The battle against the French and the Archduke Maximilian had been for Mexicans the equivalent of the American Civil War, forging national and personal interests in a complicated amalgam where one could later be mistaken for the other. Desperately in need of money for weapons, Romero had brokered Mexico's future by helping to sell Mexican bonds issued by a government in virtual exile at deep discounts to New York capitalists. Many of the bonds guaranteed land and other concessions should the Mexican government default. The bonds raised money and gave leading Americans a stake in the Juárez government, and so Romero in order to secure Mexican development-- and his own wealth --dealt with men who sought to dominate Mexico for their own profit.

Pletcher, Rails, Mines, and Progress, 37-49.

Hart, Empire and Revolution, 10-16, 31-34.