H.R. No. 84
 
 
 
R E S O L U T I O N
         
  WHEREAS, Benito Juarez, who was instrumental in bringing
 
  sweeping changes to Mexican government and society during the
 
  mid-19th century, was born on March 21, 1806; and
         
         WHEREAS, A Zapotec Indian and native of Oaxaca, Benito Juarez
 
  was a teenager when he gained the patronage of the family in whose
 
  home his sister was working as a servant; tutored privately at
 
  first, he graduated from the Franciscan seminary in Oaxaca in 1827
 
  and received a law degree from the Institute of Science and Art in
 
  1834; and
         
         WHEREAS, Attracted to politics at an early age, he spent
 
  virtually all of his adult life either in government or waging
 
  opposition; he served as a city councilman for Oaxaca from 1831 to
 
  1833, during which time he strongly supported Indian rights, and in
 
  the 1840s he served as a civil judge and federal deputy; from 1847
 
  to 1852 he held the governorship of Oaxaca; and
         
         WHEREAS, Driven into exile when Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna
 
  came to power in 1853, Sr. Juarez joined the successful
 
  revolutionary movement against him; after Santa Anna himself was
 
  forced into exile, Sr. Juarez became minister of justice, and while
 
  in that post he was responsible for a law that limited the
 
  jurisdiction of church courts to ecclesiastical cases; and
         
         WHEREAS, After serving again as governor of Oaxaca, this
 
  rising national leader became minister of the interior in November
 
  1857 and the next month took office as chief justice of the supreme
 
  court; when a military coup deposed the government, he became
 
  president, in accordance with the constitutional line of
 
  succession, and led the victorious resistance to the usurpers in
 
  the Reform War of 1858-1861; and
         
         WHEREAS, Benito Juarez was elected to the presidency in 1861;
 
  soon, however, he found himself fighting the French, who captured
 
  Mexico City in 1863; once again he and his troops prevailed, with
 
  the United States clearly favoring their cause, and in 1867 he was
 
  again elected president; and
         
         WHEREAS, Known for his commitment to the indigenous people of
 
  Mexico and for his support for equal rights and economic reform,
 
  President Juarez died while working at his desk in the National
 
  Palace on July 17, 1872; in 1888, the city of El Paso del Norte was
 
  renamed Ciudad Juarez in his honor; and
         
         WHEREAS, Benito Juarez is a towering figure in the history of
 
  Mexico; he was instrumental in the transfer of political power from
 
  creoles to mestizos, in asserting the authority of civil law, and in
 
  preserving the nation's autonomy in the face of foreign invasion,
 
  and it is a privilege to honor the memory of this national hero;
 
  now, therefore, be it
         
         RESOLVED, That the House of Representatives of the 82nd Texas
 
  Legislature hereby pay special tribute to the life of Mexican hero
 
  and president Benito Juarez on March 21, 2011, the 205th
 
  anniversary of his birth.
 
  Alonzo
 
  ______________________________
  Speaker of the House     
 
         I certify that H.R. No. 84 was unanimously adopted by a rising
  vote of the House on February 24, 2011.
 
  ______________________________
  Chief Clerk of the House