Title: Mexico - La Reforma | Britannica
Headings: 
La Reforma
French intervention
The restored republic

Content: On April 6, 1859, the United States recognized the Juárez government; President James Buchanan permitted war matériel to be shipped to Juárez’s forces. Americans were encouraged to serve the liberal cause as volunteers, but Spain and France generally favoured the conservatives, as did Great Britain. In July 1859 Juárez issued a series of decrees: all church property except buildings used for worship was to be confiscated without compensation; all marriages apart from civil marriages were declared annulled; the formal separation of church and state was proclaimed; cemeteries were declared public property, and burial fees were abolished. Moneys from the sale of confiscated church property, though less than anticipated, speeded the end of the civil war. On Dec. 22, 1860, the liberals won a critical battle, and, when the conservative president, Miguel Miramón, fled, the conservative cause collapsed.