Editing Benito Juárez (section)

==Reform War==
{{Main|Reform War}}

===Flight from the capital===
[[File:Los valientes no asesinan.jpg|thumb|Juárez was saved by [[Guillermo Prieto]] from execution by Conservative troops on 13 March 1858 in [[Guadalajara]].]]

In the face of increasing opposition however and with civil conflict already erupting in the state of [[Puebla]], the moderate President Comonfort sought to distance himself from the Constitution of 1857 and by December was already announcing that the Constitution ought to be reformed. Chief Justice Juárez rebuffed Comonfort's invitation to join him in abandoning the constitution.{{sfn|Burke|1894|p=72}} On 17 December, Conservatives led by [[Felix Zuloaga]] proclaimed the [[Plan of Tacubaya]], which dissolved congress and invited Comonfort to accept the presidency with extraordinary powers in a [[self-coup]]. Comonfort "felt that by temporarily assuming dictatorial powers he could hold the extremists on both sides in check and pursue a middle course, always his object. It soon became obvious that such an assumption was merely wishful thinking."<ref>Scholes, ''Mexican Politics During the Juárez Regime'', 23</ref> Comonfort accepted and had Juárez imprisoned in the capital.{{sfn|Burke|1894|p=73}}

Comonfort however had blundered in overestimating the support he could expect among the state governors. The strategic port state of [[Veracruz]] disowned the Plan of Tacubaya, and Comonfort realized that the country had begun to fragment into civil war. This was much more than he had intended, and he began to back away from the Conservatives. Juárez was released from prison on 11 January 1858,{{sfn|Burke|1894|p=73}} shortly before Comonfort himself left the country, the presidency thus passing over to Juárez who as Chief Justice was next in line to succeed the presidency.{{sfn|Burke|1894|p=75}} Meanwhile, the Conservatives elected Zuloaga as their president.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |last1=Vanderwood |first1=Paul |last2=Weis |first2=Robert |date=2018-05-24 |title=The Reforma Period in Mexico |url=https://oxfordre.com/latinamericanhistory/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.001.0001/acrefore-9780199366439-e-581 |access-date=2022-08-21 |website=Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Latin American History |language=en |doi=10.1093/acrefore/9780199366439.013.581|isbn=978-0-19-936643-9 }}</ref>

As Mexico City fell into the hands of the Conservatives, President Juárez transferred himself to [[Guanajuato City]], where on 19 January, he assembled his cabinet and vowed to defend the Constitution through war if necessary. The states of [[Tamaulipas]], [[Sinaloa]], [[Durango]], [[Jalisco]], [[Tabasco]], [[San Luis Potosi]], [[Oaxaca]], [[Guanajuato]], and [[Veracruz]] proclaimed their loyalty to the Juárez government.{{sfn|Burke|1894|p=75}}

The first year of the Reform War as it would come to be known, was marked by repeated Conservative victories, albeit indecisive ones. On 10 March 1858, the Liberals lost the [[Battle of Salamanca (1858)|Battle of Salamanca]], near Juárez’ base in [[Guanajuato City]], upon which he and his government retreated to [[Guadalajara]].{{sfn|Burke|1894|p=77}} While the Liberal government was ensconced there, the garrison mutinied against them, and Juárez along with his ministers which included [[Melchor Ocampo]] and [[Guillermo Prieto]] were imprisoned. The commander of the garrison, Colonel Landa, was far from having effective control over the entire city. Landa offered Juárez his liberty if he would order the remaining Liberal troops in Guadalajara to surrender. Juárez refused and Landa responded by ordering his troops to shoot the prisoners.{{sfn|Burke|1894|p=78}}

Guillermo Prieto intervened, and the soldiers hesitated. Landa did not repeat his orders, and it was at this point that a Liberal body of troops under Miguel Cruz de Aedo arrived in order to negotiate. Landa was allowed to leave Guadalajara, and the Liberal prisoners were released as well.{{sfn|Burke|1894|p=79}}

Juárez and his cabinet now made their way to the port of [[Manzanillo, Colima|Manzanillo]] from which they embarked for the Liberal stronghold of Veracruz by way of Panama. On 4 May 1858, Juárez arrived in Veracruz where the government of Manuel Gutiérrez Zamora was stationed with General [[Ignacio de la Llave]].<ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/mexicotodayencyc00coer |title=Mexico: An Encyclopedia of Contemporary Culture and History |publisher=abc-clio |year=2004 |isbn=978-1576071328 |location=Denver, Colorado; Oxford, England |pages=[https://archive.org/details/mexicotodayencyc00coer/page/n271 245]–246 |url-access=limited}}</ref> Upon his arrival Juárez was joined by his wife and greeted with enthusiasm by the population.{{sfn|Burke|1894|p=80}}

===Veracruz===
[[File:Veracruz 1869.png|thumb|The Atlantic Port of [[Veracruz (city)|Veracruz]] would serve as the Liberal capital during the Reform War.]]

One of Juárez's first challenges in the new capital was meeting French and English claims over loans that had been forced upon English and French merchants by the Liberal General Garza.{{sfn|Burke|1894|p=81}} Juárez warded off the threat of military intervention by recognizing the legitimacy of the claims.

The Conservatives meanwhile were suffering infighting, and after a series of victories, General [[Miguel Miramon]] became the new Conservative president in December 1858. President Miramon gathered an army and prepared a siege of Veracruz.{{sfn|Burke|1894|p=83}}

On 29 December 1858, President Juárez called upon the inhabitants of Veracruz to prepare for an attack by collecting arms, provisions, and organizing fortifications.{{sfn|Burke|1894|p=83}} The first Conservative siege of Veracruz failed in March, 1859.{{sfn|Burke|1894|p=85}}

Meanwhile, the Liberal armies were making advances upon Mexico City. General Degollado occupied the suburbs of Mexico City throughout February and March of 1859, only to be repulsed by the efforts of the Conservative General Marquez, who then gained infamy for shooting all of his prisoners of war in the suburb of Tacubaya.{{sfn|Burke|1894|p=87}}

Juárez remained entrenched in Vera Cruz. In the course of the war through 1859, the Liberals captured Mazatlan and Colima. By April, the United States had recognized the Liberal government as the legitimate government of Mexico{{Sfn|Burke|1894|p=89}} and sent [[Robert Milligan McLane]] as its official representative.

On 7 July 1859, Juárez laid out an agenda of legislation decreeing the ''de jure'' separation of church and state, the greater independence of the judiciary, the expansion of affordable education, a program of road construction, a program of railroad construction, financial reform, the reduction of duties, the encouragement of foreign commerce, the subdivision of great estates to encourage peasant proprietorship, and the encouragement of immigration.{{sfn|Burke|1894|p=94}}

On 12 July, a series of anti-clerical laws were passed adding upon those that had already been implemented as part of the Constitution of 1857. The properties of the Catholic Church were almost entirely nationalized, the responsibility of carrying out marriages was completely removed from the Catholic Church and was declared to be a purely civil contract, and the registration of births and deaths was also removed from the Church and handed over to the state.{{sfn|Burke|1894|p=94-95}} Furthermore, monasteries were dissolved although nunneries were allowed to remain with the condition that they accept no more novices.{{sfn|Burke|1894|p=95-96}}

===McLane-Ocampo Treaty===
[[File:Batalla de San Miguel Calpulalpan.jpg|thumb|The [[Battle of Calpulalpan]] which decisively ended the Reform War in favor of the Liberals. ]]

The U.S. at this time was seeking a route for transit from the Caribbean to the Pacific Ocean, and the [[Isthmus of Tehuantepec]] was the narrowest crossing in Mexico between the bodies of water. Juárez needing allies against the Conservatives, and his government proceeded to negotiate and ratify the [[McLane–Ocampo Treaty|McLane-Ocampo Treaty]] by December 1859. The treaty would have granted the United States perpetual extraterritorial rights for its citizens and its military through key strategic routes in Mexico. The treaty however, ultimately was rejected by the United States Senate.

The American recognition of the Juárez government at Veracruz also led the United States to defend it against another one of Miramon's siege attempts. Towards the end of 1859, the Conservative government commissioned two gun boats to depart from Cuba and attack Veracruz while Miramon attacked from the land, but they were seized by the U.S. Navy as pirates.{{sfn|Burke|1894|p=92}}

===Liberal victory===
The year 1860 was one of increasing Liberal victories and Miramon once again indecisively attacked Veracruz in March. In September, the Juárez government suffered a scandal when the Liberal General [[Santos Degollado]] raided a mule train of money being sent to European merchants.{{sfn|Burke|1894|p=104}} Juárez made efforts to recover the money and gave orders for restitution.{{sfn|Burke|1894|p=106}}

As an inevitable Liberal victory approached, Juárez issued a decree on 6 November 1860, fixing the date of presidential and congressional elections for the following January, with the newly elected congress scheduled to meet on 19 February.{{sfn|Burke|1894|p=109}}

After Guadalajara was captured on 20 December 1860, the Liberal armies had an unrestricted path back towards Mexico City. Liberal troops entered the capital on Christmas Day 1860 without encountering any military Conservative resistance.{{sfn|Burke|1894|p=110}}