Editing Benito Juárez (section)

==Early life and education==
[[File:Benito Juárez el día de su boda con Margarita Maza (derecha), acompañados por María Josefa Juárez (1843).jpg|left|thumb|Juárez with his sister María Josefa (in braids) (left) and wife [[Margarita Maza]], on the day of their marriage in 1843. Juárez was the first Mexican president to have been extensively photographed. This picture was taken just three years after photography was introduced to Mexico.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://memoricamexico.gob.mx/es/memorica/Benito_Juarez|title=Benito Juárez en el sesquicentenario de su muerte: 1872-2022|trans-title=Benito Juárez in the 150th anniversary of his death: 1872-2022|website=Memórica|language=es|access-date=19 May 2024}}</ref>]]
[[File:Museo de Sitio Casa de Juárez - 9.JPG|thumb|left|The Maza residence in Oaxaca City, where Juárez worked as a youth, is now known as Casa de Juárez and preserved as a museum.]]

Benito Juárez was born on 21 March 1806, in the village of [[San Pablo Guelatao]], [[Oaxaca]],<ref name=":Galeana19">{{harvnb|Galeana|2022|p=19}}</ref> located in the mountain range since named for him, the [[Sierra Juárez, Oaxaca|Sierra Juárez]]. It was a small settlement of about two hundred inhabitants, made up of straw huts, and a small church, the village being located at the edge of a mountain pond known for its picturesque transparent waters, and called ''La Laguna Encantada'', the enchanted pond.{{sfn|Burke|1894|p=51}}

His parents, Brígida García and Marcelino Juárez were [[Zapotec peoples|Zapotec]] peasants. He described his parents as "[[Indigenous peoples of Mexico|Indians]] from the primitive race of the country" ({{langx|es-MX|indios de la raza primitiva del país}}).<ref name="early years">{{cite web|url=http://historicaltextarchive.com/sections.php?op=viewarticle&artid=143|title=Juárez, Benito, on his early years|publisher=Historical Text Archive|access-date=2009-03-23}}</ref><ref name=":Galeana19"/> He had two older sisters, Josefa and Rosa. Juárez became an orphan at the age of 3.<ref name=":Galeana19"/> His grandparents also died shortly after, and Juárez was raised by his uncle Bernardino Juárez.<ref>{{cite book|editor=Stacy, Lee|title=Mexico and the United States|volume=1|publisher=Marshall Cavendish|year=2002|isbn=978-0-7614-7402-9|page=435|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DSzyMGh8pNwC&pg=PA435}}</ref>

Juárez worked in the cornfields and as a shepherd until the age of 12. Up until then Juárez had also been illiterate and could not speak Spanish{{sfn|Rivera Cambas|1873|p=591}} knowing then only his first language, [[Zapotec languages|Zapotec]]. However, his sister had previously moved to the city of [[Oaxaca City|Oaxaca]] for work, and that year Juárez moved to the city to attend school.<ref name="Presidencia">{{cite web|url=http://zedillo.presidencia.gob.mx/welcome/PAGES/culture/note_21mar.html|title=Juárez' Birthday|publisher=Sistema Internet de la Presidencia|access-date=2009-03-23|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222122711/http://zedillo.presidencia.gob.mx/welcome/PAGES/culture/note_21mar.html|archive-date=22 February 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> There he took a job as a domestic servant in the household of Antonio Maza, where his sister worked as a cook.<ref name="Presidencia" /><ref>{{harvnb|Galeana|2022|p=22}}</ref>

In 1818, while the [[Mexican War of Independence]] was ongoing, a 12-year-old Juárez entered domestic service under the lay Franciscan and bookbinder Antonio Salanueva.{{sfn|Burke|1894|p=52}} The young boy showed potential at primary school, upon which Salanueva sought to sponsor Juárez to enter a seminary to study for the priesthood.{{sfn|Rivera Cambas|1873|p=591}}

Juárez entered the seminary in Spring of 1821, only a few months before Mexico won its independence in September of the same year. He continued his theological studies for six years but eventually decided that he was not interested in the priesthood.{{citation needed|date=December 2023}} An Institute of Arts and Sciences had been founded by the Oaxacan state legislature in 1826, and Juárez transferred there in 1827. In 1829, Juárez was appointed a teacher of physics. In 1831, Juárez accepted the post of {{lang|es-MX|Regidor del Ayuntamiento}}, or judicial secretary to the municipal council of Oaxaca City.{{sfn|Burke|1894|p=55}} In 1832, he graduated from the Institute of Arts and Sciences with a law degree.{{sfn|Burke|1894|p=54}} He was eventually admitted to the bar on 13 January 1834.<ref name=":0" />