The Power of God Against the Guns of Government: Religious Upheaval in Mexico at the Turn of the Nineteenth Century

In the early 1890’s, an armed rebellion fueled by religious fervor erupted over a wide area of northwestern Mexico. At the center of the outburst were a few hundred farmers from the village of Tomochic and a teenage folk saint named Teresa, who was ministering to thousands of people throughout the area. When the villagers proclaimed, “We will obey no one but God!,” the Mexican government exiled “Santa Teresa” to the United States and trained its guns and bayonets on the farmers. A bloody confrontation ensued―God against government―that is still remembered in song, literature, films, and civic celebrations. The tangled roots of the conflict reach into Mexico’s Indian past, stretch through its colonial experience, embrace the peculiar temperament of its Northerners, and encompass the ambitious program of rapid modernization launched by the government at the end of the nineteenth century. The government and its supporters had one vision of what they wanted Mexico to be; many villagers had a different view of what was right for them. Tomochic was split along fissures that had long marked local society, with religious dissenters reveling in the inspiration of Santa Teresa while others stood aside to await the government’s resolution of the upheaval. After suffering several humiliating defeats by the faithful, more than a thousand army troops placed Tomochic under siege. Fighting was fierce, and as the military tightened the noose on its prey, an image of Santa Teresa was seen rising to glory into the heavens above the burning village. In the minds of many, Tomochic has come to symbolize a people’s unending search for justice. Santa Teresa, in her day internationally known for miraculous healings, is still invoked by Mexican communities to help cure their social ills. Small wonder that only recently a young peasant rebel in Chiapas avowed: “I seek a decent life―liberation―just as God says.”

History

Vanderwood, Paul

Americas

Stanford University Press

A notable and tragic case of the struggle between legal and social justice. Reelfoot Lake has been a hunting and fishing paradise from the time of its creation in 1812, when the New Madrid earthquake caused the Mississippi River to flow backward into low-lying lands. Situated in the northwestern corner of the state of Tennessee, it attracted westward-moving pioneers, enticing some to settle permanently on its shores. Threatened in 1908 with the loss of their homes and livelihoods to aggressive, outsider capitalists, rural folk whose families had lived for generations on the bountiful lake donned hoods and gowns and engaged in “night riding,” spreading mayhem and death throughout the region as they sought vigilante justice. They had come to regard the lake as their own, by “squatters' rights,” but now a group of entrepreneurs from St. Louis had bought the titles to the land beneath the shallow lake and were laying legal claim to Reelfoot in its entirety. People were hanged, beaten, and threatened and property destroyed before the state militia finally quelled the uprising. A compromise that made the lake public property did not entirely heal the wounds which continue to this day. 
Paul Vanderwood reconstructs these harrowing events from newspapers and other accounts of the time. He also obtained personal interviews with participants and family members who earlier had remained mum, still fearing prosecution. The Journal of American History declares his book “the complete and authentic treatment” of the horrific dispute and its troubled aftermath.

Night Riders of Reelfoot Lake (Fire Ant Books)

Fire Ant Books

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Books by Vanderwood, Paul

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Vanderwood, Paul. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Power of God Against the Guns of Government: Religious Upheaval in Mexico at the Turn of the Nineteenth Century

The Power of God Against the Guns of Government: Religious Upheaval in Mexico at the Turn of the Nineteenth Century

Night Riders of Reelfoot Lake (Fire Ant Books)