The Benito Juárez's contributions to Mexico Are bastion of modernity and progress. The"Meritorious of the Americas", as it is known, managed to eradicate minority privileges reestablishing Mexican freedom, law and virtues.
Juárez, a lawyer and politician of indigenous origin, is considered by many to be the most important figure in Mexico, being so important that the date of his birth is considered a national holiday.
Who was Benito Juárez and what were his contributions?
He was born on March 21, 1806, being a native of the town of San Pablo Guelatao, Oaxaca. Of indigenous family and being orphan of father and mother to the 3 years, Benito spent his early childhood in conditions of extreme poverty and speaking only the Zapotec language.
At the age of 13 moved to the capital of the state of Oaxaca, where he was welcomed by Antonio Salanueva, a bookbinder who gave him work and access to education.
He studied jurisprudence at the Institute of Sciences and Arts of Oaxaca, where he obtained the title of lawyer in 1834. Years later (1847) he was elected governor of the state, becoming the first indigenous ruler in the history of Independent Mexico .
After years of battle and political strategy, it managed to establish the Laws of Reformation, regenerating the country with a liberal thought. He became president in 1858 and remained for two more terms, until his death in 1872.
Juarez's mandate left Mexico with a new nationalist feeling, cemented by the memories of the viceroyalty, the invasion of the American army, French intervention, and the conservative imposition of a new empire.
Mexico would become a country with freedom of worship and thought thanks to the efforts of the 'Meritorious of the Americas'.
The Ayutla Plan
When the American army invaded national territory, President Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna sought refuge in Oaxaca.
Juarez being governor denied the access to him, reason why when returning to the presidency after the war, Santa Anna ordered his exile. Juarez arrived in New Orleans, where he was in contact with other exiles like Melchor Ocampo, with whom he shared liberal ideals.
The Plan of Ayutla was formed in 1854, with which Santa Anna was overthrown and the new president, Juan Álvarez, appointed Juárez as justice minister and later ascended to judge of the Supreme Court of Justice.
In this position, Benito promoted the so-called Juarez Law, which abolished the special courts for clerics and military, thus denying them jurisdiction.
Likewise, with its support, a new liberal federal constitution was approved in 1857, which sought to consolidate Mexico as a secular, modern and progressive state.
The Three Year War
In December 1857, the Conservatives, in an attempt to overthrow the new Constitution, planned a coup called the Tacubaya Plan, to which President Ignacio Comonfort himself joined a self-coup.
The law then ordered that the president of the Supreme Court take the power, reason why Benito Juárez arrived at the presidency in 1858.
The conservatives, on the other hand, anointed Felix Maria Zuloaga like president. This would unleash the Three Years War.
During this time, the presidency of Juárez had to be decentralized and established in different parts of the country. In 1859, from the port of Veracruz, President Juarez sent the package of Reform Laws, whose essential purpose was to separate the church from the state.
The Laws of Reform
Mexico was until then heir of the colonial customs. The clergy and militia intervened in civil matters and the Catholic Church was in a privileged position.
In liberal attempts to modernize the nation, to implement freedom of worship, broad access to education and the cessation of privileges of some institutions, the Reform Laws were enacted.
One of them, the law of nationalization of ecclesiastical goods of 1859, which demanded to the church that ceded its properties to the country.
The Catholic church at that time had 52% of the national real estate, however, these were not worked.
These goods were expropriated for the benefit of the nation, as it was intended to be handed over to civilians in the hope of creating a working middle class, similar to the American one.
The Civil Marriage Act, passed in 1859, converted marriage and its minutes into a civil contract with the State, nullifying the official validity of religious marriage and thus avoiding the forced intervention of the church and the collection of priests.
Similarly, the Organic Law of the Civil Registry dates from the same year, where the government was responsible for declarations of birth, death and marital status.
The church stopped being in charge of other civil aspects with orders like:
- The Decree of Secularization of Cemeteries, where the clergy no longer had the opportunity to intervene.
- The Decree of Suppression of Religious Festivals, where on the days declared festive it was not mandatory sanctification of the festivities
- The Law on Religious Freedom, established in 1860, where the Catholic religion ceased to be obligatory and the only one allowed, besides establishing that any religious ceremony should be kept within the limits of temples and cathedrals.
The new Mexico after the reform
In 1861, after the victory of the last battle against the conservatives, Benito Juárez returns victorious to the capital of the country.
The reform had been implemented, and the conservatives sought to impose a Second Empire on Mexican soil, achieving that in full French intervention, Napoleon III called the throne Emperor Maximilian of Habsburg and his wife Carlota. However, in a liberal rush, the emperors maintained the reform laws.
Under Juarez's mandate, many of the modern and avant-garde civil guarantors of Mexican history were promulgated.
Access to secular education, without clergy intervention, opened up the possibilities of a strong public education system free of religious instruction, thus establishing a wide freedom of teaching.
The implementation of a mixed school also created an empowerment space for women, leaving aside the conservative view of their non-value.
Juarez is now being awarded the annulment of the viceroyal customs and the foundations of liberal change.
With a peaceful vision, advocating human dignity, freedom of belief, access to education and strengthening of the economy, the 'Beneficent of the Americas' laid the foundations of modern Mexico.
References
- Biograpy.com Editors. (S. Benito Juárez Biography. Retrieved from biography.com.
- Pantoja, D.M. (2008). The Constitution of 1857 and its Parliamentary Interlude. American History, 57 (4), pp.1051-1054.
- Scholes, W. V. (ed.). Benito Juarez. Retrieved from britannica.com.
- Tuck, J. (1999). Mexico's Lincoln: The ecstasy and agony of Benito Juarez. Retrieved from mexconnect.com.
- Villanueva, S. P. (2015). Contributions by Benito Juárez. Recovered from inehrm.gob.mx.