Secularización o reforma? Los orígenes religiosos del matrimonio civil en México

Abstract

Drawing on the insights of Brad S. Gregory's The Unintended Reformation, this article argues that Mexico's 1859 Law on Civil Marriage intended first and foremost to reform Mexican society within an essentially religious framework, and only as an unintended consequence did it contribute to the secularization of social life. To support this argument, the article reviews liberal ideas on the relationship between marriage, the family and civic morality, as developed in academic treatises, pamphlets, and journalistic pieces published between 1821 and 1859. These sources clearly show that, for Mexican liberals, one of the main causes of social disorder in early republican Mexico was the clergy's abusive administration of the sacrament of marriage, which had resulted in a dramatic decrease of married couples and the ensuing proliferation of illegitimate children. Under this light, civil marriage was a privileged instrument for a Christian reform of society -a task which seemingly could only be conducted by the liberal state.