Benito Juárez lived through a crucial period in the formation of the Mexican State, considered by many historians to be the consolidation of the nation as a republic. Juárez marked a turning point in national history and was a leading protagonist of this era. Although he was a President without a military background, he was a key figure in both the Reform War and the second French intervention. His biography during the years he held the presidency is an outstanding part of the history of Mexico.
The Maza residence in the City of Oaxaca, where Juárez worked when he was young, is now known as Casa de Juárez and is preserved as a museum.
Benito Pablo Juárez García was born on March 21, 1806, in the village of San Pablo Guelatao (the latter word meaning "deep night" in Zapotec),[5] a settlement located in the mountain range now known as the Sierra Juárez and then belonging to the jurisdiction of Santo Tomás de Ixtláncotoyol in the state of Oaxaca (at present the municipality of Guelatao de Juárez). He was baptized the day after his birth in the parish of Santo Tomás Ixtlán.[6]
"In the parish Church of Santo Tomas de Ixtlan, on the twenty-second of March of the year one thousand eight hundred and six, I, D. Ambrosio Puche, resident of this district, solemnly baptized Benito Pablo, legitimate son and of legitimate marriage of Marcelino Juárez and Brígida García, Indigenous people of the village of San Pablo Guelatao, belonging to this head town. His paternal grandparents are Pedro Juárez and Justa López, the maternal ones Pablo García and María García. The godmother was Apolonia García, Indigenous, married to Francisco García, advising them of their obligations and spiritual kinship. —And in witness thereof he signed with the Parish Priest. Mariano Cortarrabia—. Ambrosio Puche."
— Parish church of Santo Tomás Ixtlán, March 22, 1806
The names of his parents were Marcelino Juárez and Brígida García according to the baptismal record drawn up the day after his birth,[7] and who, in his own words, were "Indigenous people of the primitive race of the country"[8] and both were farmers. Both parents died when he was three years old; his mother during the birth of his sister María Alberta Longinos. Benito, together with his sisters María Josefa and Rosa, were left in the care of their paternal grandparents Pedro Juárez and Justa López, likewise Indians of the "Zapotec nation", and his very young sister María Longinos with their maternal aunt Cecilia.[8] A few years later his grandparents also died and Juárez's two older sisters married, so that he was finally left in the custody of his uncle Bernardino Juárez. From then on he worked as a field laborer and as a shepherd until the age of twelve. His uncle Bernardino knew Spanish and taught it to Juárez, who showed enthusiasm for learning it; however, the work in the fields and the fact that Spanish was not spoken in the village did not allow Juárez to make much progress in his learning. In his village, as was the case in small settlements, there was not even the most elementary school. Juárez realized that those who learned to read did so by traveling to the city, either paying for their board or working as servants in wealthy households, which fed his desire to go to the city, something he asked his uncle for very frequently without the latter ever granting his wish. Finally, on December 17, 1818, Juárez decided to leave his native village after having chosen between his feelings and his desire to educate himself. He made his way to the city of Oaxaca.[8] This flight may have been motivated by having lost a sheep and wishing to avoid the punishment that awaited him.[9][10] Up to this point Juárez's only language was Zapotec, his knowledge of the Spanish language being basic.
First studies in Oaxaca
On arriving in the city, on the night of the same day, Juárez asked for lodging from his sister Josefa, who worked as a cook for the wealthy family of a foreign merchant named Antonio Maza. With Mr. Maza's approval, Juárez began by looking after the farm, being assigned a wage of two reales.[8] Mr. Maza's adopted daughter, Margarita Maza, would many years later become Juárez's wife.
In the following days, the young Juárez met the Franciscan priest of the Third OrderAntonio Salanueva, who took him on as an apprentice bookbinder. In Juárez's words: "although very devoted to piety and religious practices, he was quite open-minded and a friend of the education of youth".[8] On January 7, 1819, only 21 days after arriving in the city, Salanueva received Juárez into his home and workshop, and also offered to send him to school. After changing schools once because he felt he was not making progress in his learning, he began new courses at La Escuela Real under the tutelage of José Domingo González, who gave him a harsh scolding because he considered his handwriting deficient, something that deeply offended the young Juárez.[8] Juárez also suffered, along with the other children of his Indigenous and poor condition, from discrimination, since while the preceptor taught the so-called "decent" children, those of his condition were instructed by the assistant. For this reason Juárez left the school, which he considered to have a dreadful teaching method, and decided to learn on his own.
Seminary
Having noticed that the young seminarians of that time enjoyed a good education and social recognition, and supported also by the advice given to him by his uncle Bernardino, even though he felt an "instinctive repugnance" for clerical matters, he made the decision to ask the cleric Salanueva to help him enter the city's seminary. Thanks to the support of his preceptor, Juárez managed to overcome the requirement of having the means to support himself during his studies and of having Spanish as his mother tongue, as stipulated by the ecclesiastical laws of America at that time. Salanueva was therefore a key figure in Juárez's intellectual formation, so much so that in the future he came to regard him as his godfather.[8]
On October 18, 1821, just after the end of the war of independence, Juárez began studies of Latin grammar at the Seminary of Santa Cruz as an external student. In August 1823 he completed these studies after obtaining marks of excellence in the two examinations held.[8] Juárez then faced a serious difficulty, in that his mentor Salanueva wished him to study moral theology and thus receive holy orders, an idea that was repugnant to Juárez not only because of his disdain for clerical matters but also because of the reputation of those who aspired to that path in the seminary, who were called "padres de misa y olla" or "lárragos".[8][nota2 1] Juárez convinced Salanueva with the argument that he was not yet old enough to be ordained, so that in the meantime he could study the arts course. In 1824 he began the courses in Latin, philosophy and theology. The seminary was not his vocation and he was especially bored by theology, a class in which he would fall asleep.[citation needed] He completed this arts course in 1827 after having held two public acts and having passed the regulatory examinations with the grade of Excelente nemine discrepante and with honorable marks from his examiners.[8] Despite the opposition of his protector Salanueva, he left the seminary and turned to law.
Juárez the lawyer
He enrolled in the Jurisprudence program at the Institute of Sciences and Arts of Oaxaca, where in 1834 he obtained the first law degree issued by the state Court of Justice.[11] Several of his professors were Freemasons.[citation needed] On one occasion he was asked to play a part from a work by Virgil in a staging that included reciting some verses in Latin; in order to look Roman, being very dark-skinned, and following a classmate's advice, he whitened his face, and did it so grotesquely that it was laughable to see him. However, when the recital began he spoke in perfect Latin, for which he was admired and applauded.[citation needed]
After graduating as a lawyer he worked for some time defending Indigenous communities, work that made him travel between various communities and the city of Oaxaca and even landed him in prison.
He served as rector of his Institute in 1831, where he always professed and defended liberal ideas above all. On December 11, 1831, the town council of Oaxaca informed Juárez that he had been elected alderman for the term beginning on January 1, 1832,[13] thus beginning his political career. On August 25, 1832, the governor of Oaxaca José López de Ortigoza issued a decree announcing the appointments to the Court of Justice of the state of Oaxaca, Benito Juárez being appointed substitute justice.[13] On February 11, 1833, Juárez was formally named deputy-elect of the Legislature of the state of Oaxaca, that is, local deputy.[13] On his 26th birthday Juárez was appointed captain of the 5th Company of the 1st Civic Militia Battalion of his state.[13] On February 3, 1834, Juárez was appointed a member of the Health Board of his state.[13] On February 7, Juárez was appointed interim justice of the state Court of Justice.[13] On April 7 he was appointed a member of the Board for Assessing and Rewarding the merits earned at the fort of Santo Domingo by the brave defenders of our institutions.[13] On April 6, 1838, Juárez was appointed interim secretary of the First Chamber of the Superior Court of Justice of the department of Oaxaca.[13] On December 31, 1839, he was appointed substitute justice of the same Superior Court of Justice.[13] On August 23, 1840, Juárez was appointed mediator for the Fifth Section of Oaxaca.[13] On December 31, 1840, he was again appointed substitute justice of the same Superior Court of Justice.[13] On July 22, 1841, the Superior Court of Justice of the Oaxacan department issued in Juárez's favor a commission as civil judge of first instance for the city of Oaxaca.[13] On October 3, 1843, he received an appointment as second substitute member of the Electoral Board of Oaxaca.[13] On June 1, 1844, a communication was issued to the Departmental Assembly of the state stating that Juárez could not fill the post of member of that Assembly because he was serving as secretary of Government of the department of the state.[13] On January 3, 1853, Juárez received a commission as substitute professor of Civil Law at the Institute of Sciences and Arts of Oaxaca.[13] On February 22 Juárez was granted a month's unpaid leave to be absent from the Institute. On September 30, 1858, Juárez was enrolled as an honorary member of the Conservatorio Dramático Mexicano by means of a document signed by its president, José Valero, and the deputy secretary Justo Sierra.[13]
That same year he supported Valentín Gómez Farías, who sought to weaken and subdue the clergy. However, a year later centralism was again imposed in the country, so he fled to Puebla.[14] After a couple of years he returned to Oaxaca. He was given the post of judge of first instance. He had at least two children with an anonymous woman from the village, whom he disowned in order to then marry Margarita Maza, adopted daughter of his former employer, Antonio Maza. When the wedding was held, he was 37 years old and she was 17.[14]
He served as a bureaucrat for both the centralists and the Santannistas. He even had a portrait of Santa Anna placed in his session hall, and when the latter's wife died, he asked public employees to observe mourning. In 1844 he was rewarded with the appointment of prosecutor of the Supreme Court of Justice of Oaxaca.[14]
When General Paredes Arrillaga lost the presidential elections, Juárez was elected federal deputy, and so in 1847 he moved to Mexico City in that capacity.[14]
Governor of Oaxaca and exile
During the United States invasion, Juárez returned to Oaxaca and was appointed interim governor in 1847. His administration was characterized by achieving economic balance and carrying out public works such as roads, the reconstruction of the government palace, the founding of normal schools, the drawing up of a geographic map and of a plan of the city of Oaxaca. The number of schools in Oaxaca doubled, from the 50 that existed in the whole state to 100 or more.[citation needed] He created the port of Huatulco and built the road to the capital, which made it possible to reduce the cost of various goods that were brought from Veracruz or Acapulco.[citation needed] He also reorganized the National Guard and left surpluses in the treasury. As governor, Juárez frequently began his activities at five in the morning and left his office very late, after 10 at night. He set up a public desk so that anyone who requested it could speak with him regardless of their social or economic status. Also in that office Juárez prevented the fugitive Santa Anna from entering Oaxaca, as he was fleeing the country's capital because of the United States occupation at the time, an offense that Santa Anna would never forgive.
In 1853, when Antonio López de Santa Anna reached the presidential chair for the eleventh time, he took revenge on Juárez for having prevented him from entering the state. Just as Juárez had warned his wife, one day while he was teaching a class some soldiers came to arrest him. He asked for five minutes to finish his class and was even allowed to go to his house to say goodbye to Margarita, thinking of a possible execution by firing squad. He was locked up in the cells of San Juan de Ulúa. Shortly afterward he was transferred to Veracruz, where he was put aboard a Spanish-flagged ship bound for exile in Cuba, where he worked in a cigar factory. Some time later Juárez moved to New Orleans, where he sought the support of the local Masonic lodges. There Juárez met Melchor Ocampo and other exiles who had been banished or were simply political persecutees of the dictator. All of them met in secret in that city to plan a coup d'état against Santa Anna.[14]
Revolution of Ayutla and Constitution of 1857
General Juan Álvarez appointed Benito Juárez Minister of Justice and Public Instruction during his brief presidential term in 1855.
In exile, Juárez sought to support the revolution that was brewing in Ayutla. So he managed to sail to Panama and then reach Acapulco. He was first given a humble post as a clerk[14] and advised the Guerrero strongman and hero of independence Juan N. Álvarez in the revolutionary struggle. Faced with the imminent liberal triumph, Santa Anna abandoned the presidency on August 9, 1855,[15] and on September 16 the liberals reached the capital. On October 4, a board of state representatives elected General Álvarez provisional president in Cuernavaca, Juárez casting his vote in favor of the general, who won the election by a wide majority over Ignacio Comonfort, Santiago Vidaurri and Melchor Ocampo.[16][17] Álvarez decided to form his cabinet with the generation of pure liberals, such as Melchor Ocampo in Foreign Relations, Guillermo Prieto in Finance, and Benito Juárez was chosen to be Minister of Justice and Public Instruction.[14][18][19]
During this period he issued the Juárez Law, officially known as the Law on the administration of justice and organic law of the courts of the Nation, the District and Territories. This law curtailed the rights of the military and the clergy, such as by abolishing the "special" courts that both bodies had. But it was not a complete solution like the one later signed by Ignacio Comonfort and Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, by which the Church was separated from the State. The Juárez Law was simply a sketch of something that had to come in more complete form.
In 1855, during the government of Ignacio Comonfort, he was first governor of Oaxaca, and was later appointed Minister of the Interior and President of the Supreme Court of Justice. In December of that same year, during the coup d'état brought about by conflicts between conservatives who supported the church and liberals who had supported the separation of Church and State, Juárez was arrested by Comonfort's own forces. The reason was the coup plotters' doubt regarding his position, since Juárez never openly declared himself either against or in favor of the conflict, ironically caused by the law whose foundations he himself had helped to lay.[14]
However, Comonfort himself, who had organized his own coup d'état against his own government, came a month later to ask Juárez for his help, since neither liberals nor conservatives had reached any agreement and the government was growing increasingly weak. So Juárez went to Guanajuato to see General Manuel Doblado, who was governor of the state, to organize another coup d'état. However, the latter, together with other governors, had already disowned Comonfort and named Juárez himself as his replacement, while Zuloaga in Mexico City was also rebelling against Comonfort and the liberals. This brought about the Three Years' War.[14]
In 1858, Juárez became President of the Republic for the first time after the self-coup of Ignacio Comonfort, who decided to join the Plan of Tacubaya and resigned, whereupon Juárez, being Minister of Justice, became president in accordance with the Constitution. Félix María Zuloaga, who was supported by the army and the clergy, classes affected by the laws enacted during Comonfort's term, based on the Juárez Law, was also declared president by the conservatives. Juárez maintained an itinerant government among the various states, pursued by the federal army and with minimal resources. His government initially formed a militia of a few hundred men, among whom were many of his exiled friends from New Orleans, such as Melchor Ocampo.[14]
In Guanajuato
Juárez had to flee to Guanajuato, where he was officially named president and tried to organize his government, including in his cabinet Melchor Ocampo in Foreign Relations and War, Manuel Ruiz in Justice, Guillermo Prieto in Finance, León Guzmán in Development, Anastasio Parrodi as head of the army, and shortly afterward he appointed Santos Degollado as Minister of the Interior. There, from Guanajuato, interim president Juárez sent his first manifesto to the nation on January 19, 1858, in which he called on the Mexican people to join his cause, which he considered just and emanating from the will of the people. Finally, forced by the circumstances of the war and in the face of the imminent advance of Osollo and Miramón, he left for Guadalajara on February 13.[20]
Attempted execution in Guadalajara
In 1858 Juárez arrived in Guadalajara on February 14, the anniversary of the founding of that city, accompanied by his entire cabinet and some members of Congress, among whom was the vice president Mateo Echais.[21] He was received in San Pedro Tlaquepaque by the state and municipal authorities, who pledged their loyalty.[22] Juárez stayed at the Hotel Francés.[23]
While they were holding a cabinet meeting at the Government Palace of Jalisco, an officer betrayed him and interrupted the meeting with some soldiers, whom he ordered to ready their weapons. Juárez rose from his chair and stood facing them to await his fate, asking them to shoot him in the chest. Minister Guillermo Prieto saved Juárez's life by placing himself in front of him and shouting his famous phrase "The brave do not murder!", and continued: "If you want blood, drink mine, but do not touch the president", when the conservative Filomeno Bravo had given the order to soldiers of the 5th regiment to shoot the president.[24]
Second exile
In the face of the advance of the federal troops, Juárez and his government reached the Pacific, where he had no choice but to save himself by sailing together with his cabinet and other persons bound for Panama, from where he crossed to the Atlantic Ocean to travel to Havana and then to New Orleans, where he arrived on April 28.[25] In all these places he was recognized and received expressions of admiration for defending his cause. In New Orleans the press approached him incessantly.
In Veracruz
On May 4, 1858, Juárez arrived in Veracruz,[25] where the government of Manuel Gutiérrez Zamora was sympathetic to him, together with General Ignacio de la Llave. On arriving at the port of Veracruz, his wife and children were already waiting for him on the pier, together with a large part of the population, which that day poured onto the waterfront to receive him. There he spent several months without incident until the attack of Miguel Miramón, who finally lifted the siege of the port on March 30, 1859.[26] On April 6 he received the diplomatic representative of the United States, Robert MacLane.[27]
Given the fragility of the Juarist government, the conservatives Félix María Zuloaga and Leonardo Márquez had an opportunity to regain power. Faced with this, Juárez asked Congress for extraordinary powers. The liberal members of Congress refused, with the main argument that placing the country under a constitution had cost a very bloody war and that it was not possible that Juárez, who had promoted that Constitution, should now want to violate the principles of legality by granting himself the powers of a virtual dictator. However, two groups of conservatives captured Ocampo and Santos Degollado, respectively, and killed them, diverting the attention of the liberals in Congress and changing their opinion, so that they decided to grant money and permissions to Juárez to finish them off.[citation needed]
He had exceptional finances during his term. His government ran a budget deficit of 400,000 pesos a month. He only managed to raise one million pesos from the sale of Church property.[citation needed]
Because Mexico was unable to pay its debts to Europe owing to the precarious state of the public treasury as a consequence of the Reform War, the port of Veracruz was invaded on December 15, 1861, by a Spanish force of 6,000 men that met no resistance. On January 9, 1862, they were joined by 3,000 French and 800 English troops.
The English and Spanish invaders left the country, since the French sabotaged the talks to obtain peaceful payment of the debts. Napoleon III was secretly seeking to establish a Mexican Empire.
Pope Pius IX also supported the invasion of Mexico. The Catholic Church was strongly displeased with the application of the Reform Laws in Mexico. The Vatican encyclical Quanta cura,[30] included the Syllabus errorum, which was a catalog of infringements of the alleged rights of the Church committed, in Europe and in America, by governments of countries formerly subject to ecclesiastical dominion.[31]
"We raise Our pontifical voice with apostolic freedom in this your full assembly to condemn, reprove and declare null and void and without any value the aforementioned decrees."
On May 5, 1862, the French lost the Battle of Puebla against the Mexican troops under the command of Ignacio Zaragoza. General Zaragoza sent his famous telegram to the National Palace:[32]
"The national arms have covered themselves in glory."
France, one year after the battle of May 5, sent 25,000 more men, who entered the City of Puebla in little more than two months after having laid siege to the city, which caused a severe shortage of goods and especially food, diminishing the defensive capabilities that had been inferior from the start; but the population, in its great majority, also saw the invaders as enemies, contrary to what the conservatives wished to promote. Several commanders of the Mexican army, among them Porfirio Díaz and González Ortega, were captured.
Itinerant government
After an extraordinary session of the Congress of the Republic had been held, in which special powers were given to Juárez, Congress decreed the suspension of its work until further notice, followed by a solemn session that ended in the capital's Zócalo with thousands of Mexicans who came to bid farewell to Juárez, on May 31, 1863. Juárez left the capital with a large caravan to take the Government of the Republic with him to the north, safe from the invaders. In the caravan traveled Juárez's principal ministers, as well as many carts loaded with papers containing the nation's archives. The caravan was guarded by some three hundred well-equipped soldiers.
As Juárez's caravan passed near Dolores Hidalgo, Guanajuato, Juárez ordered a detour to that town. There a meeting was held with the municipal chief and the townspeople. Juárez visited the house of Miguel Hidalgo, which was in good condition. There the municipal chief informed the president that a certain old man who could be seen nearby was the one who looked after the property, and that he had been a friend of Miguel Hidalgo. Juárez approached the man, who tried to bow before Juárez, but the latter stopped him and told him that it was he who should bow before the old man, since he was a hero of independence. Juárez asked the man what Hidalgo had been like, to which he replied that he was an extraordinary man. Juárez told him that he was fighting for the same ideals as Hidalgo. Juárez reached San Luis Potosí, where he tried to rebuild his government. He had decreed a law, on January 25 of the previous year, under which all those who supported the invaders with arms and took posts in their government would be traitors. Also, anyone who called for the abolition of the Reform Laws would be a traitor.
The French entered the Mexican capital without firing a single shot, since Juárez and his cabinet were governing from San Luis Potosí. From there he strategically moved to Monterrey and Saltillo. He ousted the local strongman through his contacts, only to later lose the cities to the French. Juárez had sent Margarita and their children to New York, United States, where she received the support of Matías Romero and the Secretary of the Mexican Embassy in that country, which was still functioning. After receiving Margarita and her family at the railroad station, Matías Romero installed them in a house in the suburbs. Juárez's orders had been to find them a house that was adequate but modest. Immediately, Matías Romero entrusted Margarita and her family to his secretary and left for Washington City, where he met with the Secretary of State. Juárez's assignment was to make sure that the United States was on the side of the Republic and against French imperialism. Abraham Lincoln, the American president at the time, had great problems in the midst of the War of Secession, which was being waged between the North and the South of the country. Matías Romero got the American Secretary of State to ask his ambassador to Spain to use his influence to prevent that country from supporting the French enterprise in Mexico. To this end, Spain was threatened that, if it insisted on supporting the invasion of Mexico, the United States would have to intervene in favor of the Republic.
Maximilian set out for Mexico and wrote a letter to Juárez, inviting him to take part in his imperial government. Juárez answered him from the City of Monterrey on March 1, 1864, rejecting the proposal, reviling him as an agent of Napoleon III and warning him that history would judge them.
It is given to man, sir, to attack the rights of others, to seize their property, to threaten the lives of those who defend their nationality, to make a crime of their virtues and a virtue of vices; but there is one thing that is beyond the reach of perversity, and that is the tremendous verdict of history. History will judge us.
— Letter from Benito Juárez to Maximilian. Monterrey, NL. March 1, 1864.
House in Cuatillos, Durango, where Benito Juárez gave the cry of independence on the night of September 15, 1864.
Juárez moved to Coahuila, settling in various towns and haciendas. But the most notable place was the village of El Gatuño (today Congregación Hidalgo), since it was here that on September 4, 1864, he ordered several local chiefs to hide the archives of the nation. These chiefs hid the archives in the Cueva del Tabaco.[33] From there, he entered the Comarca Lagunera of the state of Durango, where he traveled to the Hacienda de Pedriceña in the village of Cuatillos. They arrived here on the afternoon of September 15, 1864. It was here that Juárez gave the Cry of Independence in 1864. Afterward they moved to the Hacienda del Sovaco in Nazas and from there to the Hacienda de Santa Rosa (today Gómez Palacio), where he held a meeting with the first officers of the nation. From there he moved to Mapimí, Durango, where he stayed for several days in a hospice house. Once he left Durango, he entered Chihuahua, with less and less support. Maximilian and his wife Carlota, after a tour of Europe, arrived in Mexico City. General Jesús González Ortega, who had been loyal to the cause of the Republic and had fought the French invaders in Puebla, was head of the Secretariat of War and of the Supreme Court of the Nation. González Ortega fought the French advance toward the north without success.
In Chihuahua
Hospice in Mapimí, Durango, where Benito Juárez was a distinguished guest among the locals.
In 1864 President Benito Juárez and his ministers Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, José María Iglesias and Miguel Negrete arrived in Chihuahuan territory and set up in the city the seat of the republican government.[34] In Chihuahua the republic enjoyed considerable support from both the government and the people. Exactly one year before Juárez's constitutional term was to end, González Ortega entered Lerdo de Tejada's office asking whether the presidency would be handed over to him that day or the next, arguing that the Constitution of 1857 was not very clear on the matter, to which Lerdo asked him for a few hours to respond. Lerdo went to speak with President Juárez about this claim. He told the president about González Ortega's claim and also told him that González Ortega was corrupt, since he had evidence that he had diverted funds for the republican army to himself. The conclusion was that González Ortega was mistaken, since Juárez's constitutional term did not end until a year later. The confusion was due to the fact that Juárez had held the presidency on an interim basis, but that time did not count within the constitutional term. In the afternoon González Ortega knocked at Lerdo's office and when he came in the latter clarified the matter for him. González Ortega had nothing more to say and, in the face of such ridicule, shortly afterward left with his brother for North America in self-exile.
In New York, Pepito, one of Juárez's sons, lay ill with pneumonia because of the severe cold that was battering that region. Juárez had received news of this. The United States was in civil war. Matías Romero, by train to New York, together with other embassy officials, went to see Margarita and her sick child. When they arrived they were received by Pedro Santacilia,[35] Margarita's son-in-law, who lived there with his wife and had been entrusted by Juárez with watching over the family. The boy Pepito had just died. The temperature was around 12 degrees below zero. The house was extremely cold because firewood and provisions in general were very scarce that winter and in the midst of the war. What little there was was extremely expensive and Margarita's household did not have those resources. The scene was heartbreaking, according to Don Pedro. Margarita screamed inconsolably, embracing the body. The embassy officials waited in the Living Room. Don Pedro had to use the furniture as firewood to warm the house a little.[36] Margarita refused to hold her son's funeral in "that foreign city" (New York) and decided to embalm the body until it could be buried in her homeland, Oaxaca. Pedro Santacilia informed Juárez of this, to which he replied that she (Margarita) was his mother and knew what she was doing. Such a decision violated New York's health laws, as Matías Romero made known to Pedro Santacilia.
During February 1865 Juárez was informed of the tragedy, which kept him away from his office in Chihuahua for a week. His collaborators encouraged him and at the same time were amazed at the fortitude of that Indigenous man, especially his Secretary of Finance José María Iglesias and his Secretary of the Interior Miguel Lerdo de Tejada. On March 21, 1865, his collaborators and the governor of Chihuahua organized a birthday party for him; on learning of it, Juárez said that he did not want a single cent of the treasury to be spent on any party, to which they replied that they would not do so, that the expenses would be personal. Faced with this, Juárez attended the event organized at 6:00 p.m., attended by some 800 people. Meanwhile, in the United States the troops under the command of Abraham Lincoln took the capital of the South and defeated General Robert E. Lee, definitively winning the civil war. Matías Romero was among the first to present the congratulations of the government of the Mexican Republic to President Lincoln. Shortly afterward Lincoln was assassinated. Meanwhile, Maximilian, from Mexico City, informed his cabinet that the country was pacified and that in a few days the imperial army would enter Chihuahua to finish off Juárez. Napoleon ordered the withdrawal of some thousands of troops, since France was suffering the onslaught of its legislature because of the excessive expenses that the invasion of Mexico represented. General Bazaine, in command of the French army since before Maximilian took office, warned him that the withdrawal of troops would strengthen Juárez. Maximilian celebrated his birthday in Mexico City. There was a great sense of satisfaction in the atmosphere because the Republic, Juárez and the insurrectionary outbreaks of republicans throughout the country were supposedly annihilated. Thus, in addition to the birthday, the triumph of the monarchy was celebrated. Maximilian, in gratitude to the French marshal and commander in chief of the monarchist army, Bazaine, gave him a mansion to live in with his Mexican wife, known at court as Pepita.
Faced with the imminent French attack, Juárez and his government destroyed important papers so that they would not fall into French hands. In the early hours of a morning in May 1865 the French attacked Chihuahua under the command of General Agustín E. Brincourt. The city was bombarded and defended itself tenaciously but finally fell into French hands. However, Juárez and his cabinet had managed to be evacuated safely, escaping toward the north. Meanwhile, some republican generals heroically fought the French advance. General Brincourt forced the republicans to sign the act of submission to the empire. The government of the Republic, reduced to a small number of people, reached Villa Paso del Norte, what is today Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. Being pursued by the French, they had to flee, so Lerdo de Tejada told Juárez that they should escape to the United States, to which Juárez replied that this was tantamount to giving up and annihilating the Republic. Juárez, pointing to a mountain range, asked whether that was still national territory, to which a soldier native to that region assured him that it was. Juárez ordered a move there even though they warned him that there was no one there, only scrub, snakes and other vermin. This mountain range is known today as the Sierra de Juárez (Chihuahua). The French, on arriving, were told that Juárez had crossed the border, which ended the pursuit and was what they reported to Mexico City.
On August 14, 1865, the national government was established in the Villa de Paso del Norte.[37] The republican forces retook the city of Chihuahua, so the French abandoned the city on October 29.[34] The French planned to retake the city of Chihuahua by surprise a few days before Christmas 1865, but José María Pérez Esquivel, a septuagenarian telegraph operator, learned of the French plan and sent word to Juárez, and they once again managed to flee north in time. On December 11 the French forces retook the capital. The French captured José María Pérez Esquivel and, after beating him, had him shot on the morning of December 24, 1865, to the great indignation of the people of Chihuahua against the invaders.
The military men Manuel Ojinaga, Manuel Díaz Mori (brother of Porfirio Díaz) and other soldiers stood by Juárez in the defense of his wandering government. In the flight to the north, the government of the republic thought of stopping at the place called El ojo de la laguna, but Luis Terrazas, governor of Chihuahua, caught up with them to persuade them that they must continue the march throughout Christmas Eve and the early hours of Christmas, since the French were pursuing them. The party continued its march. Terrazas warned that some Indigenous people of the region had gone over to the imperialist side, so the party should also beware of them. They reached the Samalayuca desert. On December 28, 1865, they reached the border, pursued by the French less than a day's journey away. Many urged Juárez to cross the border, but he, taking a fistful of earth on the bank of the Río Bravo, exclaimed that he would rather take refuge on some rugged hill and die with the flag on his chest than abandon his native soil. Everyone understood the message, and the small troop that accompanied them was ordered to confront the French.
Meanwhile, Matías Romero and the secretary of the Mexican Embassy to the United States arrived at Doña Margarita's house to accompany her to the reception that the American government of Andrew Johnson was preparing for her in Washington. Johnson had refused to recognize Maximilian's Empire and recognized Juárez as the only legitimate president of the Mexican Republic. Johnson announced the dispatch of some 100,000 men to the border with Mexico to intimidate the invaders of Mexico. The United States ambassador in Paris was also pressuring Napoleon III to withdraw his troops from Mexico. Maximilian offered the Confederates who had lost the war in the United States the possibility of settling in Veracruz. This was frowned upon by the government in Washington.
The republican forces under the command of General Luis Terrazas Fuentes counterattacked the French and retook the capital of Chihuahua on March 25, 1866; they then recovered Parral and advanced on the state of Durango. After these events, President Juárez honored General Terrazas with his friendship.[38] Juárez entered the Chihuahuan capital on June 7, 1866, to the great jubilation of the population. A ceremony was organized in which places of honor were given to those maimed in the battles that had taken place in that region, and bronze medals were awarded to the heroes of the Republic. When Juárez placed a medal on a young man of about 16, he burst into tears and told the president that his five brothers had died fighting for him (Juárez) and that he too would gladly have died for the same cause. The president answered that he understood and that he too had lost a son. And he told him that they did not die for him, but for the air and the land of the Fatherland, that they died for freedom.
At that same time Maximilian's empire had more and more problems. The Mexican clergy had rebelled against the empire because Maximilian did not reverse the Reform Laws. France had already ordered the complete withdrawal of its army by early 1867 at the latest. The United States was no longer at war and President Johnson declared before his congress his total support for President Juárez and the Republic. 100,000 men sent to the border with Mexico would intimidate the French. Empress Carlota of Mexico left for Europe in the early hours of July 7, 1866, with the plan of seeking support from Pope Pius IX, from Napoleon III and from Maximilian's brother, among others. The division among the republicans in Mexico became more dramatic, since Juárez's constitutional term was drawing to a close. For this reason, Juárez published a decree in which, arguing that the country was at war, he extended his term until the Republic returned to normal and elections were called. González Ortega, in self-exile in the United States, sought recognition from that country as president, while he received the help of Ignacio Ramírez, "El Nigromante".
While Carlota sought support in Europe for the empire, Maximilian left the capital and the many problems he had there and went to spend some time in the city of Cuernavaca, at the Palacio de San Cloff, where his lover María Bonita, daughter of the head gardener of that palace, lived. Empress Carlota had received Napoleon III's refusal to meet with her, but she insisted and traveled to Paris. There she stayed at the Grand Hotel de Paris, where she obtained a meeting with Napoleon III's ministers and with Empress Eugénie, a meeting that came to nothing, since the latter had instructions not to yield on anything. Later Carlota obtained an appointment with Napoleon III at 10 in the morning on August 18, 1866, at her hotel. They were accompanied by representatives of the Mexican empire such as Juan Nepomuceno Almonte and Pedro Hidalgo and representatives of the French government such as the Minister of State; however, the meeting took place only between Carlota and Napoleon, an encounter in which Carlota showed her desperation to obtain some support and Napoleon his determination to deny any. Carlota even suggested to Napoleon the dissolution of the legislature in Paris. The latter ended the meeting by saying that Maximilian had to abdicate at once, since he had no other option.
In Chihuahua, Juárez was receiving good news from all over the national territory regarding the recovery of control of the homeland. The Minister of War, General Ignacio Mejía, delivered the corresponding reports. Porfirio Díaz was advancing in Oaxaca from the south. The bishop of Oaxaca had asked Díaz for guarantees in view of his imminent entry into the Oaxacan capital, to which Díaz replied that he would let him wear his finest garments for his execution. The bishop fled Oaxaca together with many personalities, above all from high society, who had been sympathetic to the empire. Juárez's government regained control of the customs houses of San Blas, Mazatlán and Guaymas, which represented important resources for his government. Then the republican army took the cities of Guadalajara, Monterrey and Tampico and managed to control more customs houses in those regions. The French army and the republican army of Mexico had battles, but not involving large numbers of men, since the French were withdrawing toward the south and the republicans, on some occasions, in many cases waited for the French to leave before advancing; however, there were significant battles, such as those of Miahuatlán, La Carbonera, Juchitán, San Pedro (Sinaloa), Santa Gertrudis (Tamaulipas), Naco (Sonora), Mazatlán and others, in which the republicans defeated the French army, although most of them were carried out in the manner of guerrilla warfare, not by a large-scale army. General Mejía informed Juárez of the recovery of the Valle de Guayana and of the capital city of Durango. In view of the geopolitical reality of Mexico, Juárez decided to move his government south to Durango. On the day of departure from the city of Chihuahua in the month of December, Juárez exclaimed: "Thank you, blessed land, I will never forget you", in gratitude to that city and state that had given shelter to his government and to the republican cause, and where he had arrived cornered and departed triumphant. Juárez, followed by a long retinue, set out with Durango as his final destination, heading toward Hidalgo del Parral. In his famous black carriage he was accompanied by Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada and José María Iglesias. In 1867, Juárez, on his return for the restoration of the Republic from Paso del Norte, was lodged for a few days at the Palacio de Zambrano in the city of Durango, during which time the palace was the seat of the executive power of Mexico.
Fall of the empire
On August 22, 1866, Carlota left the Grand Hotel de Paris with plans to go and see Pope Pius IX, but first her retinue persuaded her to make a stop at Miramare Castle in Italy, her former home. On September 27, 1866, Carlota visited Pope Pius IX. In front of the pope she showed signs of mental problems; she told him that the drink she had been offered was poisoned and took his. She did not want to leave and they had to invite her to the Vatican Library to distract her. Then her brother came for her. Carlota was attended by the chief physician of the mental hospital of her city. Maximilian, determined to abdicate, went through Chapultepec Palace indicating the belongings to be shipped; he left most of the rooms intact, since many objects had been gifts to the people of Mexico and not to his person or to that of the empress. He left stealthily for Veracruz. In Orizaba, in November 1866, Father Fisher had organized, together with the conservatives of the region, a massive demonstration in support of Maximilian, to prevent him from leaving. Maximilian then decided to remain in Orizaba for a month, to think about what to do.
Three figures powerfully influenced Maximilian: Father Fisher; his physician, Doctor Samuel Basch, of Prussian-Jewish origin; and his old personal friend and collaborator Stephan Haspan. The first urged him to stay; the other two, to go to Europe, since they saw the cause of the Empire as lost. Maximilian received the support of Generals Leonardo Márquez, nicknamed "The Tiger of Tacubaya", and Miguel Miramón, former president of Mexico. Miramón informed him that it had been arranged for the Church to offer 11 million pesos, and that there was also the possibility of gathering 29,000 men and that the junta of notables would support Maximilian. Maximilian formed a new cabinet in Orizaba and his plan included:
Keeping the French fully in Mexico, since Maximilian also knew that they were his greatest support;
Creating a Congress to legitimize his government and inviting the liberals to take part in his initiative, including Juárez.
Shortly afterward Maximilian was informed that there were 29,663 soldiers, more than 2,000 officers and 10 cannons to begin with. The church delivered an advance of 2 million pesos. One of Maximilian's hobbies was catching butterflies. In Orizaba he continued doing so, together with an illustrious European botanist who wished to found a natural history museum in Mexico (the present-day Museum of Natural History of Mexico City), given the vast natural wealth he had found in the country. At the end of November, Maximilian was preparing his return to Mexico City. Juárez and his government arrived in Durango in the first days of November and held a meeting with his war cabinet. They deliberated on the capture of Matamoros, which was the only important and strategic point in the north still remaining in the hands of the empire. It was decided to use a siege, like the one used by the French against the liberals to force the surrender of the City of Puebla. The plan was carried out.
After three weeks and some minor skirmishes between the armies, General Tomás Mejía, who was defending the city of Matamoros, finally surrendered. With this victory, the liberals controlled the entire north of the country. There was then a great popular celebration in front of the Palacio de Zambrano in Durango, which served as the National Palace. The whole north was republican. As the republicans advanced in controlling the country, Juárez moved his government toward Zacatecas, always escorted by the Battalion of the Supreme Powers. Juárez wrote a letter to Margarita in which he told her that soon she would be able to return to Mexico and she and their children (both the living and the dead) and he would be reunited. Still in Orizaba, Maximilian, who thought that his brother, Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria, would support him, continued to consider leaving for Vienna. Napoleon sent an envoy, Francis de Casternons, with a very negative plan: to offer him the bulk of the French armament and at the same time destabilize Juárez's government itself and also give more weapons to some conservative general. Knowing his intentions, Maximilian refused to receive him. Maximilian's mother, Sophie of Bavaria, wrote him a letter from Schönbrunn Palace: "My son,... do not abdicate,... your position in Europe would be ridiculous if you did,... the most correct thing, my son, and the most just, is that you do not return to Vienna...". As a result of this letter, Maximilian immediately sent for Miramón, since he decided to return to Mexico City.
General Miramón was defeated at San Jacinto. The only one remaining strong among the conservative forces was General Leonardo Márquez, along with the no less numerous French contingent that was under his orders (most were part of the so-called Foreign Legion). Ignacio Mejía gave Juárez a military report at a cabinet meeting in Zacatecas, in which he informed him that General Mariano Escobedo had between 8,000 and 10,000 men and that another general had another 6,000. One afternoon, at 3:00 p.m., the republican government left Zacatecas for San Luis Potosí, amid a parade and popular rejoicing. Maximilian met with his generals at the Hacienda de la Teja. On February 13, 1867, Maximilian left Mexico City for Querétaro with 9,000 poorly equipped men (both conservatives and the French legion that remained with him). He was accompanied, among other figures, by Marshal Albert Hans and Leonardo Márquez, the latter known as "The Tiger of Tacubaya" because of the massacre of doctors he carried out there (known as "The Martyrs of Tacubaya"). Maximilian left Mexico City a week after most of the French troops had withdrawn. Maximilian issued a proclamation to his army in which, placing himself at its head, he said that this was "An army that carries with it dignity and love for Mexico".
Antonio López de Santa Anna was in the United States negotiating with financiers, businessmen and with the Secretary of State of that country, Mr. Siward, for support to occupy the presidency of Mexico for the twelfth time. At the end of March, Juárez received a message from Matías Romero in New York reporting that Santa Anna was preparing his return to Mexico. In those days he also received news from the Mexican embassy in the United States that the government of that country was expressing its support for Juárez and not for Santa Anna. Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada remarked to Juárez that Santa Anna surely intended to provoke a coup d'état upon arriving in Mexico. He said he would redouble surveillance so that, if Santa Anna arrived in Veracruz, he would be apprehended immediately. Juárez answered him: "Don't trouble yourself too much, because if Santa Anna does not have the support of the United States, he is worth nothing... Santa Anna is no longer worth anything."
On February 19, 1867, Maximilian's army entered the City of Querétaro. During the 20th and 21st, contingents continued to arrive from Michoacán, San Luis Potosí and Guanajuato, among other States. On the 21st, 4,000 men entered. In Querétaro a popular festival was held celebrating the arrival of the imperialists. In total there were between 10,000 and 12,000 men in Maximilian's ranks. The republican government sighted the Towers of the City of San Luis Potosí at 1:00 p.m. on February 21; shortly afterward it arrived, with Juárez at its head, to establish the government of the Republic in that City. There was a great popular festival to celebrate this event. People shouted cheers: "Long live Mexico, Long live Independence, Long live the Republic and Long live Juárez". Militarily, the liberal generals Ramón Corona, at the head of the Army of the West, and Gen. Mariano Escobedo met at a junction of roads leading to the City of Querétaro, with a total of 60,000 soldiers. A military report delivered to Maximilian stated that the enemy forces numbered 28,000 men, 2,000 of them cavalry. Gen. Mariano Escobedo made a tour of a height from which he could survey the coming battlefield. He exclaimed: "Tomorrow the beginning of the end for the empire will begin".
Some battles took place. The liberals imposed a siege on the City of Querétaro, so that nothing and no one could enter or leave, including provisions or communications (telegraph, correspondence, etc.); during one of those battles, the last stronghold of the French army was totally defeated. They bombarded some arches of the aqueduct to cut off the city's water supply. The liberals threw imperialist dead into the river to contaminate it, with a view to bringing the imperialists to their knees. Faced with the siege, at a meeting of Maximilian with his retinue, Leonardo Márquez proposed to the emperor that he be given a cavalry contingent to go to Mexico City for reinforcements and provisions. He was given approval. By means of a diversionary maneuver in the early hours, Márquez and his group managed to break through the siege, though not without losing several dozen men, which had been anticipated. The liberals did not pursue this group, considering that they had no chance of gathering support or of returning.
Maximilian sent a soldier surnamed Salvino as a courier with a view to learning something about Márquez. The plan was that he was to pass himself off as a liberal and, after mingling among the troops, leave for Mexico City. The next day Salvino appeared hanged from a tree with a sign that read: "I am the Emperor's courier and I am dead". On April 24, Mariano Escobedo, in his camp on the outskirts of Querétaro, decided to give the definitive and final battle on April 27. Maximilian had his headquarters on the Cerro de las Campanas and also spent a good deal of time at the Convent of La Cruz, nearby. Maximilian's food was modest, similar to that of the others, and was supplemented with bread made for him by the convent's nuns. Maximilian looked dirty and disheveled, as if he were on the front line. He suffered from nervous-gastric ailments. Maximilian went to the front line to encourage his troops and learn about the situation firsthand. (It is more consistent to think that Maximilian and his troops were entrenched in the Convent of La Cruz; let us recall that this convent was the bastion where the Franciscans, during the conquest, had their "headquarters", from which all the missions to the north set out... this site was well entrenched, and it was there that Mariano Escobedo with his troops managed to get in by knocking down only one wall at the rear, thus cautiously surprising the French troops, who were expecting a violent attack.)
In a cavalry engagement 300 men died. The liberals pursued the imperialists, coming close to where Maximilian was, who wanted to go to their aid. A subject held him back by the arm, telling him that he should not risk himself since he was the emperor. Maximilian sent a group to assist those being pursued. The liberals withdrew. By May 2 there was no news of Leonardo Márquez. On May 3, Maximilian presented bronze medals of honor at the Convent of La Cruz. 135 military men, soldiers and officers, were decorated. May 5, 1867, was an anniversary of the Battle of Puebla. The liberals celebrated throughout the country, especially at the seat of the government of the Republic in San Luis Potosí and among the troops at Querétaro. Juárez spoke from the main balcony before a crowd that gathered in front of the provisional National Palace. In his speech he said:
"People of Mexico, beloved fellow citizens, the bloodbath through which the Republic has passed can never be forgotten. The blood of your children, the blood of your husbands, the blood of your fathers, will not be shed in vain, because as the Republic is strengthened, national sovereignty is strengthened". And the concert of all nations will admire this people, today and through the centuries forevermore; remember this, we cannot falter, we must keep going forward because our reward will be eternal glory and the respect of all the peoples and nations, who will know that Mexico is not a place to come in search of adventure nor to give battle in order to subject a people to slavery. At this moment I say to you, Mexicans!, freedom is a reality, freedom is an example for all nations and peoples, and I am proud today to be the president of the Mexicans, because the nation is today truly mature, today respected, today feared, today fierce, today strong, and this struggle will be the beginning, the start of a greatness that will never end."
Last days of Margarita and her family in the United States
Matías Romero introduced Margarita Maza to Colonel McDown, commissioned by the American government of Ulysses S. Grant to ensure the return of Margarita and her family to Mexico. The Colonel himself told Margarita that his mission was to protect her and bring her to Mexico in complete safety without anything happening to her. At the end of April the route for returning Margarita, her children and her son-in-law Santacilia was approved. They would travel by railroad to St. Louis, then by river boat down the Mississippi to New Orleans and then by warship to the Port of Veracruz. All of this was by order of President Andrew Johnson, which was to watch over the Juárez family. In the month of April 1867, Santa Anna was in a residence in an exclusive area of New York. Santa Anna kept Margarita, Matías Romero and Ignacio Mariscal under surveillance. Santa Anna planned to rent a large ship called "Virginia" and travel with a large arsenal to the Port of Veracruz to attempt a coup d'état with the support of his fellow Veracruzans. Sebastián Lerdo and Juárez saw to it that the republican army had everything it needed to succeed in its enterprise. Then the liberal governor of Guanajuato, León Guzmán, arrived at the provisional National Palace in San Luis Potosí. The Bajío was then the only region supplying provisions to the republican army. The governor of Guanajuato met in a private meeting with Sebastián Lerdo and Juárez. The President greeted him, embraced him and said to him "we know of the complaints about the misuse of money..., tell me what is happening in Guanajuato". Governor Guzmán told them: "The ranchers of Guanajuato, some areas of Querétaro and the North of Michoacán agreed among themselves to raise prices exorbitantly. We have no money to pay." (Referring to the provisions for the republican army.)
Juárez said: "I cannot believe that the landowners of the region think more of their personal benefit than of the immense sacrifices that the homeland is making to give them order and peace; send me a list of all the
ranchers and farmers; for now we cannot turn them against us, but later we will punish them. This selfishness has no limits". Once the governor had left, Sebastián Lerdo asked Juárez, who looked very sad: "What are you thinking about, Don Benito?" He answered: "About human selfishness, Don Sebastián. This war has cost me two sons, Toñito and Pepito, but there are those who think only of material goods. Look at these prices! The quarter-measure of corn is up to 4 times more expensive! And believe me, I don't know whether it is because I am an Indian or why, but I don't understand them, I don't understand those who want to grow rich from misery, from the masses, from the pain and suffering of others; but we will be watchful, Don Sebastián. For now we will let them get rich; later we will charge them terrible taxes to return that wealth to the hands of the nation. Let them get their hopes up; sooner or later justice will be done. I burn with the desire for this war to end. Why is it always the poor who suffer most? Why is it always the poor who have to give everything while others become greedy and debase themselves seeking only material wealth? But woe to those who have done so, because if I remain president they will pay! I swear it before you." The republican army had to supply itself at extremely high costs, so taxes in the Guanajuato Region had to be raised to double and then to triple.
Trial of Maximilian
Maximilian, after reflecting, asked a general he trusted named Miguel López to go as a messenger to Gen. Mariano Escobedo and propose to him his conditional surrender. The conditions were that he be given safe conduct to leave Mexico, that he would never return, and that the lives and property of the generals, officers and troops be respected. General Escobedo, faced with this proposal, said that he would consult the President about it and that he should return in a few days at the same time. Juárez was consulted directly by Gen. Mejía, Minister of War, to which he replied: "Unconditional surrender". Maximilian's emissary returned for the answer and General Escobedo proposed to him that if he handed over Maximilian he would spare his life, arguing that in this way he would save the lives of many men, and so López agreed to betray his emperor.
At around four in the afternoon, the traitor led the liberals to the Convent of La Cruz, removing the men who were guarding it. By the time Maximilian realized it, the other liberal officers had already entered the Convent and were seizing the officers who were still asleep. Maximilian managed to escape to the Cerro de las Campanas, but a few hours later he was surrounded and had to surrender his sword to Gen. Corona, saying: "This sword belongs to the People of Mexico". Maximilian asked that if blood had to flow it should be his alone and again asked for amnesty for his troops and officers. Maximilian was told that he was not considered Emperor of Mexico, but rather Archduke of Austria, and that from that moment on he was a prisoner of the Republic. He was informed that his request would be referred to the president. The news of Maximilian and his empire went around the world. In Europe there was much diplomatic activity, asking through the ambassadors in the United States that this country intervene in Maximilian's favor. However, most European governments pointed to Napoleon III as the true murderer, for denying him his support (he being one of those who had installed him on the throne) and having left the archduke to his fate.
In New York, the Juárez Maza family finally left the house they had occupied there for so long, and so Margarita, together with her children, her son-in-law, two coffins with her two deceased sons and staff of the Mexican Embassy in the U.S.A., departed on an official train of the American government bound for Washington, D.C. There they were received with great jubilation and Margarita was front-page news in the newspapers of the day. They stayed there three weeks. Mr. Siward told the Mexican ambassador Matías that he had reports that
Antonio López de Santa Anna was planning to kidnap Margarita, so measures were taken regarding the itinerary, which would be different from what was announced. Santa Anna had for some time had spies watching the Juárez Maza family; he even had spies in the State Department.
Execution of Maximilian, Miguel Miramón and Tomás Mejía on the Cerro de las Campanas. (Édouard Manet).
On Lerdo de Tejada's advice to Juárez, a military tribunal was appointed to try Maximilian and two of his generals, Miguel Miramón and Tomás Mejía, who were taken to the theater of the city of Querétaro to be tried. In that trial (which would last three days), the three were sentenced to die one day after the proceedings, by firing squad. All of this for the crimes of, among others, support for the French invaders as well as treason against the homeland for the Mexicans, and usurpation of power for the Austrian. The sentence went around the world, especially in Europe, where newspapers said that "the Indian slaked his thirst for blood"; some drew Juárez dressed as an Amerindian devouring Maximilian with large fangs.
Juárez's government received a large number of diplomatic notes and all kinds of correspondence asking for clemency for Maximilian's life. Princess Inés de Salm-Salm, whose husband, Prince Félix de Salm-Salm, was part of Maximilian's inner circle and was also under arrest, went to Juárez to plead for the life of the emperor and of her husband. She even knelt before Juárez. He told her that he could do nothing in the face of justice (tradition says that Juárez's words were: "I do not kill the man. I kill the idea"). After all this pressure for the life of Maximilian and the rest of the imperialists, Juárez granted a three-day delay for the execution of Maximilian, General Miguel Miramón and General Tomás Mejía. In those days more people came to see Juárez, especially women. Miramón's wife went with her two small children to plead for her husband, and the wife of Gen. Tomás Mejía did the same while in an advanced state of pregnancy. After which she gave birth on the road to Querétaro, where the newborn could be seen by his imprisoned father. Not all the people who requested it were allowed to see Juárez, but the Princess of Salm-Salm was, who saw him for a second time. She pleaded with him again, this time more earnestly. Juárez argued that he could not change justice and that if he did so the Mexicans would turn against him, and might even call for his death. The sentence was carried out on the morning of June 19, 1867, on the Cerro de las Campanas. The news went around the world.
Restoration of the republic
Juárez prepares his return to Mexico City. The imperial general Leonardo Márquez was still putting up resistance in Mexico City with a group of men, and Porfirio Díaz had been tasked with confronting him. Antonio López de Santa Anna had arrived in Veracruz on a chartered ship that served as his headquarters and on which he also slept. His purpose was to call for rebellion against Juárez and to continue the imperial government with himself at its head. He had many supporters in the port of Veracruz and the city of Xalapa, since he was from the state of Veracruz, and both cities received him with official ceremonies. In a controversial American intervention, the United States consulate in Veracruz notified President Johnson of Santa Anna's plans. Johnson decided that an American gunboat near the port of Veracruz should bombard Santa Anna's ship to force him away from the Mexican coast, removing any possibility that he could carry out his plan and thereby consolidating Juárez's government. Santa Anna, who was holding a meeting on the ship at that moment, had no choice but to leave for Cuba.
Juárez leaves San Luis Potosí and passes through Dolores Hidalgo, where he holds a ceremony for the heroes of national independence. He then visits Tepeji del Río and reaches Tlalnepantla, where he meets Porfirio Díaz, with whom he had differences. Everywhere Juárez passed, the popular jubilation was immense. Because the preparations in Mexico City were not finished, Juárez was asked to stay for three days at Chapultepec Castle. They found that it had been turned into an Austrian palace, so it was suggested to Juárez that he change the decoration and remove the furniture. Juárez replied: "You are mad, this is the history of Mexico." Juárez set out for the National Palace along "El paseo de la Emperatriz" (the Empress's Promenade), which from that moment was renamed Paseo de la Reforma. A great number of white doves were released in the Alameda Central. After passing along the Paseo de la Reforma, Juárez and his entourage headed toward the Palacio de Minería along what is today Avenida Juárez. Juárez had decreed the release of all prisoners who had supported the imperial cause, and national reconciliation began. At the Palacio de Minería Juárez gave the most famous of his speeches, which contains the most famous of his phrases.
On July 15, 1867, Juárez enters Mexico City. He raised the flag in the Plaza de la Constitución. There were various works of art in the National Palace; Juárez ordered the removal of ornaments and luxury objects to give the seat of the national government a republican rather than imperial character. Among other rooms, the great meeting hall was redecorated. On July 20 the cabinet met at the National Palace at 9:00. Several important matters were discussed there, such as the existing disputes with the United Kingdom and Mexico's public debt, which was considerable. The United Kingdom wished to reconcile with Mexico (after having taken part in the military incursion into Mexico together with France and Spain). The government of Queen Victoria offered a two-year moratorium in exchange for renegotiating the debt and restoring diplomatic relations. Juárez ordered that these offers be accepted. The President remarked that peace with all nations was important, and so he accepted. He asked the Foreign Minister to report that they would be granted part of the franchise for the construction of the railroad from Veracruz to Mexico City. Juárez said that elections had to be called so that his government would be legitimate, and that he would stand in them. Porfirio Díaz was also demanding elections. Juárez instructed Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada to take charge of calling the elections. José María Iglesias said: "At this table we are all Juaristas, Mr. President." Juárez pointed out: "Not that! At this table we are all republicans, not Juaristas. If the will of the people is that someone else govern them, we shall all bow to the will of the citizens."
Return of Margarita Maza to Mexico
Margarita and her family disembarked from the American coast guard ship in Veracruz and then traveled on the railroad, which by then already had more than 90 km of track. They boarded it amid popular jubilation and applause. Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada informed Juárez that Margarita and the family had already landed in Veracruz and were near Orizaba, and that they would reach Mexico City in no more than four days. Juárez asked Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada whether he looked well to him and not too aged. He told him he would go to the barber, as he wished to look presentable for the reunion. He also said there was no time to go to the tailor, but that he could go to a shop for a ready-made suit. Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada said he would accompany him to the shop, which was called "La Concordia". Juárez also remarked that the presidential apartment in the National Palace was not finished. Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada suggested renting a room at the Hotel Iturbide. Juárez said that Iturbide had been an emperor and asked whether there was no better hotel. Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada told him the name did not matter, that empires would never return to Mexico. Both laughed. Once Margarita and the family reached Orizaba, they were welcomed by many people with the ringing of bells and fireworks. They now traveled in carriages. The luggage went in a mule cart, and a large wagon carried the coffins of Toñito and Pepito. In the City of Puebla there was also applause, crowds and the ringing of bells.
On July 23, 1867, after spending the night and before sunrise, Margarita and the family set out for Mexico City. Juárez caught up with them in the town of Ayotla, thereby largely avoiding the popular jubilation and making it easier to receive them personally. In that town, as along the whole route, the party was received with bells and crowds. Juárez arrived in his classic black carriage, wearing a new frock coat, a tall top hat and a cane worth 2,000 pesos that had been given to him in Zacatecas as a symbol of the Republic. He carried some flowers in his hand for Margarita. Margarita looked thinner and was escorted, together with her family, by the republican army. When they were close, Margarita walked straight toward Juárez, and he ran toward her in the final moments. Juárez wrote days later: "That moment was worth all the rewards a man can receive." There were also hugs and caresses from the President for his children and for his son-in-law Santacilia. Once in Mexico City they were received by a crowd as well as by members of the cabinet and the government. The family stayed at the Hotel Iturbide as planned, and after a few hours Juárez and Margarita were at last able to be alone after so many years.
Second constitutional term
After winning the elections, on January 16, 1868, Juárez resumed the presidency with a meeting of his entire cabinet. Juárez often said that these were times of peace and concord.
Education and infrastructure
In this new period Juárez created two new ministries, that of public instruction and that of development, headed respectively by Francisco Mejía and the engineer Lasz Barcasten. Juárez planned to educate and industrialize the country. He also intended to expand free and secular public education throughout the country by building hundreds of schools. At that time Mexico's population was seven million people, of whom five million had no basic schooling and lived in poverty. Only some 800,000 could read and write. To obtain resources, Juárez discharged 60,000 soldiers ("Teachers for soldiers," he would say); he also sought to negotiate the postponement of payments on the foreign debt with some nations such as England. Education would be secular, which at that time constituted a catharsis for the Church and the thinking it imparted to the believing population. A great national literacy plan was carried out. With regard to infrastructure, Juárez wished to finish the railroad line from Veracruz to Mexico City before the end of his term. It amounted to a total of 478 km of railroad, with its bridges, tunnels and water diversions, among other works. Juárez would manage to install 5,000 km of telegraph line in three years with the support of Mexican and foreign investors.
Private and foreign investment
At that time Antonio Escandón was the richest man in Mexico, so Juárez called on him to ask for his support in the country's development. Escandón offered to create an industrialists' club and bring to it the interests of American and other foreign industrialists. Escandón sold a hacienda and adjoining lands, in what is today the Colonia Escandón named in his honor, to support the construction of a railroad. The ministers advised Juárez to attract foreign investment for the government's projects. One idea was to invite Mr. Siward, former United States Secretary of State, to Mexico to attract the interest of American investors. Siward arrived in Mexico by ship through the port of Manzanillo on October 2, 1869, where the Governor of Colima gave a warm welcome to him and the industrialists accompanying him.
Political instability
Some 700 conservatives were planning a conspiracy against Juárez; they met in secret in the Church of San Andrés, where Maximilian's remains had rested for a time. This church of extraordinary architecture stood opposite the Palacio de Minería, on the site now occupied by "La estatua del caballito". In February 1868, with various intelligence reports on what was taking place in the Church of San Andrés, Juárez decided to demolish it along with twenty other churches in the capital, among them those of Santo Domingo and La Merced. His ministers warned him that this measure would turn the population against him, but he did not change his decision, which he had pondered for several weeks, and said that he assumed the historical responsibility for it. He told Sebastián Lerdo that they did not need churches but schools. "Telegraphs, schools, roads, the future and not the past is what Mexico needs," Juárez said to justify his decision. The newspapers of the time echoed this decision and action, with a consequent fall in his popularity.
Porfirio Díaz had rebelled against Juárez and, under the banner of no reelection, was encouraging uprisings in various parts of the country. The conservatives and the clergy were also against Juárez and viewed the uprisings favorably. In the Veracruz towns of Tierra Quemada, Huatusco and Perote there were several uprisings against Juárez's government during 1868 and 1869. Gen. Patoni and Gen. Jesús González Ortega obtained their freedom after being in prison. There was a great deal of crime and corruption among bureaucrats and police. Many attributed it to economic inequality and to the 60,000 soldiers discharged in 1868. Juárez created a police force to combat crime. Juárez repatriated all the clergy in exile, allegedly through the influence of his wife.
Final years
Death of Margarita Maza
At the beginning of this period Juárez used to work until past midnight; however, around 1870 he changed his quitting time to 18:00 in order to spend the rest of the day with his wife and family. For some time Margarita had begun to show signs of an illness that the doctors thought was probably serious. Margarita and Juárez would walk along the Paseo de Bucareli with their daughters and son. At that time Bucareli ended at the present-day Arcos de Belén; it was a center of social gathering where people of all social classes strolled. Citizens could approach the President directly. The Juárez family had a house on the edge of the city, next to the Church of San Cosme, at number 4 Calle Puente Levadizo. Juárez had five daughters: Manuela (nicknamed Nela by the family; married to Pedro Santacilia); Felicitas; María de Jesús (married to Pedro Contreras, of Spanish origin); Margarita; Soledad and Josefa. The youngest of his children was Benito, about 13 years old. Before his marriage, Juárez had fathered two natural children: Susana Juárez Chagoya (born of his concubinage with Juana Rosa Chagoya) and Tereso Juárez Ortiz (fathered in a second concubinage with María de la Cruz Ortiz, an indigenous Tehuana woman who was only 17 years old at the time of his birth).[39] In Susana's case, she was in time adopted by Margarita and was an integral part of the Juárez Maza family, whereas Tereso was never legally recognized by his father nor received any part of the family inheritance.
In August 1869 the doctors told Juárez that Margarita's illness was progressive and fatal. It was apparently cancer. Juárez left his office early but arrived at around 6:30 in the morning. On January 2, 1871, Margarita received the Holy Oils from the priest of the Church of San Cosme. The whole family gathered that day, including Susana. Juárez was there from 10:30. At 15:00, Margarita asked Juárez to look after Susana and their unmarried daughters. Juárez wept while repeating over and over to his wife that she would get well. Margarita asked Juárez to fulfill their daughters' wish to marry in the Church. At 16:00, Margarita died with a smile. Juárez cried out in grief. Juárez did not want to send out death notices; he asked his friends not to do so and to handle the death with discretion. Nevertheless, Sebastián Lerdo said this could not be done, since she was a woman greatly loved by society. In the end, Juárez gave in and allowed the newspapers to publish the news. As soon as the death of the President's wife became known, the country went into mourning. Black ribbons were hung on many buildings, theatrical performances were suspended, and in various parts of the country there were many displays of mourning. On the day of the burial, hundreds of people gathered to accompany the body to the San Fernando cemetery; hundreds of people, both in carriages and on foot, came to the place to bid farewell to Margarita.
Juárez gave instructions that no politicians should approach him, only friends and close relatives. Election season was coming and Juárez did not want the event to be mixed with politics. Guillermo Prieto said at the burial: "Is it perhaps possible that the people we love most should die, since it is possible that only my voice remains vibrant to fall like the shadow of death, as it is possible for my lady, object of my devotion for years and years, to contemplate her death... as it is possible to point out... white lily jewel of her modest home, woman caressed by the golden arms of virtue and fortune." Juárez turned pale as the coffin was lowered. For weeks there was much talk about that funeral ceremony and about how Juárez's love for his wife was an example to follow. After the funeral rites, Juárez stayed at home for a week.
1871 elections
Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada suggested to Juárez that he not run in the 1871 elections, because of his health. Juárez himself had told him that perhaps he would not run again. Shortly after Juárez had returned to his office following Margarita's burial, Lerdo tenders his resignation to Juárez, who accepts it. Lerdo had long wished to hold the presidency and wanted to run for it, as he himself tells Juárez. Juárez received much criticism for wishing to remain in power for so long. Many of his former friends or collaborators had become his critics. Elections were to be held in July 1871; the candidates were Sebastián Lerdo, Porfirio Díaz and Benito Juárez. On October 7, 1871, the counting commission gave its final ruling: Lerdo 2,874 electoral votes, Díaz 3,555 and Juárez 5,837. Juárez was the winner. However, Juárez's government was accused of electoral fraud.
The Plan de la Noria
Porfirio Díaz had left the army and moved to the hacienda of La Noria in the State of Oaxaca, where cannons were manufactured. Shortly afterward Porfirio Díaz proclaimed the Plan de la Noria, in which he disavowed Juárez and called for an uprising against him. "No reelection" was one of the main charges against Juárez; Porfirio accused him of being a dictator. On October 1, 1871, many soldiers, such as those of the gendarmerie barracks, rose up and attempted to seize a military position at the Ciudadela. As they paraded through the streets toward the Ciudadela they shouted: "Long live Porfirio Díaz! Death to reelection!" Juárez confronted the rebellion by sending Gen. Sóstenes Rocha to face the rebels at the Ciudadela. Other troops would take up positions on the high points near the National Palace. The battle began at 18:00. The government troops subdued the rebels. Some generals and troops fled toward the Ajusco. There were other military clashes during 1871 that were brought under control but that reflected Juárez's political instability and the armed support for Porfirio Díaz.
Death
Days before his death, Juárez had visited Margarita's grave one afternoon with his daughters. He told them an anecdote about the afternoon when Mr. Seward arrived with the group of American businessmen. His hair would not stay in place and he asked Margarita for lemon, which was the only thing that controlled it. Margarita put it on and combed his hair. Then she tied his necktie, because Juárez was nervous and could not manage it. Margarita said to him, "How useless you are!" Juárez told his daughters that she was right: without Margarita he felt useless! In that same place Juárez had a dizzy spell that made him sit down because of a pain in his chest. Juárez had another episode of chest pain that made him double over while Balandrano was reading him the important news. Balandrano was a journalist friend of Juárez, his private secretary and director of the official gazette.
On the afternoon of July 17, 1872, Juárez decided not to take his customary carriage ride and asked his son-in-law Santacilia to keep him company and then go to the theater with his sister Manuela and tell him about the performance afterward. Juárez slept in his bedroom in the National Palace accompanied by his youngest son Benito. That night he read a book in French, at page 232, which described the entry of the Emperor Trajan into Rome and the beginning of his 20-year rule; Juárez left a small slip of paper with the text:
"When society is threatened by war, dictatorship or the centralization of power may be a remedy against those who attack institutions, liberty or peace." That night he had only an atole; he had bouts of nausea that kept him from sleeping, so he woke his son Benito. On July 18 at 9:00 he had to call his physician, Ignacio Alvarado, who arrived around 10:00. At 11:00 he had very painful cramps that forced him to bed. His pulse was low and his heartbeat weak. The typical treatment of the time was applied: pouring boiling water on his chest, which was done after placing the boiling pot on his chest. With this remedy Juárez revived. The family went to the dining room and he remained in the bedroom with the doctor. Juárez told the doctor stories from his childhood. He told him that Father Salvanueva was the kindest man he had ever known. When he asked the doctor whether his condition was fatal, Dr. Alvarado replied: "Mr. President: How sorry I am!"
Juárez remained ill. His family was gathered: daughters, son, sons-in-law and friends. Various friends and politicians also kept arriving in the room. Juárez faced the insistence of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José María Lafragua, and the Minister of War, General Alatorre; that afternoon both asked to see the President to receive instructions. In both cases Juárez had to get dressed and speak with them, listen to them and give them instructions. The most prestigious Mexican physicians of the day came to the National Palace, Gabino Barreda and Rafael Lucio, but they could do nothing. Juárez lay down on his left side, placing one hand under his head. Very fatigued, with an evident lack of oxygen, he smiled and died immediately. It was 23:35 on July 18, 1872, when the three physicians present declared the President dead. His daughters cried out in grief: "Papa! Papa, don't go!" The cause was angina pectoris. Today a plaque at the place of his death records it. Juárez held the office of president for fourteen years. There was a month of solemn observances throughout the country in his honor.
His mortal remains have rested since his burial on July 23, 1872, in the San Fernando Pantheon Museum in Mexico City.
Legacy
Mexico
Civic calendar
July 18, the anniversary of Juárez's death, was made an official national holiday starting in 1887; by then it had already become an important celebration in Mexico City, with a civic procession.[40]
Juárez memorial in the National Palace
In the National Palace of Mexico, in what was his residence during his government, there is a museum in his honor. It holds the furniture and objects he used. The photographs show the drawing room, the dining room, the study and the presidential bedroom.
Drawing room, dining room, study and bedroom of Don Benito Juárez.
Hemiciclo a Juárez.Hemiciclo a Juárez
The Hemiciclo a Juárez is a large marble cenotaph built in his honor by Porfirio Díaz during his term, located in the Alameda Central of the Historic Center, on Avenida Juárez, one of the most important avenues of Mexico City. It is Neoclassical in style and semicircular, strongly inspired by Greek architecture, with twelve Doric columns supporting a structure with an entablature and frieze of the same order. On either side it has two finials in the form of gilded urns.
Banknotes in Mexico
Since Juárez's time the government of Mexico has issued several banknotes bearing Juárez's face and theme. In 2000, twenty-peso notes were put into circulation showing on the obverse an effigy of Juárez with the Juarist eagle to his left, and on the reverse the Hemiciclo a Juárez. Later, in 2012, he appeared on the twenty-peso notes next to a book of the Reform Laws with a balance scale on top of the book. He currently appears on the $500 notes next to a fragment of the engraving by Alberto Beltrán depicting his triumphal entry into Mexico City, signifying the beginning of the Restored Republic. This note was put into circulation on August 27, 2018.
In Argentina, specifically in Buenos Aires Province, lie the partido and head town of Benito Juárez. The town was founded in 1867 by Mariano Roldán and has almost twenty thousand inhabitants. Two of the town's public secondary schools bear Mexican symbols on their respective ceremonial flags, and one of them has it in the name of the institution.
On May 2, 1865, the Congress of the United States of Colombia published a decree granting recognition to Juárez.[45] The opening part of the decree reads:
"The Congress of the United States of Colombia decrees:
Art. 1.- The Congress of Colombia, in the name of the people it represents, in view of the self-denial and unshakable perseverance that Mr. Benito Juárez, as constitutional President of the United Mexican States, has displayed in the defense of the independence and liberty of his Fatherland, declares that the said citizen has deserved well of America, and as a tribute to such virtues and an example to Colombian youth, orders that the portrait of this eminent statesman be kept in the national library with the following inscription: Benito Juárez, Mexican citizen. The Congress of 1865 pays him, in the name of the people of Colombia, this tribute for his constancy in defending the liberty and independence of Mexico."[46][47]
“… that President Juárez by this deed made himself worthy of the cheers of all America, for by destroying forever the preponderance of Europe in this hemisphere, he killed whatever hopes of dominion it might harbor in the future. That in calling the attention of the Chamber to this deed, it was with the aim that the Dominican Congress, for its part, should acclaim Juárez “Benemérito de la América”.
The San Fernando Faculty of Medicine, Peru, honored Juárez with a gold medal on July 28, 1867, “FOR THE TRIUMPH OBTAINED OVER THE FOREIGN INTERVENTION”. Its obverse reads in relief: "TO D. D. BENITO JUÁREZ, THE SCHOOL OF MEDICINE OF LIMA”, and the national coats of arms of Peru and Mexico appear in the center.[52][53][54] The medal, struck in gold, measuring 83x60 mm and weighing 85.8 g, was kept by Juárez until the end of his life; it then passed to the former National Museum of Archaeology, History and Ethnography of Mexico, and from there in 1939 to the National Institute of Anthropology and History, which arranged for it to be exhibited in the National Museum of History, its current location. "The medal is a struck, engraved and enameled piece, with a star surmounted by diamonds, hanging from a red and white ribbon. The piece is encircled by a wreath of laurel leaves enameled in green and topped at its upper part by a star of 9 diamonds, of which the central one stands out for its larger size; at the lower end it has a gold bow with black enamel."[53]
Many of Juárez's teachers during his professional studies at the Institute of Sciences and Arts of Oaxaca were Freemasons. Juárez was initiated into Freemasonry in the York Rite in Oaxaca. He then moved to the Mexican National Rite, in which he rose to the highest degree, the ninth, equivalent to the 33rd degree of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite. The York Rite held more liberal and republican ideas than the Scottish Rite, which also existed in Mexico and held centralist political ideas. The Mexican National Rite arose from a group of York Rite Masons and another group of Scottish Rite Masons whose common goal was to become independent from abroad and to foster a nationalist mentality.[55][56]
Juárez was fervent in Masonic practice. His name is preserved with veneration in many rites. Many lodges and philosophical bodies have adopted him as a sacred symbol.[57][58][59]
Juárez's initiation ceremony was attended by distinguished Masons such as Manuel Crescencio Rejón, author of the 1840 Constitution of Yucatán; Valentín Gómez Farías, President of Mexico; Pedro Zubieta, Commanding General in the Federal District and the State of Mexico; Deputy Fernando Ortega; Deputy Tiburcio Cañas; Deputy Francisco Banuet; Deputy Agustín Buenrostro; Deputy Joaquín Navarro and Deputy Miguel Lerdo de Tejada. Once the proclamation had been made, the Masonic apprentice Juárez adopted the symbolic name of William Tell.[60][61]
↑"Benito Juárez" (in español). Gobierno Federal. Archived from the original on August 20, 2011. Retrieved August 26, 2011.
↑Phrase delivered in his Manifiesto, upon returning to the capital of the Republic after the fall of the Second Mexican Empire, in Mexico City, on July 15, 1867. Benito Juárez: Documentos, discursos y correspondencia, selection and notes by Jorge L. Tamayo, Secretariat of National Heritage, Mexico, 1967, vol. 12, pp. 248–250. A phrase with a similar idea is cited in La paz perpetuaArchived May 14, 2008, at the Wayback Machine (in English) by Immanuel Kant, in his triumphal discourse of the republic over monarchy, after the French Revolution).
↑Copy of the baptismal certificate of Benito Pablo Juárez García, dated March 22, 1806, taken from the corresponding book of the parish of Santo Tomás Ixtlán.
↑ 8.008.018.028.038.048.058.068.078.088.09*Juárez Benito, Apuntes para mis hijos. 1857?. Original handwritten document kept in the Archivo General de la Nación de México. A transcription of the original can be found here
↑Granados Chapa, Miguel Ángel. "Papas y Leyes Mexicanas" (in español). web.archive.org. Archived from the original on December 3, 2011. Retrieved October 30, 2013.
↑Guadarrama, Luis Alfonso (July 19, 2020). "Benito Juárez, la persona". Digitalmex (in español). Retrieved November 25, 202. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
↑Alvarez, René Luis. "A Community that Would Not Take 'No' for an Answer: Mexican Americans, the Chicago Public Schools, and the Founding of Benito Juarez High School," Journal of Illinois History (2014) 17:1 pp 78-98. CITED: p. 78.
↑Fernando Reyes | El Heraldo de Chihuahua. "Conmemoran masones el natalicio de Benito Juárez". El Heraldo de Chihuahua | Noticias Locales, Policiacas, de México, Chihuahua y el Mundo (in español). Retrieved 2022-07-31.
Díaz Escoto, Alma Silvia (2008). "Juárez: La construcción del mito"(PDF). Cuicuilco (in español). 15 (43). Escuela Nacional de Antropología e Historia. México: 33–56. ISSN1405-7778. Retrieved March 6, 2016.
Escalante Gonzalbo, Pablo; García Martínez, Bernardo; Jáuregui, Luis; Zoraida Vásquez, Josefina; Speckman Guerra, Elisa; Garcíadiego, Javier; Aboites Aguilar, Luis (2008). Nueva Historía mínima de México Ilustrada(PDF) (in español) (1st ed.). El Colegio de México: Secretaría de Educación del Gobierno del Distrito Federal. Archived from the original(PDF) on August 9, 2015. Retrieved March 20, 2016.
Fernández Ruiz, Jorge (2006). Juárez y sus contemporáneos(PDF) (in español) (1st ed.). Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. ISBN970-32-3022-9. Retrieved May 5, 2019.
Juárez, Benito (1972). Apuntes para mis hijos(PDF) (in español) (First ed.). Comisión Nacional para la Conmemoración del centenario del fallecimiento de D. Benito Juárez. ISBN968-483-035-1. Archived from the original(PDF) on February 5, 2009. Retrieved September 16, 2020.
Krauze, Enrique (2001). "Profesión juarista". Letras Libres (in español). Retrieved March 4, 2016.
Magallón Ibarra, Jorge Mario (2005). Proceso y ejecución VS. Fernando Maximiliano de Habsburgo (in español) (First ed.). Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Retrieved February 14, 2016.
Zayas Enríquez, Rafael de (1906). Benito Juárez, su vida, su obra(PDF) (in español) (1st ed.). Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León: Tipografía de la Viuda de Francisco Díaz de León. Retrieved May 15, 2016.
Notes
↑They were given the first nickname because, owing to their ignorance, they only said Mass to earn their living and were not allowed to preach or perform other functions that required learning and ability; and they were called lárragos because they only studied moral theology from Father Lárraga", Juárez, Benito, in Apuntes para mis hijos.
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Benito Juárez.
Plaque in the room where Benito Juárez died, now the Juárez memorial. National Palace of Mexico.
Death certificate of Benito Juárez issued by the Civil Registry that he founded.
