US Intervention in Mexico and the Nationalist Turn of the Revolution, 1914–17

My contribution to the roundtable discusses the connection between the two direct U.S. interventions in the Mexican Revolution (the occupation of Veracruz in 1914 and the Punitive Expedition in Chihuahua, 1916-17 and the nationalist turn of the revolution in the same period.  Although nationalism played a significant role in Madero's Plan of San Luis, which began the revolution in November 1910, the upheaval that ensued was primarily agrarian in character and secondarily, a fight for political power.  It was not until the U.S. seizure of Veracruz in 1914 that the rhetoric of the revolutionary leaders, and particularly First Chief Venustiano Carranza took on strong nationalist overtones.  With a view of the two primary conventions during which revolutionary leaders discussed Mexico's future (the Convention of Aguascalientes of 1914 and the Constitutional Convention of Querétaro (December 1916-February 1917), this paper will demonstrate that the two limited U.S. interventions played a significant role in defining economic nationalism as one significant objective of the revolution, one enshrined in Article 27 of the 1917 Constitution.  As such, they played a significant role in the forging of the first constitution in the world that enshrined social rights and the concept of national sovereignty over natural resources.