... and made American expansion that much easier. Mexico was deeply and bitterly divided by the Centralist and Federalist powers within the country and this made it impossible for either side to make any positive progress. Another factor that led to instability, was the effect that President Santa Anna had on the country. Santa Anna was a military general that became a dictator in Mexico in ... to. There were several hundred Americans already there that were taking advantage of the vary generous land grants that were being issued by Mexico to get people to settle there. These Americans wer...

• Word Count: 2986
• Approx Pages: 12
• Grade Level: High School

... exchanges was truly high. Diaz had the admiration of the international contingent, but what he got from his citizens was a revolution. How so? His tenure had shown he had built a most authoritarian and centralist police state out of what was essentially a liberal and federalist Constitution. Effective suffrage? Non-existent. His judges, legislators, local officials, and army men were just that - his ... - or they were replaced by more compliant ones. His Rurales assured the landowners (who held ridiculously large hacienda estates) of docile and indebted peons. The servitude inflicted on...

• Word Count: 2706
• Approx Pages: 11
• Has Bibliography
• Grade Level: High School