Maximilian, schooled in the European liberal tradition,…

Maximilian, schooled in the European liberal tradition, is a strong supporter of Mexican nationalism.

He soon finds resistance from all quarters of the political spectrum, however.

The conservatives expect the emperor to act against the Reform Laws, but Maximilian refuses to revoke them.

In reality a puppet monarch of the Second French Empire, Maximilian is very much the product of the progressive ideas in vogue in the West at this time.

He favors the establishment of a limited monarchy sharing powers with a democratically elected congress and inspires laws that abolish child labor, limit working hours, and abolish a system of land tenancy that virtually amounts to serfdom among the natives.

This is too liberal to please Mexico's conservatives, while the liberals refuse to accept a monarch, leaving Maximilian with few enthusiastic allies within Mexico.