La Reforma refers to a pivotal set of laws enacted in Mexico during the 1850s within the Second Federal Republic. These reforms followed the Plan of Ayutla, which overthrew the dictatorship of Antonio López de Santa Anna. The legislative package included a new constitution and was designed as a series of modernizing measures intended to impact the social, political, and economic structures of the nation.
The primary objectives of the Reform Laws were to undermine the traditional power held by the Catholic Church and the military. Key provisions sought to establish the separation of church and state, ensure equality before the law, and promote general economic development. Specifically, anticlerical laws enacted between 1855 and 1863 under the governments of Juan Álvarez, Ignacio Comonfort, and Benito Juárez limited the ability of both the church and Indigenous communities to hold land collectively.