Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada
| Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada | |
|---|---|
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 27th President of Mexico |
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In office 19 July 1872 – 31 October 1876 |
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| Preceded by | Benito Juárez |
| Succeeded by | José María Iglesias |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada y Corral 24 April 1823 Xalapa, Veracruz, Mexico |
| Died | 21 April 1889 (aged 65) New York City, New York, USA |
| Nationality | Mexican |
| Political party | Liberal |
Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada y Corral (Spanish pronunciation: [seβasˈtjan ˈlerðo ðe teˈxaða]; 24 April 1823 – 21 April 1889) was a jurist and Liberal president of Mexico, succeeding Benito Juárez, who died of a heart attack in July 1872. Lerdo was elected to his own presidential term later in 1872 rather than remaining successor due to his previous office of 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 eliminated as a political foe during Lerdo's 1872-76 term, giving Lerdo considerable leeway to pursue his program without political interference. Lerdo was more successful than Juárez in his final years as president in pacifying the country and strengthening the Mexican state. He ran for another term in 1876 and was elected, 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 died in exile in New York in 1889, but Díaz invited the return of his body to Mexico for burial with full honors.
He was born in Xalapa, Veracruz, into a middle class Criollo family, the younger brother of Miguel Lerdo de Tejada. After studying five years of theology as a scholarship student in the Palafoxiano Seminary in Puebla he received minor orders, but decided not to enter the priesthood. In 1851 he graduated with a law degree from the Colegio de San Ildefonso in Mexico City, a famed institution he ended up directing at the age of 29 (1852–63).
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 under Ignacio Comonfort, and he became president of the Chamber of Deputies in 1861. He opposed the Wyke-Zamacona Convention to resume debt payments to Britain. This convention was defeated in Congress.
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