Professor Bazant describes in detail the implementations of the 1856 Lerdo Law and subsequent decrees.

Conflict between the Roman Catholic Church and the State in Mexico became prominent soon after independence in 1821, and during the next three decades national and state governments made various attempts to reduce ecclesiastical influence in the social, economic and political life of the nation. Few of such efforts met with much success, and it was not until 1856 that a major reform was initiated. Legislation was issued which affected all spheres of clerical activity but the most vital and controversial aspect of the reform involved the measures adopted to dispossess the Church of its wealth. The extensive ecclesiastical holdings of urban and rural real estate and capital were nationalized and redistributed. Professor Bazant examines earlier attempts at nationalization, and describes in detail the implementations of the 1856 Lerdo Law and subsequent decrees. Using selected areas of the country, he traces the precise effects of the redistribution of Church property and capital, describing the terms of sale or transfer, the number of sales, the buyers, their nationality and occupation, and the total value of the amounts involved.

List of tables
Editor's note
Preface
Acknowledgements
List of abbreviations
Introduction
1. Nationalized goods and Church wealth, 1821-55
2. Puebla and Veracruz. The intervention and the disentailment of Church wealth, 1856-57
3. The disentailment in Mexico, San Luis Potosi, Michoacan and Jalisco, 1856-57
4. The civil war, 1858-60
5. Nationalized property in the city of Mexico: the final settlement, 1861-63
6. Nationalized property in the provinces: the final settlement, 1861-63
7. The foreign occupation and the liberal republic, 1863-75
Conclusion
Appendices
List of sources and works cited
Index.