Benito Pablo Juárez García (Spanish: [beˈnito ˈpaβlo ˈxwaɾes
gaɾˈsi.a] (listen); 21 March 1806 â€" 18 July 1872) was a Mexican
lawyer and politician, who served as the 26th president of Mexico from
1858 until his death in 1872. He was the first president of Mexico who
was of indigenous origin. Born in Oaxaca to a poor Zapotec rural
family and orphaned young, he moved to Oaxaca City at the age of 12 to
go to school. He was aided by a lay Franciscan, and enrolled in
seminary, later studying law at Institute of Sciences and Arts and
becoming a lawyer. After being appointed as a judge, in his 30s he
married Margarita Maza, a socially prominent woman of Oaxaca City.
From his years in college, he was active in politics. Appointed as
head justice of the nation's Supreme Court, Juárez identified
primarily as a Liberal politician. In his life, he wrote briefly about
his indigenous heritage.When moderate liberal President Ignacio
Comonfort was forced to resign by the Conservatives in 1858, Juárez,
as head of the Supreme Court, assumed the presidency and the two
governments competed. His succession was codified in the Constitution
of 1857 but he survived in internal exile for a period. He weathered
the War of the Reform (1858â€"60), a civil war between the Liberals
and the Conservatives, and the French invasion (1861â€"1867), which
was supported by Conservative monarchists. Never relinquishing office,
although forced into exile to areas of Mexico not controlled by the
French, Juárez tied Liberalism to Mexican nationalism. He asserted
his leadership as the legitimate head of the Mexican state, rather
than Emperor Maximilian, whom the French had installed.When the
French-backed Second Mexican Empire fell in 1867, the Mexican Republic
with Juárez as president regained full power. For his success in
ousting the European incursion, Latin Americans considered Juárez's
tenure as a time of a "second struggle for independence, a second
defeat for the European powers, and a second reversal of the
Conquest." Benito Juárez Biography, NetWorth, Height, Age, Weight, Family, Married, Son, Daughter