For a century, beginning in the 1750s, Europe and the Americas underwent a series of profound political, economic and social changes, ushering in the modern era. This work sets out to examine the experience of Mexico during that ""age of democratic revolutions"". Among the specific issues examined are: the policies of Jose de Galvez; political transformations in colonial Sonora and Yucatan; elite politics during the movement for the independence and the socio-economic status of early national politicians; the transition from colonial to independent state; the Constitution of 1824; and the roles of the clergy and the regions in early national politics. Five out of the thirteen chapters are written in Spanish. The authors offer a broadly-based picture of the newly-independent Mexico; plagued by economic stagnation, sectarian politics, regionalism and foreign threats, but ultimately successful - after several decades - in consolidating its power.