El contingente de sangre: Los gobiernos estatales y departamentales y los métodos de reclutamiento del ejército permanente mexicano, 1824-1844

Although the army was a constant presence in Mexico in the first half of the nineteenth century, little is known about its history. This book analyzes the impact of recruitment on political and military relations between the national government and states and on the economic and social life of the regions. The Congress of 1824 determined that each state should provide the army with a contingent of blood, that is, a certain number of recruits to increase permanent battalions and cover their casualties. However, state governments refused to fulfill the mandate because they did not want to contribute to the formation of a strong national government that, through an effective permanent militia, would dispute their military and political autonomy achieved during the war of independence. The confrontation between the states and the War Ministry by the recruits was one more element in the development of the Mexican nation-state.