predecessor successor death_date birth_place death_place religion nationality party office birth_date order term_start spouse image article_title term_end name
francisco s. carvajal adolfo de la huerta 21 may 1920 cuatro ciénegas , coahuila , mexico tlaxcalantongo , puebla , mexico none -lrb- atheist -rrb- mexican democratic party of mexico & constitutionalist liberal party president chief of the constitutionalist army of mexico head of the executive power first 28 december 1859 35px 37th 1 may 1917 14 august 1914 virginia salinas ernestina hernández portrait of venustiano carranza.jpg venustiano carranza
 21 may 1920 30 april 1917 venustiano carranza
venustiano carranza

josé venustiano carranza garza -lrb- ; 28 december 1859 -- 21 may 1920 -rrb- was one of the main leaders of the mexican revolution , whose victorious northern revolutionary constitutionalist army , defeated the counter-revolutionary regime of victoriano huerta -lrb- february 1913-july 1914 -rrb- and then defeated fellow revolutionaries after huerta 's ouster .
he secured power in mexico , serving the head of state 1915-1917 .
with the promulgation of a new , revolutionary mexican constitution of 1917 , he was elected president , serving 1917 to 1920 .
known as the `` primer jefe '' or `` first chief '' of the constitutionalists , carranza was a shrewd politician rather than a military man .
he supported francisco i. madero 's challenge to the díaz regime in the 1910 elections and madero 's plan de san luis potosí to nullify the elections and overthrow díaz by force .
he was appointed governor of his home state of coahuila by madero .
when madero was murdered in february 1913 , carranza drew up the plan de guadalupe , a purely political plan to oust huerta .
carranza became the leader of northern forces opposed to huerta .
he went on to lead the constitutionalist faction to victory and become president of mexico .
carranza was from a rich , northern landowning family ; despite his position as head of the northern revolutionary movement , he was concerned that mexico 's land tenure not be fundamentally restructured by the revolution .
he was far more conservative than either southern peasant leader emiliano zapata or northern revolutionary general pancho villa .
once firmly in power in mexico , carranza sought to eliminate his political rivals .
carranza won recognition from the united states , but took strongly nationalist positions .
during his administration , the current constitution of mexico was drafted and adopted .
carranza did not implement its most radical elements , such as empowerment of labor , use of the state to expropriate foreign enterprises , land reform in mexico , or suppression of the roman catholic church in mexico .
in the 1920 election , in which he could not succeed himself , he attempted to impose a virtually unknown , civilian politician , ignacio bonillas , as president of mexico .
northern generals , who held real power , rose up against carranza under the plan of agua prieta , and carranza was assassinated fleeing mexico city .
