Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada

Political career

In 1855 Lerdo de Tejada served as a prosecutor before the Supreme Court and became known as a Liberal leader and supporter of President Benito Juárez. He was minister of foreign affairs for three months under Ignacio Comonfort in 1857 and served as President of the Chamber of Deputies in 1861, 1862 and 1863. He opposed the Wyke-Zamacona Convention to resume debt payments to Britain, which was defeated in Congress. During the French intervention and the reign of Maximilian I, he remained loyal to the Republicans and actively conducted the national resistance.

When the Republican government abandoned Mexico City on 31 May 1863, it continued operating within the country. On 12 September 1863 in San Luis Potosí, he was named minister of foreign affairs, of the interior and of justice in Juárez's cabinet, holding these posts until 17 January 1871, 14 January 1868 and 11 September 1863 respectively. Throughout the occupation, he was Juárez's closest ally and confident. On 8 November 1865 he signed the decree extending Juárez's term until the end of the war, opposing General Jesús González Ortega's claims.

After the Republic's triumph in 1867, according to some sources he convinced Juárez not to pardon Maximilian, who was executed in Querétaro. Lerdo de Tejada then simultaneously became minister of foreign affairs, minister of the interior, a deputy in Congress and president of the Supreme Court. He aided Juárez's centralization of federal power and opposed violence against local opposition forces, helping construct a liberal political machine and involving himself in state politics to gain allies.

Legacy

Lerdo de Tejada's principal biographer in English, Frank Averill Knapp, titled his work The Life of Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, 1823–1889: a study of influence and obscurity, indicating an ambiguous legacy. Knapp wrote that no Mexican president has been more maligned, misunderstood and misrepresented. Lerdo de Tejada lacked Juárez's tenacity and Díaz's military achievements and political longevity, but his presidency continued the Liberal Reform policies during relative peace. A statue of him stands outside the Mexican Congress, and the city of Toluca de Lerdo was named after him.

Did You Know?

• He was the younger brother of Miguel Lerdo de Tejada.
• He studied theology at the Palafoxiano Seminary in Puebla and received minor orders before deciding not to enter the priesthood.
• He began directing the Colegio de San Ildefonso in Mexico City at age 29, from 1852 to 1863.