Benito Pablo Juarez, president of Mexico, born in the village of San Pablo Guetatao, near Tixtlan, in the state of Oajaca, March 21, 1806, died in Mexico, July 18, 1872. When very young he lost his parents, who were Indians in humble circumstances; and at the age of 12, when he was still unable to speak Spanish, an uncloistered friar of Oajaca took him into the service of his family, and gave him his first education, placing him afterward at the seminary of that city. Young Juarez soon abandoned theology for the law; and having graduated with honors at the new college of Oajaca, where in addition to his legal studies he held the chair of natural philosophy from 1829 to 1831, he was admitted to the bar in 1834. In 1836 he was imprisoned by the conservatives; but in 1842 he became chief judge of the republic, which post he held till 1845, when a partial triumph of his party led to his appointment as secretary of the state government of Oajaca under Gen. Leon. He was, however, soon obliged to give up this office, and he acted as chief justice of the superior court till the end of the same year.

When the revolution headed by Salas triumphed in August, 1846, the state of Oajaca resumed its sovereignty, and established a junta, vesting the executive power in a triumvirate composed of Fernandez del Campo, Arteaga, and Juarez. The junta immediately after its organization restored the constitution of 1824; and Arteaga was elected governor, while Juarez was sent as deputy to the general constituent congress of 1846, where he gave a vigorous support to the policy of the acting president Farias in negotiating a loan of $14,000,000 on church property, to defray the expenses of the war against the United States. Arteaga having resigned in 1847, Juarez was elected in his stead, and remained governor till August, 1852. During this period he introduced many useful reforms, and managed the finances so well that, after over-paying all the contributions to the national government and liquidating the state debt, he left on retiring a surplus of $50,-000 in the treasury. One of the first acts of his implacable enemy Santa Anna, on seizing the reins of government soon afterward, was the arrest and exile of Juarez, who, almost destitute of resources, sojourned two years in New Orleans. In July, 1855, he returned to Mexico by way of Panama, and landed at Acapulco, where he joined Gen. Alvarez, then commanding the revolutionary troops against Santa Anna. Alvarez was proclaimed president on Oct. 4, and he at once appointed Juarez minister of justice and religion.

Immediately after the inauguration of the new administration, Juarez proposed a bill for the abolition of the special clerical and military courts, under which these two classes had long enjoyed immunity from the laws of the nation. The measure received the unanimous sanction of the constituent congress. When Comonfort succeeded Alvarez in the presidency (Dec. 11, 1855), he at once appointed Juarez governor of Oajaca, in order to remove him from the cabinet. Juarez was received with joy in his native state, and his second administration was marked by still more happy results than the first. He was reelected as constitutional governor in September, 1857, at the same time that the general elections resulted in his elevation to the post of president of the supreme court of justice, which in Mexico is equivalent to the vice presidency of the nation. In October Comonfort, in obedience to the voice of the whole liberal press, created him minister of the interior. On the downfall of the Comonfort administration, Juarez repaired to Guanajuato, issued a manifesto, formed a cabinet, and, in virtue of his office of chief justice, was recognized as president by all the states in January, 1858; but, unable to oppose the reactionary forces, he was obliged to transfer his government first to Guadalajara, afterward to Colima, and ultimately by way of the isthmus of Panama and New Orleans to Vera Cruz, where he arrived on May 4. In April, 1859, he was recognized as president by the United States. On Jan. 11,1861, after having defeated Miramon, he entered the city of Mexico; and in the following March he was confirmed in the presidential functions by a general election, in which Don Miguel Lerdo de Tejada was the opposing candidate.

Three important acts of the Juarez administration deserve special mention: the suppression of religious orders, the confiscation of the church property (June, 1861), and the suspension for two years of payments on account of the foreign debt and of all national liabilities. The decree for this last measure, issued by congress, on the recommendation of Juarez, July 17, led to the formation of an alliance of intervention (London, Oct. 31) between England, France, and Spain, and the invasion of the republic by the allied forces, which reached Vera Cruz on Dec. 8. Juarez, however, promised to protect the interests of the creditors, and in consequence England and Spain declined to commence hostilities, and prepared to evacuate the country; but France insisted upon the necessity of active measures, ostensibly for the protection of the French residents, but really for the purpose of establishing an empire in Mexico, and accordingly declared war against Juarez on April 16, 1862. The president, after the capture of Puebla by Gen. Forey, regarding the defence of the capital as hopeless, abandoned it on May 31, 1863, and established his government at San Luis Potosi (June 10), whence he was compelled to retreat to Monterey, and thence to Chihuahua, arriving at the last city on Oct. 12, 1864. Meantime the archduke Maximilian of Austria had assumed the functions of emperor at the capital.

Continued reverses of Juarez's troops rendered it necessary for him to withdraw as far north as El Paso del Norte, where he fixed his government on Aug. 15, 1865. While at this place, his term of office having expired (Nov. 30), Gen. Gonzalez Ortega, in virtue of his position as president of the supreme court of justice, asserted his right to assume the executive power; but Juarez, foreseeing the disastrous effects that a change of government might produce at such a juncture, declared his term of administration extended until peace should be restored and new constitutional elections take place. To avoid the appearance of abandoning the national soil, he frequently refused invitations of the American commander of Fort Bliss to visit him. In June, 1866, his arms obtained a first decided success; and continuing victorious, he left El Paso and steadily advanced southward, tarrying for brief periods at Chihuahua, Durango, Zaca-tecas, and San Luis Potosi (February, 1867), while the troops under Maximilian were concentrated in the city of Queretaro, after the reembarkation for France of the forces under Bazaine. That place was soon invested by the Juarez troops, and Maximilian captured and shot (June 19). On July 16 Juarez reentered the capital of the republic, and in October he was reelected constitutional president.

The five succeeding years were marked by a series of revolutions, in which the principal actors were Gen. Porfirio Diaz (the unsuccessful candidate against Juarez in 1867) and his partisans. Peace was restored in 1872; and Juarez, who had been reelected in 1871, seemed likely to enjoy a season of tranquillity; but his constitution, naturally strong, had gradually given way under the trials which beset his stormy administration, and he died of apoplexy.