Ignacio Comonfort
Encyclopedia
Ignacio Gregorio Comonfort de los Ríos (March 12, 1812 – November 13, 1863) was a Mexican
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 politician and military officer who served as President of Mexico
President of Mexico
The President of the United Mexican States is the head of state and government of Mexico. Under the Constitution, the president is also the Supreme Commander of the Mexican armed forces...

.

He was born in 1812 in Puebla de los Ángeles, in the state of Puebla
Puebla
Puebla officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Puebla is one of the 31 states which, with the Federal District, comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 217 municipalities and its capital city is Puebla....

, to French parents. He participated in the Mexican-American War. He was president of Mexico
President of Mexico
The President of the United Mexican States is the head of state and government of Mexico. Under the Constitution, the president is also the Supreme Commander of the Mexican armed forces...

 from December 11, 1855 to January 21, 1858. During his term as president, Benito Juárez
Benito Juárez
Benito Juárez born Benito Pablo Juárez García, was a Mexican lawyer and politician of Zapotec origin from Oaxaca who served five terms as president of Mexico: 1858–1861 as interim, 1861–1865, 1865–1867, 1867–1871 and 1871–1872...

 served as president of the Supreme Court of Mexico
Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation
The Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation is the highest federal court in the United Mexican States. It consists of a President of the Supreme Court and ten Ministers who are confirmed by the Senate from a list proposed by the President of the Republic.Justices of the SCJN serve for fifteen...

.

During Comonfort's administration, the country descended into the War of the Reform, a civil war launched by reactionaries against the Constitution of 1857 which, among other things, had abolished privileges for the Catholic Church.

Shortly after the adoption of the Constitution of 1857, a board of generals staged a coup d'état
Coup d'état
A coup d'état state, literally: strike/blow of state)—also known as a coup, putsch, and overthrow—is the sudden, extrajudicial deposition of a government, usually by a small group of the existing state establishment—typically the military—to replace the deposed government with another body; either...

, proclaiming the Plan of Tacubaya which decreed the nullification of the Constitution. President Comonfort, representing himself as a moderate, wavered but decided to go along with the generals. In exchange, the Catholic Church repealed the March 1857 excommunication decree for those who adhered to the new plan.

On December 17, 1857, anti-constitutional forces led by General Felix Zuloaga
Félix María Zuloaga
Félix María Zuloaga Trillo was a Mexican general and a Conservative leader in the War of Reform. In the late 1850s and early 1860s, Zuloaga served as unconstitutional interim conservative president of Mexico .-Early years:Zuloaga was born in Álamos, Sonora...

 took control of the capital without firing a shot. But defenders of the 1857 Constitution did not stay calm for long. President Comonfort then decreed himself extraordinary powers, an action which alienated both the reactionary rebels as well as the constitutionalists. As unrest grew, many opponents were imprisoned or shot. Even Benito Juárez
Benito Juárez
Benito Juárez born Benito Pablo Juárez García, was a Mexican lawyer and politician of Zapotec origin from Oaxaca who served five terms as president of Mexico: 1858–1861 as interim, 1861–1865, 1865–1867, 1867–1871 and 1871–1872...

 was put behind bars for several days.

On January 11, 1858, General Zuloaga demanded the ouster of the President. Comonfort resigned, and according the Constitution of 1857, Benito Juárez, President of the Supreme Court assumed the presidency. In opposition, the board of generals and Catholic clergy selected General Zuloaga as their president.

After seeking asylum in the United States, Comonfort returned to act again as a general against the French invasion in 1862. He died the next year on November 13, after being attacked by a group of bandits.

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