By William H. Benson
The Parallel Lives
Of The NOBLE AMERICAN RELIGIOUS THINKERS AND BELIEVERS:
Roger Williams VS. Cotton Mathers
NEW ARTICLES
Mexico’s Revolution, Part 2
Last time, I discussed the first phase of Mexico’s Revolution, when Francisco Madero challenged the three decades-long dictator, Porfirio Díaz, in the 1910 election.
Díaz won the election, but Madero called for a revolt against Díaz on November 20, 1910. Madero’s forces defeated the army’s forces, causing Porfirio Díaz to resign and flee to Paris.
Because Madero failed to hold together a strong government, a power vacuum spread across Mexico that lasted for the next ten years. Mexico’s Revolution turned violent and bloody.
Strong personalities, powerful warlords, vied and jockeyed for top position. Among others, there was Victoriano Huerta, Pascual Orozco, Pancho Villa, Emiliano Zapata, Venustiano Carranza, and finally Álvaro Obregón.
It helps to contrast Mexico’s Revolution to the United States Civil War.
Whereas the U.S. Civil War was fought between North and South, Mexico’s Revolution had a number of competing generals, each with an army, and each attacking another army.
Whereas the U.S. Civil War had two functioning governments, with Lincoln presiding in the North and Jefferson Davis in the South, Mexico’s Revolution lacked a functioning government.
Whereas the U.S. Civil War battles were fought between soldiers, Mexico’s Revolution massacred civilians en masse, without hesitation, no mercy.
Whereas the U.S. Civil War caused the deaths of some 600,000 soldiers, from both North and South, historians hesitate to fix a number for the Mexican Revolution, due to a lack of statistics.
Best estimates place the number between one million on the low side, and two and a half million people on the high side.
Whereas the percentage of casualties in the U.S. Civil War was about 2%, from a population of 30 million, the percentage of casualties in the Mexican Revolution was almost 7% on the low side to almost 17% on the high side, from a population of 15 million, per the 1910 census.
Whereas the U.S. Civil War lasted for four years, April 1961 to April 1965, Mexico’s Revolution lasted for ten years, from November 20, 1910, until near the day, November 30, 1920, when Álvaro Obregón was inaugurated President, and the fighting began to subside.
The Mexican people endured an immense amount of pain, death, and bloodshed.
Historians believe that between 1 and 2 million of Mexico’s citizens immigrated north into the U.S. during Mexico’s Revolution, near 10% +/- of its population. Again, statistics are difficult to determine. Some migrated north in a given year but then returned months later.
Migration north did not cease once the fighting subsided. In one year alone, 1923, some 1000 people crossed the border everyday throughout the year.
This migration into the U.S. was due to the Revolution’s bloody violence, devastation, severe unemployment, plus economic and political collapse.
Peace began to appear a possibility in 1920, when a Constitutional faction led by Venustiano Carranza called for a new constitution. Delegates from across the country arrived in Querétaro in November 2016, and on February 5, 1917, delegates voted for a new Constitution for Mexico.
Article 27 insisted upon land reform, Article 123 spelled out labor rights for factory workers, and Article 3 called for a secular state that restricted the Catholic church and provided for free, mandatory, and secular education.
Although an assassin’s bullet ended Carranza’s life and his presidency, on May 21, 1920, his death is considered close to the end of the Revolution’s violent phase.
My vote for best quote on the Mexican Revolution, “the proud country’s citizens endured a horrible present to escape an intolerable past to forge a better future.”
Huckleberry Finn
On February 15, 1885, 140 years ago next week, Mark Twain’s best work of fiction, “Huckleberry Finn,” was first published in the United States. Critics berated the book. In Concord, Massachusetts, commissioners recommended that the town’s library ban the book....
Mary Beard’s “Emperor of Rome”
What did it mean to be an emperor in ancient Rome? That is the question that Mary Beard sought to answer in her 2023 book, “Emperor of Rome.” She wrote, “Everyone then, including emperors, was trying to construe their idea of what an emperor should be in a...
Quotes on the Ancient Romans
Recognizable quotes on the ancient Romans: “When in Rome, do as the Romans do.” “All roads lead to Rome.” “Rome was not built in a day.” Caesar Augustus boasted, “I found Rome a city of brick and left it a city of marble.” The poet Virgil observed, “So vast...
Mother Nature
Jane Goodall turned 90 years old last April. In the late 1950’s, Jane—then an English girl in her twenties—dared to travel to Africa. There she met the renowned anthropologist, Louis Leaky, who suggested she study chimpanzees at Gombe Stream National Park in...
Fire at Notre Dame
The fire began at 6:30 p.m., Paris local time, on Monday, April 15, 2019. An hour later, people, who watched from a distance, stared in horror as the top portion of the 300 foot spire broke off and crashed down through the cathedral’s roof. Some 400 firefighters,...
The Stamp of Criminality
Fintan O’Toole, a writer for “The New York Review of Books,” wrote in his July 18, 2024 column, that, “Being close to Trump was like being friends with a hurricane.” O’Toole lists a series of people’s names who worked for Trump, believed him, and then faced legal...
Older Posts
Imitating Shakespeare
Strange how certain books captivate my interest, others not as much. I find myself going back again and again to reread Mark Forsyth’s 2013 book, “The Elements of Eloquence.” In Forsyth’s “Preface,” he writes, “Shakespeare was not a genius. He was the most...
2024 Election
Abraham Lincoln of Illinois was elected President of the United States of America on November 6, 1860, for a four-year term. One year later, on November 6, 1861, Jefferson Davis of Mississippi was elected President of the Confederate States of America for a six-year...
Allen Guelzo’s “Our Ancient Faith,” Continued
Allen Guelzo, history professor at Princeton, tells a story about Lincoln that he included in his recent book, “Our Ancient Faith: Lincoln, Democracy, and the American Experiment.” Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, one...
Allen Guelzo and Abraham Lincoln’s religious faith
Two weeks ago in these pages, I discussed Allen Guelzo’s recent book, published on February 6, 2024, entitled, “Our Ancient Faith: Lincoln, Democracy, and the American Experiment.” In it, the Civil War historian, Allen Guelzo, wrote a series of enlightening...
Allen Guelzo’s “Our Ancient Faith”
When driving to destinations from home and back, I occupy my time by listening to YouTube videos of Civil War historians on my mobile phone. I am curious to hear their ideas and stories. The best crop of Civil War historians today, in my estimation, include:...
Habits
Universities opened their doors a week or two ago. Freshman students moved into their dorm rooms, met their roommates, hung pictures on the walls, and completed their class schedules. Most students want to do well, even just ok, at college, but not everyone does....
One of University of Northern Colorado’s 2020 Honored Alumni
William H. Benson
Local has provided scholarships for history students for 15 years
A Sterling resident is among five alumni selected to be recognized this year by the University of Northern Colorado. Bill Benson is one of college’s 2020 Honored Alumni.
Each year UNC honors alumni in recognition for their outstanding contributions to the college, their profession and their community. This year’s honorees were to be recognized at an awards ceremony on March 27, but due to the COVID-19 outbreak that event has been cancelled. Instead UNC will recognize the honorees in the fall during homecoming Oct. 10 and 11……
Newspaper Columns
The Duodecimal System
For centuries, the ancient Romans calculated sums with their clunky numerals: I, V, X, L, C, D, and M; or one, five, ten, 50, 100, 500, and 1,000. They knew nothing better.
The Thirteenth Amendment
On Jan. 1, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, and by it, he declared that “all persons held as slaves” within the rebellious states “are and henceforward shall be free.” Lincoln’s Proclamation freed some 3.1 million slaves within the Confederacy.
The Fourteenth Amendment
After Congress and enough states ratified the thirteenth amendment that terminated slavery, Congress passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866. This law declared that “all people born in the United States are entitled to be citizens, without regard to race, color, or previous condition of slavery or involuntary servitude.” The Act equated birth to citizenship.
The New-York Packet and the Constitution
Jill Lepore, the Harvard historian, published her newest book a month ago, These Truths: A History of the United States. In a short introduction, she describes in detail the Oct. 30, 1787 edition of a semi-weekly newspaper, The New-York Packet.
Mr. Benson’s writings on the U.S. Constitution are a great addition to the South Platte Sentinel. Its inspiring to see the history of the highest laws of this country passed on to others.
– Richard Hogan
Mr. Benson, I cannot thank you enough for this scholarship. As a first-generation college student, the prospect of finding a way to afford college is a very daunting one. Thanks to your generous donation, my dream of attending UNC and continuing my success here is far more achievable
– Cedric Sage Nixon
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– Extra Times
FUTURE BOOKS
- Thomas Paine vs. George Whitefield
- Ralph Waldo Emerson vs. Joseph Smith
- William James vs. Mary Baker Eddy
- Mark Twain vs. Billy Graham
- Henry Louis Mencken vs. Jim Bakker
