Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada

Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada y Corral (; 24 April 1823 – 21 April 1889) was a Mexican liberal politician and jurist who served as the 31st president of Mexico from 1872 to 1876.

A successor to Benito Juárez, who died in office in July 1872, Lerdo de Tejada was elected to his own presidential term in November 1872. Previously, he served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Juárez's political rival, liberal General Porfirio Díaz, had attempted a coup against Juárez, but his Plan de la Noria failed and Díaz was eliminated as a political rival during Lerdo de Tejada's 1872–1876 term, giving him considerable leeway to pursue his program without political interference. During his term, he succeeded in pacifying the country after decades of political unrest He was elected for another term in 1876, but was overthrown by Porfirio Díaz and his supporters under the Plan of Tuxtepec, which asserted the principle of no-reelection to the presidency. Lerdo de Tejada died in exile in New York in 1889, but Díaz invited the return of his body to Mexico for burial with full honors. With the exception of Miguel Miramón, a contested president during the Reform War, he was the first Mexican head of state to be born after the country's independence.

Early life and education He was born in Xalapa, Veracruz, into a middle class Criollo family, the younger brother of Miguel Lerdo de Tejada. After studying theology as a scholarship student in the Palafoxiano Seminary in Puebla he received minor orders, but decided not to enter priesthood. In 1851 he earned a law degree from Colegio de San Ildefonso in Mexico City, a famed institution he began directing at the age of 29 (1852–1863).

Political career

Early positions In 1855, he served as a prosecutor before the Supreme Court. He became known as a Liberal leader and a supporter of President Benito Juárez. In 1857, he was minister of foreign affairs for three months He opposed the Wyke-Zamacona Convention to resume debt payments to Britain. This convention was defeated in Congress.

During the French intervention and the reign of Maximilian I, he continued to be loyal to the Republicans, and had an active share in conducting the national resistance.

Restored Republic under Juárez

Upon the triumph of the Republic in 1867, Lerdo de Tejada, "according to some sources ... convinced Juárez not to pardon Maximilian," who was executed in Querétaro along with two Mexicans loyal to the emperor.

In 1871, he was a candidate for president of the Republic, running against Juárez and Porfirio Díaz. He came in third in the race against the president who kept the republic intact during the French intervention and one of the Mexican military heroes of republican resistance. Following Juárez's victory he returned to the Supreme Court. Díaz revolted against Juárez opposing the president's continuation in power in the Plan de la Noria. The revolt was defeated and Díaz sent into political exile, allowing the last of Juárez's term relatively free of political conflict. With Juárez's death caused by a heart attack in July 1872, Lerdo de Tejada was the constitutional successor to the presidency.

As president

This made him interim president, but he held elections and held the office in his own right. To the surprise of most, Lerdo de Tejada kept Juárez's cabinet basically unchanged and promulgated a limited amnesty law. To his supporters, he offered immediate spoils. He declared that he exercised his power as president, not as head of a party.

Lerdo de Tejada continued projects initiated by Juárez, most visibly the construction of railways. He opened the first railway line in Mexico from the port of Veracruz to the capital Mexico City, which was begun by Juárez and Lerdo de Tejada inaugurated in January 1873. However, Lerdo de Tejada had seemingly contradictory policies about railway construction. He was concerned about U.S. encroachment in northern Mexico and resisted construction of railways to the border. He is quoted as saying, "Between strength and weakness, the desert," meaning the weakness of Mexico vis-à-vis the U.S. and the desert as a useful barrier. After a delay, he attempted to have a Mexican company construct the north–south line to the U.S. border, but the effort failed. Ultimately, he did approve a proposal of U.S. railway entrepreneur Edward Lee Plumb to build the line. Mexican supporters of construction thought Lerdo had delayed too long and botched the chance of Mexicans building the line, while Lerdo de Tejada's opponents viewed him as caving to the U.S.

Lerdo de Tejada had made himself unpopular by the means he took to secure his re-election, by his disposition to limit state rights in favor of a strongly-centralized government, With Lerdo de Tejada's overthrow, historians have marked this as the end of the Restored Republic and the beginning of the Porfiriato, which lasted from 1876–1911 until the outbreak of the Mexican Revolution.

Legacy Monument to Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada in front of the Mexican Congress. Lerdo de Tejada's principal biographer in English, Frank Averill Knapp, titled his work, The Life of Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, 1823–1889: a study of influence and obscurity, an indication of Lerdo's ambiguous legacy. He says "No Mexican President has been more maligned, misunderstood, and misrepresented" than Lerdo de Tejada. He did not have the implacable tenacity of Juárez nor the military achievements and political longevity of Porfirio Díaz, both of indigenous heritage from Oaxaca. But Lerdo de Tejada's presidency was a continuation of the policies of the Liberal Reform, whose laws could be implemented in times of relative peace. As such, he can be seen as one in a line of liberals aiming to modernize Mexico. A statue of Lerdo de Tejada stands outside the Mexican Congress. The city of Toluca de Lerdo was named after Lerdo de Tejada; however, the city is more commonly referred to as "Toluca".

Cabinet Defense (Guerra y Marina): Ignacio Mejía (July 19, 1872 – August 30, 1876). Mariano Escobedo (August 31, 1876 – November 20, 1876). Finance (Hacienda): Francisco Mejía (July 19, 1872 – November 20, 1876). Foreign Affairs (Relaciones Exteriores): José María Lafragua (July 19, 1872 – November 15, 1875). Juan de Dios Arias (November 15, 1875 – August 30, 1876). Manuel Romero Rubio (August 31, 1876 – November 20; 1876). Industry and Commerce (Fomento): Blas Balcárcel (July 19, 1872 – November 20, 1876). Interior (Gobernación): Cayetano Gómez Pérez (July 19, 1872 – September 26, 1876). Juan José Baz (September 27, 1876 – November 20; 1876). Justice (Justicia): Ramón I. Alcázar (July 19, 1872 – November 20, 1876). Source: