Treaty of Guadalupe* b) Differing perceptions of the modern
border* c) The border as an outlet for worker
surplus resulting from poor economic development* d) Potential impacts of a closed
border for both countries*
*Asterisks indicate topics that students will need to research independently. Information on these "research topics" can be found in history textbooks, the USAD Social Science Research Guide, in encyclopedias, and on the Internet. |
|||
 |
|||||
 |
|||||
 |
|||||
