Benito Pablo Juárez García was a Mexican Liberal lawyer and statesman who served as the 26th president of Mexico from 1858 until his death in office in 1872. Of Zapotec ancestry, he was the first and only indigenous president of Mexico and the first democratically elected indigenous president in the postcolonial Americas. Previously, he had served as Governor of Oaxaca and had later ascended to a variety of federal posts including Secretary of the Interior, Secretary of Public Education, and President of the Supreme Court. During his presidency he led the Liberals to victory in the Reform War and in the Second French intervention in Mexico.
Juárez, c. 1872
Juárez with his sister Nela (in braids) (left) and wife Margarita Maza
The Maza residence in Oaxaca City, where Juárez worked as a youth, is now known as Casa de Juárez and preserved as a museum.
Early in his career, Juárez supported president Valentín Gómez Farías who attempted to carry out many of the reforms Juárez would eventually pass.
The Liberal Party was a political coalition that emerged in Mexico after independence. Strongly influenced by French Revolutionary thought, and the republican institutions of the United States, it championed the principles of 19th century liberalism, and promoted republicanism, federalism, and anti-clericalism. They were opposed by the Conservative Party.
Liberals posing with a copy of the Constitution of 1857.
Matias Romero
Valentín Gómez Farías
Benito Juárez
