Plan of San Luis Potosí
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A graphical timeline is available at Timeline of the Mexican Revolution |
The Plan of San Luis de Potosí (Plan de San Luis, in Spanish) was a political document written in San Antonio, Texas, United States, and published in the Mexican city of San Luis Potosí in 1910. The document ushered in the Mexican revolution and the collapse of the Presidency of Porfirio Díaz. The document, or 'plan', called for the destruction of Díaz's authoritarian presidency and the re-institution of democracy through violent direct action on the part of the Mexican populace. The plan was written and published in Texas by a group of exiles led by Francisco I. Madero, a political opponent to Díaz who had been jailed when his popularity threatened the arranged triumph of the old leader in the 1910 presidential election.
The Plan asked the Mexican people to rise in arms on Sunday, November 20, 1910, at 6:00 pm, but the first action occurred two days earlier, when Aquiles Serdán was found to be part of Madero's revolution in the state of Puebla and was forced to an early fight in his home, helped by his family. Most of them died. After that, the Mexican Revolution broke out on November 20, 1910 against the political, commercial and social policies of the regime, taking "Sufragio Efectivo, No Reelección [Effective Suffrage – No Re-election!]" as a slogan. This slogan can still be found at the foot of many official and legal documents written in Mexico.[citation needed]
The document itself is considered an important historic symbol for the current Mexican State which owes its own existence, in great part, to the collapse of the old regime and the establishment of the PRI-dominated republic.
