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From the late 18th through the early 19th centuries, Spain progressed towards a reformist constitutionalism whose goals were to establish both rules for good governance and a new relation between the civil and ecclesiastical/religious spheres. This tendency was consolidated in the period of French intervention in the peninsula, under both the government of José I and that of his anti-French rivals in Cadiz. This reformism arrived in Mexico through Vice-regal participation in Cadiz constitutionalism and the Congress of Chilpancingo/ Constitution of Apatzingán in 1813-1814, and acquired much greater strength from the Constitution of 1824 until 1834. In the period 1814-1820, under a restored absolutist government, an important reaction arose against this reformist legacy. However, the restoration of the Constitution of Cadiz in 1820 and Mexican independence in 1821 altered that tendency. This study takes its case analysis to the Bajío and surrounding areas, highlighting the area's important participation in this process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]