Liberal Constitutionalist Party

The Liberal Constitutionalist Party (PLC), also known as the Carrancistas, was a Mexican political party which was founded by Venustiano Carranza in 1916 amid the Mexican Revolution. Supported by urbanites, liberals, and intellectuals who desired a constitution under the guidelines "Mexico for Mexicans", Carranza's Constitutionalists overthrew Victoriano Huerta's dictatorship in 1913, and Carranza and his Constitutionalist faction then went to war with the radical revolutionary movements led by Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata. In 1916, the Constitutionalists formed the Liberal Constitutionalist Party, which came to be increasingly led by Alvaro Obregon's social democratic faction, much to the chagrin of the moderate Carranza. In 1918, the PLC campaigned on the principles of parliamentary government, and, from 1920 to 1922, the PLC dominated Mexican politics. However, it fell apart due to a series of events which unfolded during that time period: its popular leader Benjamin G. Hill's death and Obregon's change of heart about democracy. Obregon's newfound, power-hungry resistance to democratic reforms led to the party fragmenting, and Obregon founded the Laborist Party of Mexico. For the 1924 presidential election, the former PLC's members were polarized between supporting Laborist leader Plutarco Elias Calles and National Cooperativist Party leader Adolfo de la Huerta.