Melchor Ocampo
Encyclopedia
His home state was renamed Michoacán de Ocampo in his honour.
Studies
Ocampo studied at the Roman Catholic seminary in Morelia, Michoacán, and later law at the Colegio Seminario de México (Universidad Pontificia).He began working in a law office in 1833 and travelled to France in 1840, where he was influenced by liberal and anticlerical ideas of the Enlightenment
Age of Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an elite cultural movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe that sought to mobilize the power of reason in order to reform society and advance knowledge. It promoted intellectual interchange and opposed intolerance and abuses in church and state...
. He later returned to Michoacán to work his family's lands, practice law, investigate the region's flora and fauna, and study the local indigenous languages
Languages of Mexico
The government of Mexico recognizes 68 distinct indigenous Amerindian languages as national languages in addition to Spanish. According to the Commission for the Development of Indigenous Peoples and National Institute of Indigenous Languages [INALI], while 10-14% of the population identifies as...
.
Politics
He was elected to the Chamber of DeputiesChamber of Deputies of Mexico
The Chamber of Deputies is the lower house of the Congress of the Union, Mexico's bicameral legislature. The structure and responsibilities of both chambers of Congress are defined in Articles 50 to 70 of the current constitution.-Composition:The Chamber of Deputies is composed of one federal...
in 1842. He served as Governor of Michoacán
Governor of Michoacán
According to the Political Constitution of the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo, the exercise of the Ejectivo Power of this Mexican organization, it is deposited in a single individual, that denominates Constitutional Governor of the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo...
during the U.S. Invasion, and as Treasury Minister in 1850.
Because of one of his more controversial projects, he was forced to flee the country by President
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...
Antonio López de Santa Anna
Antonio López de Santa Anna
Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón , often known as Santa Anna or López de Santa Anna, known as "the Napoleon of the West," was a Mexican political leader, general, and president who greatly influenced early Mexican and Spanish politics and government...
, taking refuge first in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
and then in the U.S. city of New Orleans.
In New Orleans he met a group of liberals, including 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...
, and began to publish pamphlets to promote political change in Mexico. The result of his efforts was the Plan de Ayutla of 1855, which called for the overthrow of Santa Anna and the installation of the liberal general Juan Álvarez
Juan Álvarez
Juan Nepomuceno Álvarez Hurtado was a general and interim president of Mexico for a few months in 1855. He fought in all the major wars of Mexico, from the War of Independence through the Pastry War, the Mexican-American War, and the War of the Reform to the war against the French Intervention...
. With Álvarez's victory, Ocampo served briefly in his cabinet as foreign minister.
During Benito Juárez's administration, Ocampo was appointed Minister of the Interior, with responsibility also for foreign affairs, defence, and the treasury. During this period he drafted the Reform Laws (Leyes de Reforma), bringing about the separation of Church and State
Separation of church and state
The concept of the separation of church and state refers to the distance in the relationship between organized religion and the nation state....
the Catholic Church had many times intervened in progress and chained the country back to the times of monarchs and the inquisition far into the 19th century.
McLane-Ocampo Treaty
In the port of VeracruzVeracruz, Veracruz
Veracruz, officially known as Heroica Veracruz, is a major port city and municipality on the Gulf of Mexico in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The city is located in the central part of the state. It is located along Federal Highway 140 from the state capital Xalapa, and is the state's most...
, on 14 December 1859, acting on Juárez's orders, he and U.S. Ambassador Robert McLane signed the McLane-Ocampo Treaty
McLane-Ocampo Treaty
The McLane-Ocampo Treaty, formally the Treaty of Transit and Commerce, was an agreement between the United States and Mexico, signed in the port of Veracruz in Mexico on December 14, 1859, which would have sold the perpetual right of transit to the Isthmus of Tehuantepec to the U.S...
.
This controversial treaty would have awarded the United States perpetual transit rights, for its armies and merchandise, through three strips of Mexico's territory: the Isthmus of Tehuantepec
Isthmus of Tehuantepec
The Isthmus of Tehuantepec is an isthmus in Mexico. It represents the shortest distance between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, and prior to the opening of the Panama Canal was a major shipping route known simply as the Tehuantepec Route...
; a corridor running from Guaymas, Sonora, to Nogales, Arizona
Nogales, Arizona
Nogales is a city in Santa Cruz County, Arizona, United States. The population was 21,017 at the 2010 census. According to 2005 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the city is 20,833. The city is the county seat of Santa Cruz County....
; and a second transoceanic route from Mazatlán, Sinaloa, on the Pacific to Brownsville, Texas
Brownsville, Texas
Brownsville is a city in the southernmost tip of the state of Texas, in the United States. It is located on the northern bank of the Rio Grande, directly north and across the border from Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico. Brownsville is the 16th largest city in the state of Texas with a population of...
, on the Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico is a partially landlocked ocean basin largely surrounded by the North American continent and the island of Cuba. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States, on the southwest and south by Mexico, and on the southeast by Cuba. In...
.
Although presidents 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...
and Buchanan
James Buchanan
James Buchanan, Jr. was the 15th President of the United States . He is the only president from Pennsylvania, the only president who remained a lifelong bachelor and the last to be born in the 18th century....
were both in favour of the arrangement, it was never ratified by the U.S. Senate on account of the impending Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...
in the United States.
Thought
Ocampo believed that education had to be grounded on the basic postulates of liberalismLiberalism
Liberalism is the belief in the importance of liberty and equal rights. Liberals espouse a wide array of views depending on their understanding of these principles, but generally, liberals support ideas such as constitutionalism, liberal democracy, free and fair elections, human rights,...
, democracy
Democracy
Democracy is generally defined as a form of government in which all adult citizens have an equal say in the decisions that affect their lives. Ideally, this includes equal participation in the proposal, development and passage of legislation into law...
, respect and tolerance for different beliefs, equality before the law, the elimination of privileges, and the supremacy of civil authority.
Death
Some months after retiring from public service, Melchor Ocampo was abducted from his hacienda in Michoacán by conservatives on orders from either Leonardo MárquezLeonardo Marquez
Leonardo Márquez was a Mexican general. He fought against the United States in the Intervention of 1846-1848 and was a prominent supporter of Antonio López de Santa Anna in the revolutionary movement of 1849...
or Félix María 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...
(reports differ) and, after a drumhead court-martial
Drumhead court-martial
A drumhead court-martial is a court-martial held in the field to hear urgent charges of offences committed in action. The term is said to originate from the use of a drumhead as an improvised writing table, altar for religious services, and a traditional gathering point for a regiment for orders...
, was executed by firing squad in Tepeji del Río, in what is today the state of Hidalgo, on 3 June 1861. His remains are interred in the Rotonda de los Hombres Ilustres in Mexico City
Mexico City
Mexico City is the Federal District , capital of Mexico and seat of the federal powers of the Mexican Union. It is a federal entity within Mexico which is not part of any one of the 31 Mexican states but belongs to the federation as a whole...
.
Legacy
Ocampo's best-known legacy is his 1859 epistleEpistle
An epistle is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didactic letter. The epistle genre of letter-writing was common in ancient Egypt as part of the scribal-school writing curriculum. The letters in the New Testament from Apostles to Christians...
on marriage, still read out by judges presiding over civil weddings in many states.
- The man, whose main sexual attributes are courage and strength, must give and shall always give the woman protection, food and direction... The woman, whose main attributes are self-denial, beauty, compassion, shrewdness and tenderness, must give and shall always give her husband obedience, affability, attention, comfort and advice, treating him with the reverence due to the person who supports and defends us.