BENITO JUáREZ
Name: Benito Pablo Juárez Garcia
Born: 21 March 1806 San Pablo Guelatao, Oaxaca
Died: 18 July 1872 Mexico DF
Benito Pablo Juárez Garcia (March 21, 1806 – July 18, 1872)
was a Zapotec Amerindian who served five terms (1858–1861
as interim), (1861–1865), (1865–1867), (1867–1871), and (1871–1872), as
President of Mexico. For resisting the French occupation, overthrowing the
Empire, and restoring the Republic, as well as his efforts to modernize the
country, Juárez is often regarded as Mexico's greatest and most beloved leader.
He was also the first Mexican leader who did not have a military background, and
the first full-blooded indigenous national to serve as President of Mexico, and
the first to lead an American country in more than 300 years.
Juárez was born in the small village of San Pablo Guelatao, Oaxaca, located in
the mountain range now known as the "Sierra Juárez." His parents, Marcelino
Juárez and Brigida Garcia were peasants who died when he was three years old. He
described his parents as "Amerindians of the primitive race of the country." He
worked in the corn fields and as a shepherd until the age of 12. On December 17,
1818, he walked to the city of Oaxaca looking to educate himself and find a
better life. At the time he was illiterate and could not speak Spanish, only
Zapotec.
In the city he had a sister who worked as a cook and there, he took a job as a
domestic servant and eagerly made up for his lack of education. A lay Franciscan,
Antonio Salanueva, was impressed with young Benito's intelligence and thirst for
learning, and arranged for his placement at the city's seminary. He studied
there but decided to pursue law rather than the priesthood. He graduated from
the seminary in 1827 and went on to gain a degree in law.
Juárez became a lawyer in 1834 and a judge in 1842. He was governor of the state
of Oaxaca from 1847 to 1853, at which time he went into exile because of his
objections to the corrupt military dictatorship of Antonio López de Santa Anna.
He spent his exile in New Orleans, Louisiana, working in a cigar factory. In
1854 he helped draft the Plan of Ayutla as the basis for a liberal revolution in
Mexico.
Faced with growing opposition, Santa Anna resigned in 1855 and Juárez returned
to Mexico. The winning party, the liberales (liberals) formed a provisional
government under General Juan Ãlvarez, inaugurating the period known as La
Reforma. The Reform laws sponsored by the puro (pure) wing of the Liberal Party
curtailed the power of the Catholic Church and the military, while trying to
create a modern civil society and capitalist economy on the U.S. model. The Ley
Juárez (Juarez's Law) of 1855, for example, abolished special clerical and
military privileges, and declared all citizens equal before the law. All the
efforts ended on the promulgation of the new federalist constitution. Juárez
became Chief Justice, under moderado (moderate) president Ignacio Comonfort.
The conservadores (conservatives) led by General Félix Zuloaga, with the backing
of the military and the clergy, launched a revolt under the Plan of Tacubaya on
December,17 1857. Comonfort didn't want to start a bloody civil war, so made a
auto-coup-et-at, dissolve the congress and appointing a new cabinet, in which
the conservative party would have some influence, assuming in real terms the
Tacubaya plan. Juárez, Ignacio Olvera and many other deputies and ministers were
arrested. The rebels want the constitution revoked completely and another all-conservative
government formed, so they launched another revolt on January,11 1858,
proclaiming Zuloaga as president, so Comonfort re-stablished the congress,
freeing all the prisoners and resigned as president. Under the new constitution
the chief justice immediately became interim president until proper elections
could be made. Juarez took office on late January 1858. Juarez then lead the
liberal side in the Mexican War of the Reform, first from Querétaro and later
from Veracruz. In 1859, Juárez took the radical step of declaring the
confiscation of church properties. In spite of the conservatives' initial
military advantage, the liberals, drawing on support of regionalist forces, U.S.
help under the some terms of the controversial and never approbed McLane-Ocampo
treaty, turned the tide in 1860 and recaptured Mexico City in January 1861.
Juárez was finally properly elected president in March for another four-year
term, under the Constitution of 1857.
Faced with bankruptcy and a war-ravaged economy, Juárez declared a moratorium on
foreign debt payments. Spain, Great Britain, and France reacted with a joint
seizure of the Veracruz customs house in December 1861. Spain and Britain soon
withdrew, but the French Emperor Napoleon III used the episode as a pretext to
launch the French intervention in Mexico in 1862, with plans to establish a
conservative regime. The Mexicans won an initial victory over the French at
Puebla in 1862, celebrated annually as Cinco de Mayo (May 5th). The French
advanced again in 1863, forcing Juárez and his elected government to retreat to
the north, first to San Luis Potosi and then to the arid northern city of Paso
del Norte, present day Ciudad Juárez,Chihuahua. Meanwhile Maximilian von
Habsburg, a younger brother of the Emperor of Austria, was proclaimed Emperor
Maximilian I of Mexico on April 10, 1864 with the backing of Napoleon III and a
group of Mexican conservatives. Before Juárez fled, Congress granted him an
emergency extension of his presidency, which came into effect from 1865, when
his term expired, until 1867, when the last of Maximilian's forces were defeated.
In response to the French intervention and the elevation of Maximilian, Juarez
sent General Plácido Vega y Daza to the U.S. State of California to gather
Mexican American sympathy for Mexico's plight. Maximilian, who personally
harboured liberal and Mexican nationalist sympathies, offered Juárez amnesty,
and later the post of prime minister, but Juárez refused to accept either a
monarchy or a government "imposed by foreigners", not willing to accept the fact
that the legitimate Mexican throne existed long before him, founded by Emperor
Augustine I, and that the Mexican crown was offered to Maximilian by Mexican
monarchist. With its own civil war over, Abraham Lincoln, of the United States
invoked the Monroe Doctrine to give diplomatic recognition to Juárez' government
and supply men, weapons and funding to the Republican forces. Faced with this
and a growing threat from Prussia, the French troops began pulling out of Mexico
in late 1866. Mexican conservatism was a spent force and was less than pleased
with the liberal Maximilian. In 1867 the last of the Emperor's forces were
defeated and Maximilian was sentenced to death by a military court. Despite
national and international pleas for amnesty, Juárez refused to commute the
sentence, and Maximilian was executed by firing squad on June 19, his body was
returned to Europe for burial.
Juárez was controversially re-elected President in 1867 and 1871, using the
office of the presidency to ensure electoral success and suppressing revolts by
opponents like Porfirio Diaz. Benito Juárez died of a heart attack in 1872 while
working at his desk in the National Palace in Mexico City. He was succeeded by
Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, his foreign minister.
Today Benito Juarez is remembered as being a progressive reformer dedicated to
democracy, equal rights for his nation's indigenous peoples, lessening the great
power that the Roman Catholic Church then held over Mexican politics, and the
defence of national sovereignty. The period of his leadership is known in
Mexican history as La Reforma (the reform), and constituted a liberal political
and social revolution with major institutional consequences: the expropriation
of church lands, bringing the army under civilian control, liquidation of
peasant communal land holdings, and the separation of church and state in public
affairs.
La Reforma represented the triumph of Mexico's liberal, federalist, anti-clerical,
and pro-capitalist forces over the conservative, centralist, corporatist, and
theocratic elements that sought to reconstitute a locally-run version of the old
colonial system. It replaced a semi-feudal social system with a more market-driven
one, but following Juárez's death, the lack of adequate democratic and
institutional stability soon led to a return to levels of centralized autocracy
and economic exploitation under the regime of Porfirio Diaz that surpassed
anything from the colonial or conservative eras. A conservative government under
liberal gowns. The porfiriato (Porfirist era), in turn, collapsed in the Mexican
Revolution.
Name: Benito Pablo Juárez Garcia
Born: 21 March 1806 San Pablo Guelatao, Oaxaca
Died: 18 July 1872 Mexico DF
Benito Pablo Juárez Garcia (March 21, 1806 – July 18, 1872)
was a Zapotec Amerindian who served five terms (1858–1861
as interim), (1861–1865), (1865–1867), (1867–1871), and (1871–1872), as
President of Mexico. For resisting the French occupation, overthrowing the
Empire, and restoring the Republic, as well as his efforts to modernize the
country, Juárez is often regarded as Mexico's greatest and most beloved leader.
He was also the first Mexican leader who did not have a military background, and
the first full-blooded indigenous national to serve as President of Mexico, and
the first to lead an American country in more than 300 years.
Juárez was born in the small village of San Pablo Guelatao, Oaxaca, located in
the mountain range now known as the "Sierra Juárez." His parents, Marcelino
Juárez and Brigida Garcia were peasants who died when he was three years old. He
described his parents as "Amerindians of the primitive race of the country." He
worked in the corn fields and as a shepherd until the age of 12. On December 17,
1818, he walked to the city of Oaxaca looking to educate himself and find a
better life. At the time he was illiterate and could not speak Spanish, only
Zapotec.
In the city he had a sister who worked as a cook and there, he took a job as a
domestic servant and eagerly made up for his lack of education. A lay Franciscan,
Antonio Salanueva, was impressed with young Benito's intelligence and thirst for
learning, and arranged for his placement at the city's seminary. He studied
there but decided to pursue law rather than the priesthood. He graduated from
the seminary in 1827 and went on to gain a degree in law.
Juárez became a lawyer in 1834 and a judge in 1842. He was governor of the state
of Oaxaca from 1847 to 1853, at which time he went into exile because of his
objections to the corrupt military dictatorship of Antonio López de Santa Anna.
He spent his exile in New Orleans, Louisiana, working in a cigar factory. In
1854 he helped draft the Plan of Ayutla as the basis for a liberal revolution in
Mexico.
Faced with growing opposition, Santa Anna resigned in 1855 and Juárez returned
to Mexico. The winning party, the liberales (liberals) formed a provisional
government under General Juan Ãlvarez, inaugurating the period known as La
Reforma. The Reform laws sponsored by the puro (pure) wing of the Liberal Party
curtailed the power of the Catholic Church and the military, while trying to
create a modern civil society and capitalist economy on the U.S. model. The Ley
Juárez (Juarez's Law) of 1855, for example, abolished special clerical and
military privileges, and declared all citizens equal before the law. All the
efforts ended on the promulgation of the new federalist constitution. Juárez
became Chief Justice, under moderado (moderate) president Ignacio Comonfort.
The conservadores (conservatives) led by General Félix Zuloaga, with the backing
of the military and the clergy, launched a revolt under the Plan of Tacubaya on
December,17 1857. Comonfort didn't want to start a bloody civil war, so made a
auto-coup-et-at, dissolve the congress and appointing a new cabinet, in which
the conservative party would have some influence, assuming in real terms the
Tacubaya plan. Juárez, Ignacio Olvera and many other deputies and ministers were
arrested. The rebels want the constitution revoked completely and another all-conservative
government formed, so they launched another revolt on January,11 1858,
proclaiming Zuloaga as president, so Comonfort re-stablished the congress,
freeing all the prisoners and resigned as president. Under the new constitution
the chief justice immediately became interim president until proper elections
could be made. Juarez took office on late January 1858. Juarez then lead the
liberal side in the Mexican War of the Reform, first from Querétaro and later
from Veracruz. In 1859, Juárez took the radical step of declaring the
confiscation of church properties. In spite of the conservatives' initial
military advantage, the liberals, drawing on support of regionalist forces, U.S.
help under the some terms of the controversial and never approbed McLane-Ocampo
treaty, turned the tide in 1860 and recaptured Mexico City in January 1861.
Juárez was finally properly elected president in March for another four-year
term, under the Constitution of 1857.
Faced with bankruptcy and a war-ravaged economy, Juárez declared a moratorium on
foreign debt payments. Spain, Great Britain, and France reacted with a joint
seizure of the Veracruz customs house in December 1861. Spain and Britain soon
withdrew, but the French Emperor Napoleon III used the episode as a pretext to
launch the French intervention in Mexico in 1862, with plans to establish a
conservative regime. The Mexicans won an initial victory over the French at
Puebla in 1862, celebrated annually as Cinco de Mayo (May 5th). The French
advanced again in 1863, forcing Juárez and his elected government to retreat to
the north, first to San Luis Potosi and then to the arid northern city of Paso
del Norte, present day Ciudad Juárez,Chihuahua. Meanwhile Maximilian von
Habsburg, a younger brother of the Emperor of Austria, was proclaimed Emperor
Maximilian I of Mexico on April 10, 1864 with the backing of Napoleon III and a
group of Mexican conservatives. Before Juárez fled, Congress granted him an
emergency extension of his presidency, which came into effect from 1865, when
his term expired, until 1867, when the last of Maximilian's forces were defeated.
In response to the French intervention and the elevation of Maximilian, Juarez
sent General Plácido Vega y Daza to the U.S. State of California to gather
Mexican American sympathy for Mexico's plight. Maximilian, who personally
harboured liberal and Mexican nationalist sympathies, offered Juárez amnesty,
and later the post of prime minister, but Juárez refused to accept either a
monarchy or a government "imposed by foreigners", not willing to accept the fact
that the legitimate Mexican throne existed long before him, founded by Emperor
Augustine I, and that the Mexican crown was offered to Maximilian by Mexican
monarchist. With its own civil war over, Abraham Lincoln, of the United States
invoked the Monroe Doctrine to give diplomatic recognition to Juárez' government
and supply men, weapons and funding to the Republican forces. Faced with this
and a growing threat from Prussia, the French troops began pulling out of Mexico
in late 1866. Mexican conservatism was a spent force and was less than pleased
with the liberal Maximilian. In 1867 the last of the Emperor's forces were
defeated and Maximilian was sentenced to death by a military court. Despite
national and international pleas for amnesty, Juárez refused to commute the
sentence, and Maximilian was executed by firing squad on June 19, his body was
returned to Europe for burial.
Juárez was controversially re-elected President in 1867 and 1871, using the
office of the presidency to ensure electoral success and suppressing revolts by
opponents like Porfirio Diaz. Benito Juárez died of a heart attack in 1872 while
working at his desk in the National Palace in Mexico City. He was succeeded by
Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, his foreign minister.
Today Benito Juarez is remembered as being a progressive reformer dedicated to
democracy, equal rights for his nation's indigenous peoples, lessening the great
power that the Roman Catholic Church then held over Mexican politics, and the
defence of national sovereignty. The period of his leadership is known in
Mexican history as La Reforma (the reform), and constituted a liberal political
and social revolution with major institutional consequences: the expropriation
of church lands, bringing the army under civilian control, liquidation of
peasant communal land holdings, and the separation of church and state in public
affairs.
La Reforma represented the triumph of Mexico's liberal, federalist, anti-clerical,
and pro-capitalist forces over the conservative, centralist, corporatist, and
theocratic elements that sought to reconstitute a locally-run version of the old
colonial system. It replaced a semi-feudal social system with a more market-driven
one, but following Juárez's death, the lack of adequate democratic and
institutional stability soon led to a return to levels of centralized autocracy
and economic exploitation under the regime of Porfirio Diaz that surpassed
anything from the colonial or conservative eras. A conservative government under
liberal gowns. The porfiriato (Porfirist era), in turn, collapsed in the Mexican
Revolution.