Career
He was born in 1812 in Puebla de los Ángeles, in the state of Puebla, to French parents. He participated in the Mexican-American War. He was president of Mexico from 11 December 1855 to 21 January 1858. During his term as president, Benito Juárez served as president of the Supreme Court of Mexico.
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, 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 In exchange, the Catholic Church repealed the March 1857 excommunication decree for those who adhered to the new plan.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 17 December 1857, anti-constitutional forces led by General Felix Zuloaga 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 was put behind bars for several days.
On 11 January 1858, General Zuloaga demanded the ouster of the President. Comonfort resigned, and according to 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 13 November after being attacked by a group of bandits.
Read more about this topic: Ignacio Comonfort
Famous quotes containing the word career:
“He was at a starting point which makes many a man’s career a fine subject for betting, if there were any gentlemen given to that amusement who could appreciate the complicated probabilities of an arduous purpose, with all the possible thwartings and furtherings of circumstance, all the niceties of inward balance, by which a man swings and makes his point or else is carried headlong.”
—George Eliot [Mary Ann (or Marian)
“I began my editorial career with the presidency of Mr. Adams, and my principal object was to render his administration all the assistance in my power. I flattered myself with the hope of accompanying him through [his] voyage, and of partaking in a trifling degree, of the glory of the enterprise; but he suddenly tacked about, and I could follow him no longer. I therefore waited for the first opportunity to haul down my sails.”
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““Never hug and kiss your children! Mother love may make your children’s infancy unhappy and prevent them from pursuing a career or getting married!” That’s total hogwash, of course. But it shows on extreme example of what state-of-the-art “scientific” parenting was supposed to be in early twentieth-century America. After all, that was the heyday of efficiency experts, time-and-motion studies, and the like.”
—Lawrence Kutner (20th century)