82R3041(2) BPG-D
By: Alonzo H.R. No. 85
R E S O L U T I O N
WHEREAS, Benito Juarez, 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, Benito Juarez
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, Attracted to politics at an early age, he 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 Lopez de Santa Anna
came to power in 1853, Sr. Juarez joined the successful
revolutionary movement against him; after Santa Anna himself was
forced into exile, Sr. Juarez became minister of justice, and while
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, this
rising national leader 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 became
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, Benito Juarez was elected to the presidency in 1861;
soon, however, he found himself fighting the French, who captured
Mexico City in 1863; once again he and his troops prevailed, with
the United States clearly favoring their cause, and in 1867 he was
again elected president; and
WHEREAS, Known for his commitment to the indigenous people of
Mexico and for his support for equal rights and economic reform,
President Juarez died while working at his desk in the National
Palace on July 17, 1872; in 1888, the city of El Paso del Norte was
renamed Ciudad Juarez in his honor; and
WHEREAS, Benito Juarez is 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 82nd Texas
Legislature hereby pay special tribute to the life of Mexican hero
and president Benito Juarez on March 21, 2012, the 206th
anniversary of his birth.