It was formed in March 1913 by Venustiano Carranza, so-called "First-Chief" of the army, as a response to the murder of President Francisco I. Madero and Vice President José María Pino Suárez by Victoriano Huerta during La Decena Trágica (Ten Tragic Days) of 1913, and the resulting usurpation of presidential power by Huerta.

He had the theoretical support of Pancho Villa and Emiliano Zapata, but they soon turned against the Constitutionalists after Huerta's defeat in 1914.

These corps were: Northeast, Northwest, Central, East, West, South and Southeast.

Eventually the war against the Conventionalists was won after the assassination of Zapata in 1919 and the surrender of Villa in July 1920.

However, when Carranza's autocratic rule was threatened, the threat would come from the Constitutionalist army he had set up.