Plan of Ayutla in the context of "Antonio López de Santa Anna"

In the history of Mexico, La Reforma (from Spanish: "The Reform"), or reform laws, refers to a pivotal set of laws, including a new constitution, that were enacted in the Second Federal Republic of Mexico during the 1850s after the Plan of Ayutla overthrew the dictatorship of Santa Anna. They were intended as modernizing measures: social, political, and economic, aimed at undermining the traditional power of the Catholic Church and the army. The reforms sought separation of church and state, equality before the law, and economic development. These anticlerical laws were enacted in the Second Mexican Republic between 1855 and 1863, during the governments of Juan Álvarez, Ignacio Comonfort and Benito Juárez. The laws also limited the ability of Catholic Church and Indigenous communities from collectively holding land. The liberal government sought the revenues from the disentailment of church property, which could fund the civil war against Mexican conservatives and to broaden the base of property ownership in Mexico and encouraging private enterprise. Several of them were raised to constitutional status by the constituent Congress that drafted the liberal Constitution of 1857. Although the laws had a major impact on the Catholic Church in Mexico, liberal proponents were not opposed to the church as a spiritual institution, but rather sought a secular state and a society not dominated by religion.

The Juárez Law reduced the power that military and ecclesiastical courts held. The Lerdo Law forced land held in collective ownership to be sold to individual owners. It aimed at creating a dynamic real estate market, creating a class of yeoman farmers owning their own land, and raising revenue for the state. The measure was intended to strip the Church of most of its property, as well as to break Indigenous communities' collective ownership of land.

José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori (/ˈdiːəs/; Spanish: [poɾˈfiɾjo ˈði.as]; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915) was a Mexican general and politician who was the dictator of Mexico from 1876 until his overthrow in 1911, seizing power in a military coup. He served on three separate occasions as President of Mexico, a total of over 30 years, this period is known as the Porfiriato and has been called a de facto dictatorship. Díaz’s time in office is the longest of any Mexican ruler.

Díaz was born to a Oaxacan family of modest means. He initially studied to become a priest but eventually switched his studies to law, and among his mentors was the future President of Mexico, Benito Juárez. Díaz increasingly became active in Liberal Party politics fighting with the Liberals to overthrow Santa Anna in the Plan of Ayutla, and also fighting on their side against the Conservative Party in the Reform War.

Juan Nepomuceno Álvarez Hurtado de Luna, generally known as Juan Álvarez, (27 January 1790 – 21 August 1867) was a general, long-time caudillo (regional leader) in southern Mexico, and president of Mexico for two months in 1855, following the liberals' ouster of Antonio López de Santa Anna. His presidency inaugurated the pivotal era of La Reforma.

Álvarez had risen to power in the Tierra Caliente, in southern Mexico with the support of indigenous peasants whose lands he protected. He fought along with heroes of the insurgency, José María Morelos and Vicente Guerrero in the War of Independence and went on to fight in all the major wars of his day, from the "Pastry War", to the Mexican–American War, and the War of the Reform to the war against the Second French Intervention. A liberal reformer, a republican and a federalist, he was the leader of a revolution in support of the Plan de Ayutla in 1854, which led to the deposition of Santa Anna from power and the beginning of the political era in Mexico's history known as the Liberal Reform. According to historian Peter Guardino: "Álvarez was most important as a champion of the incorporation of Mexico's peasant masses into the polity of [Mexico] ... advocating universal male suffrage and municipal autonomy."

Ignacio Gregorio Comonfort de los Ríos (Spanish pronunciation: [iɣˈnasjo komoɱˈfoɾ ðe los ˈri.os]; 12 March 1812 – 13 November 1863), also known as Ignacio Comonfort, was a Mexican politician and soldier who was also president during La Reforma.

He played a leading role in the liberal movement under the Plan of Ayutla to overthrow the dictatorship of Santa Anna in 1855; he then served in the cabinet of the new president, Juan Álvarez. Comonfort was a moderate liberal and assumed the presidency when Álvarez stepped down after only a few months. The Constitution of 1857 was drafted during his presidency, incorporating changes enacted in individual laws of the Liberal Reform. The constitution was met with opposition from conservatives as its forceful anticlerical provisions undermined the economic power and privileged status of the Catholic Church as an institution. Most notably the Lerdo law stripped the Church's ability to hold property. The law also forced the breakup of communal land holdings of indigenous communities, which enabled them to resist integration economically and culturally. The controversy was further inflamed when the government mandated that all civil servants take an oath to uphold the new constitution, which left Catholic public servants with the choice between either keeping their jobs or being excommunicated.

Miguel Lerdo de Tejada (July 6, 1812 – March 22, 1861) was a Mexican statesman, a leader of the Revolution of Ayutla, and author of the Lerdo Law, extinguishing the right of corporations, including the Roman Catholic Church and indigenous communities, from holding land.

Born in the port of Veracruz, Veracruz, both he and his younger brother, Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, became leaders of Mexico's Liberal Party. As the president of the ayuntamiento (city council) of Mexico City in 1852, Miguel Lerdo de Tejada proposed initiatives on public education, transportation, public health, and budgetary reforms. Lerdo served Antonio López de Santa Anna in his final term as president (1853–55) and then as the Treasury Secretary under liberal president Ignacio Comonfort following the successful implementation of the Plan de Ayutla. In 1856, Miguel Lerdo de Tejada initiated the Ley de Desamortización de Fincas Rústicas y Urbanas (Disentailment of Rural and Urban Properties Law), commonly known as the Ley Lerdo, which called for the forced sale of most properties held by the Roman Catholic Church in Mexico, common lands of indigenous communities, and by municipal and state governments. The Church could retain only the buildings it used for its operations (churches, monasteries, seminary buildings); governments could keep only government offices, jails, and school buildings. Other property, which had been used to generate income for the Church and for local governments, was to be sold with the proceeds going into the national treasury. Because of the disruptions of the War of Reform (1858 - 1861) and the French Intervention (1862 - 1867) that wracked Mexico, few properties were actually sold as a direct result of the Ley Lerdo. Most of the "disruptions" attributed to that law actually occurred later, under legislation passed during the regime of Porfirio Díaz (1876 - 1911), but took their legal foundation in the Ley Lerdo.

José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori (/ˈdiːəs/; Spanish: [poɾˈfiɾjo ˈði.as]; c. 1830 – 2 July 1915) was a Mexican general and politician who was the dictator of Mexico from 1876 until his overthrow in 1911, seizing power in a military coup. He served on three separate occasions as President of Mexico, a total of over 30 years, this period is known as the Porfiriato and has been called a de facto dictatorship. Díaz’s time in office is the longest of any Mexican ruler.

Díaz was born to a Oaxacan family of modest means. He initially studied to become a priest but eventually switched his studies to law, and among his mentors was the future President of Mexico, Benito Juárez. Díaz increasingly became active in Liberal Party politics fighting with the Liberals to overthrow Santa Anna in the Plan of Ayutla, and also fighting on their side against the Conservative Party in the Reform War.