81R5270 BGU-D
By: Alonzo H.R. No. 311
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, Benito Jurez, who was instrumental in bringing
sweeping changes to Mexican government and society during the
mid-19th century, was born on March 21, 1806; and
WHEREAS, A Zapotec Indian and native of Oaxaca, Sr. Jurez
was a teenager when he gained the patronage of the family in whose
home his sister was working as a servant; tutored privately at
first, he graduated from the Franciscan seminary in Oaxaca in 1827
and received a law degree from the Institute of Science and Art in
1834; and
WHEREAS, Sr. Jurez was attracted to politics at an early age
and spent virtually all of his adult life either in government or
waging opposition; he served as a city councilman for Oaxaca from
1831 to 1833, during which time he strongly supported Indian
rights, and in the 1840s he served as a civil judge and federal
deputy; from 1847 to 1852 he held the governorship of Oaxaca; and
WHEREAS, Driven into exile when Antonio Lpez de Santa Anna
came to power in 1853, Sr. Jurez joined the successful
revolutionary movement against him; after Santa Anna himself was
forced into exile, Sr. Jurez became minister of justice; while
serving in that post he was responsible for a law that limited the
jurisdiction of church courts to ecclesiastical cases; and
WHEREAS, After serving again as governor of Oaxaca, Sr.
Jurez became minister of the interior in November 1857 and the next
month took office as chief justice of the Supreme Court; when a
military coup deposed the government, he declared himself
president, in accordance with the constitutional line of
succession, and led the victorious resistance to the usurpers in
the Reform War of 1858-1861; and
WHEREAS, Sr. Jurez assumed the presidency officially in
1861; soon, however, he found himself fighting the French, who
captured Mexico City in 1863 and set up a puppet regime; once again
Sr. Jurez and his troops prevailed, with the United States clearly
favoring their cause, and in 1867 he was again elected president;
and
WHEREAS, Plagued with numerous difficulties throughout his
final term, Sr. Jurez died in office on July 17, 1872; in 1888, the
city of El Paso del Norte was renamed Ciudad Jurez in his honor;
and
WHEREAS, Notwithstanding the difficulties of his final
years, Benito Jurez remains a towering figure in the history of
Mexico; he was instrumental in the transfer of political power from
creoles to mestizos, in asserting the authority of civil law, and in
preserving the nation's autonomy in the face of foreign invasion,
and it is a privilege to honor the memory of this national hero;
now, therefore, be it
RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 81st Texas
Legislature hereby pay special tribute to the life of the esteemed
Mexican statesman Benito Jurez on March 21, 2009, the 203rd
anniversary of his birth.