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| 3 | 4 | | |
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| 4 | 5 | | R E S O L U T I O N |
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| 5 | 6 | | WHEREAS, Benito Juarez, who was instrumental in bringing |
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| 6 | 7 | | sweeping changes to Mexican government and society during the |
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| 7 | 8 | | mid-19th century, was born on March 21, 1806; and |
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| 8 | 9 | | WHEREAS, A Zapotec Indian and native of Oaxaca, Benito Juarez |
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| 9 | 10 | | was a teenager when he gained the patronage of the family in whose |
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| 10 | 11 | | home his sister was working as a servant; tutored privately at |
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| 11 | 12 | | first, he graduated from the Franciscan seminary in Oaxaca in 1827 |
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| 12 | 13 | | and received a law degree from the Institute of Science and Art in |
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| 13 | 14 | | 1834; and |
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| 14 | 15 | | WHEREAS, Attracted to politics at an early age, he spent |
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| 15 | 16 | | virtually all of his adult life either in government or waging |
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| 16 | 17 | | opposition; he served as a city councilman for Oaxaca from 1831 to |
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| 17 | 18 | | 1833, during which time he strongly supported Indian rights, and in |
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| 18 | 19 | | the 1840s he served as a civil judge and federal deputy; from 1847 |
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| 19 | 20 | | to 1852 he held the governorship of Oaxaca; and |
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| 20 | 21 | | WHEREAS, Driven into exile when Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna |
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| 21 | 22 | | came to power in 1853, Sr. Juarez joined the successful |
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| 22 | 23 | | revolutionary movement against him; after Santa Anna himself was |
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| 23 | 24 | | forced into exile, Sr. Juarez became minister of justice, and while |
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| 24 | 25 | | in that post he was responsible for a law that limited the |
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| 25 | 26 | | jurisdiction of church courts to ecclesiastical cases; and |
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| 26 | 27 | | WHEREAS, After serving again as governor of Oaxaca, this |
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| 27 | 28 | | rising national leader became minister of the interior in November |
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| 28 | 29 | | 1857 and the next month took office as chief justice of the supreme |
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| 29 | 30 | | court; when a military coup deposed the government, he became |
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| 30 | 31 | | president, in accordance with the constitutional line of |
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| 31 | 32 | | succession, and led the victorious resistance to the usurpers in |
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| 32 | 33 | | the Reform War of 1858-1861; and |
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| 33 | 34 | | WHEREAS, Benito Juarez was elected to the presidency in 1861; |
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| 34 | 35 | | soon, however, he found himself fighting the French, who captured |
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| 35 | 36 | | Mexico City in 1863; once again he and his troops prevailed, with |
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| 36 | 37 | | the United States clearly favoring their cause, and in 1867 he was |
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| 37 | 38 | | again elected president; and |
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| 38 | 39 | | WHEREAS, Known for his commitment to the indigenous people of |
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| 39 | 40 | | Mexico and for his support for equal rights and economic reform, |
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| 40 | 41 | | President Juarez died while working at his desk in the National |
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| 41 | 42 | | Palace on July 17, 1872; in 1888, the city of El Paso del Norte was |
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| 42 | 43 | | renamed Ciudad Juarez in his honor; and |
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| 43 | 44 | | WHEREAS, Benito Juarez is a towering figure in the history of |
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| 44 | 45 | | Mexico; he was instrumental in the transfer of political power from |
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| 45 | 46 | | creoles to mestizos, in asserting the authority of civil law, and in |
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| 46 | 47 | | preserving the nation's autonomy in the face of foreign invasion, |
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| 47 | 48 | | and it is a privilege to honor the memory of this national hero; |
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| 48 | 49 | | now, therefore, be it |
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| 49 | 50 | | RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 84th Texas |
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| 50 | 51 | | Legislature hereby pay special tribute to the life of Mexican hero |
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| 51 | 52 | | and president Benito Juarez on March 21, 2016, the 210th |
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| 52 | 53 | | anniversary of his birth. |
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