Melchor Ocampo (5 January 1814 – 3 June 1861) was a Mexican lawyer, scientist, and politician. A
mestizo
(; ; fem. ) is a term used for racial classification to refer to a person of mixed European and Indigenous American ancestry. In certain regions such as Latin America, it may also refer to people who are culturally European even though thei ...
and a radical
liberal, he was fiercely
anticlerical, perhaps an
atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
, and his early writings against the Catholic Church in Mexico gained him a reputation as a leading liberal thinker. Ocampo has been considered the heir to
José María Luis Mora, the premier liberal intellectual of the early republic. He served in the administration of
Benito Juárez
Benito Pablo Juárez García (; 21 March 1806 – 18 July 1872) was a Mexican liberal politician and lawyer who served as the 26th president of Mexico from 1858 until his death in office in 1872. As a Zapotec, he was the first indigenous pre ...
and negotiated a controversial agreement with the United States, the
McLane-Ocampo Treaty. The Mexican state where his hometown of
Maravatío
Maravatío is a municipality in the Mexican state of Michoacán, representing 1.17% of its land area, or 691.55 km2.
Etymology
The modern word Maravatío comes from the Purépecha word Marhabatio, meaning a precious place or thing.
Hist ...
is located was later renamed
Michoacán de Ocampo
Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo (; Purépecha: ), officially the Free and Sovereign State of Michoacán de Ocampo ( es, Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo), is one of the 32 states which comprise the Federal Entities of M ...
in his honor.
Early life
Melchor Ocampo was perhaps orphaned and left abandoned at the gate of a hacienda of a wealthy woman, Doña Francisca Xaviera Tapia, who raised him as her own and bequeathed him her property.
Ocampo studied at the Roman Catholic seminary in
Morelia, Michoacán
Morelia (; from 1545 to 1828 known as Valladolid) is a city and municipal seat of the municipality of Morelia in the north-central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. The city is in the Guayangareo Valley and is the capital and larg ...
, and later law at the Colegio Seminario de México (Universidad Pontificia). He began working in a law office in 1833. For unknown reasons, he left the practice of law and returned to his hacienda, perhaps because of its imminent bankruptcy. In 1840, he traveled to France, where he was influenced by liberal and
anticlerical ideas of the
Enlightenment following the
French Revolution
The French Revolution ( ) was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are conside ...
. He returned after a year to Michoacán to work his lands, practice law, investigate the region's flora and fauna, and study the local
indigenous languages. More importantly, he entered politics in Michoacan, in opposition to
Antonio López de Santa Anna
Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón (; 21 February 1794 – 21 June 1876),Callcott, Wilfred H., "Santa Anna, Antonio Lopez De,''Handbook of Texas Online'' Retrieved 18 April 2017. usually known as Santa Ann ...
.
Politics
Ocampo was elected to the
Chamber of Deputies
The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures.
Description
Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...
in 1842. In 1844,
Manuel Gómez Pedraza became
president of Mexico
The president of Mexico ( es, link=no, Presidente de México), officially the president of the United Mexican States ( es, link=no, Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is the head of state and head of government of Mexico. Under the ...
and appointed Ocampo
Governor of Michoacán. during the
U.S. Invasion (1846–48). He was an activist governor, reorganizing the state treasury, building roads, proposing the founding of schools, and improving the conditions of the national guard in Michoacán. During the Mexican–American War he recruited troops without conscription or increased taxes, but solely by persuasion. Ocampo urged that the
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ( es, Tratado de Guadalupe Hidalgo), officially the Treaty of Peace, Friendship, Limits, and Settlement between the United States of America and the United Mexican States, is the peace treaty that was signed on 2 ...
that ended the Mexican–American War be rejected. As governor, Ocampo appointed
Santos Degollado the rector of the Colegio de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, where revolutionary
Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla
Don Miguel Gregorio Antonio Ignacio Hidalgo y Costilla y Gallaga Mandarte Villaseñor (8 May 1753 – 30 July 1811), more commonly known as Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla or Miguel Hidalgo (), was a Catholic priest, leader of the Mexican W ...
had served prior to his exile to the village of Dolores. Degollado later was murdered seeking the murderers of his patron Ocampo.
Ocampo's beliefs were fiercely
anticlerical and challenged the power of the
Roman Catholic Church in Mexico. He viewed the church as sucking wealth from indigenous people with high clerical fees for ecclesiastical services, and impeding progress. He pointed to high clerical fees for ecclesiastical services and the proliferation of fiestas, which encouraged idleness and drunkenness. These provided income for local priests as well as further impoverishing indigenous people who bought candles, incense, and fireworks. Clerical fees for Christian sacraments meant that birth, marriage, and death generated income for priests who charged for baptism, holy matrimony, and burial. A vivid story he related about this practice concerned a peasant who could not afford the burial fees for his son and asked for a free burial. "The priest refused, contending that 'this was what he lived on.' The poor man had asked, 'Sir, what shall I do with my dead son?' and the priest had answered him, 'Salt him and eat him'." The church had the responsibility for education in Mexico and like other aspects of the church's role in Mexico, access was based on the ability to pay. Ocampo advocated free, public, secular education in Mexico. He believed that education had to be grounded on the basic postulates of
liberalism
Liberalism is a Political philosophy, political and moral philosophy based on the Individual rights, rights of the individual, liberty, consent of the governed, political equality and equality before the law."political rationalism, hostilit ...
,
democracy
Democracy (From grc, δημοκρατία, dēmokratía, ''dēmos'' 'people' and ''kratos'' 'rule') is a form of government in which the people have the authority to deliberate and decide legislation (" direct democracy"), or to choose g ...
, respect and tolerance for different beliefs, equality before the law, the elimination of privileges, and the supremacy of civil authority. Many of these ideas were later codified in the
Reform laws and the liberal
Constitution of 1857
The Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1857 ( es, Constitución Federal de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos de 1857), often called simply the Constitution of 1857, was the liberal constitution promulgated in 1857 by Constituent Co ...
.
He began a published polemical debate with a priest or a group of priests in Michoacán about the reform of clerical fees. Historian
Enrique Krauze
Enrique Krauze ( Mexico City, September 16, 1947) is a Mexican historian, essayist, editor, and entrepreneur. He has written more than twenty books, some of which are: ''Mexico: Biography of Power'', ''Redeemers'', and ''El pueblo soy yo'' (''I ...
suggests that the priest was probably Clemente de Jesús Mungía, the bishop of
Morelia
Morelia (; from 1545 to 1828 known as Valladolid) is a city and municipal seat of the municipality of Morelia in the north-central part of the state of Michoacán in central Mexico. The city is in the Guayangareo Valley and is the capital and lar ...
, the state capital. Ocampo was subsequently deposed as governor and was forced to flee the country by
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Antonio López de Santa Anna
Antonio de Padua María Severino López de Santa Anna y Pérez de Lebrón (; 21 February 1794 – 21 June 1876),Callcott, Wilfred H., "Santa Anna, Antonio Lopez De,''Handbook of Texas Online'' Retrieved 18 April 2017. usually known as Santa Ann ...
, taking refuge first in
Cuba
Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribb ...
and then in the U.S. city of
, Louisiana. In New Orleans he met a group of fellow liberal exiles, including
Benito Juárez
Benito Pablo Juárez García (; 21 March 1806 – 18 July 1872) was a Mexican liberal politician and lawyer who served as the 26th president of Mexico from 1858 until his death in office in 1872. As a Zapotec, he was the first indigenous pre ...
. Ocampo began to publish pamphlets to promote political change in Mexico. He returned to Mexico in 1855 following the successful ouster of Santa Anna under the
Plan de Ayutla. The plan had called for the overthrow of Santa Anna and the installation of the liberal general
Juan Álvarez
Juan Nepomuceno Álvarez Hurtado de Luna, generally known as Juan Álvarez, (27 January 1790 – 21 August 1867) was a general, long-time caudillo (regional leader) in southern Mexico, and president of Mexico for two months in 1855, following ...
as president of Mexico. With Álvarez's victory, Ocampo served briefly in his cabinet as foreign minister, but when Álvarez stepped down and
Ignacio Comonfort
Ignacio Gregorio Comonfort de los Ríos (; 12 March 1812 – 13 November 1863), known as Ignacio Comonfort, was a Mexican politician and soldier who was also president during one of the most eventful periods in 19th century Mexican history: La ...
became president, Ocampo returned to Michoacán. He was then elected to the Constitutional Convention that drafted the liberal
Constitution of 1857
The Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1857 ( es, Constitución Federal de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos de 1857), often called simply the Constitution of 1857, was the liberal constitution promulgated in 1857 by Constituent Co ...
, which included strong provisions for the
separation of Church and State
The separation of church and state is a philosophical and jurisprudential concept for defining political distance in the relationship between religious organizations and the state. Conceptually, the term refers to the creation of a secular s ...
.
Juárez Administration (1858–1861)
During Benito Juárez's administration during the civil war between liberals and conservatives, known as the
War of the Reform
The Reform War, or War of Reform ( es, Guerra de Reforma), also known as the Three Years' War ( es, Guerra de los Tres Años), was a civil war in Mexico lasting from January 11, 1858 to January 11, 1861, fought between liberals and conservativ ...
, Ocampo served in various high posts, including Minister of the Interior, with responsibility also for foreign affairs, defense, and the treasury. Ocampo became embroiled in a bitter dispute about the implementation of the
Lerdo Law
The Lerdo Law ( Spanish: ''Ley Lerdo'') was the common name for the Reform law that was formally known as the Confiscation of Law and Urban Ruins of the Civil and Religious Corporations of Mexico. It targeted not only property owned by the Catho ...
, which called for the sale of property of corporations, meaning the Roman Catholic Church and indigenous communities which was aimed at undermining the economic power of the church and creating a yeoman peasantry of small landowners. Ocampo charged that the law was counterproductive, strengthening the power of the church and preventing the acquisition of land by those of modest means.
The most controversial act of Ocampo was negotiating the
McLane-Ocampo Treaty in 1859, when he served the Liberal government of Benito Juárez. The regime was strapped for cash to pursue the
War of the Reform
The Reform War, or War of Reform ( es, Guerra de Reforma), also known as the Three Years' War ( es, Guerra de los Tres Años), was a civil war in Mexico lasting from January 11, 1858 to January 11, 1861, fought between liberals and conservativ ...
against conservatives. In the
port of Veracruz, on 14 December 1859, acting on Juárez's orders, he and
U.S. Ambassador
Ambassadors of the United States are persons nominated by the president to serve as the country's diplomatic representatives to foreign nations, international organizations, and as ambassadors-at-large. Under Article II, Section 2 of the U. ...
Robert Milligan McLane
Robert Milligan McLane (June 23, 1815 – April 16, 1898) was an American politician, military officer, and diplomat. He served as U.S. minister to Mexico, France, and China, as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Maryland's ...
signed the treaty. This controversial treaty would have awarded the United States perpetual transit rights, for its armies and merchandise, through three zones of Mexico's territory: the
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. Before the opening of the Panama Canal, it was a major overland transport route known simply as the T ...
; a corridor running from
Guaymas, Sonora
Guaymas () is a city in Guaymas Municipality, in the southwest part of the state of Sonora, in northwestern Mexico. The city is south of the state capital of Hermosillo, and from the U.S. border. The municipality is located on the Gulf of Cal ...
, to
Nogales, Arizona
Nogales (English: or , ; ) is a city in Santa Cruz County, Arizona. The population was 20,837 at the 2010 census and estimated 20,103 in 2019. Nogales forms part of the larger Tucson–Nogales combined statistical area, with a total populatio ...
; and a second transoceanic route from
Mazatlán, Sinaloa, on the Pacific to
Brownsville, Texas
Brownsville () is a city in Cameron County in the U.S. state of Texas. It is on the western Gulf Coast in South Texas, adjacent to the border with Matamoros, Mexico. The city covers , and has a population of 186,738 as of the 2020 census. I ...
, on the
Gulf of Mexico
The Gulf of Mexico ( es, Golfo de México) is an ocean basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, largely surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United ...
. The treaty was aimed at getting U.S. recognition for the
Juárez government and gain the regime two million dollars in much needed funding. Ocampo did attach an appendix, attempting to protect Mexican sovereignty. Although presidents
Juárez and
Buchanan Buchanan may refer to:
People
* Buchanan (surname)
Places Africa
* Buchanan, Liberia, a large coastal town
Antarctica
* Buchanan Point, Laurie Island
Australia
* Buchanan, New South Wales
* Buchanan, Northern Territory, a locality
* Bucha ...
were both in favor of the arrangement, the
U.S. Senate rejected it on 31 May 1860 on account of the impending
Civil War
A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country).
The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...
in the United States. Ocampo traveled to the U.S. to ascertain if that it would support the liberal cause if they were unable to defeat the conservatives on the battlefield. The treaty exacerbated the rancor between Ocampo and
Miguel Lerdo de Tejada and Ocampo resigned from Juárez's cabinet in January 1860,. Juárez rejected the treaty in November 1860.
With the defeat of the conservatives in the
War of the Reform
The Reform War, or War of Reform ( es, Guerra de Reforma), also known as the Three Years' War ( es, Guerra de los Tres Años), was a civil war in Mexico lasting from January 11, 1858 to January 11, 1861, fought between liberals and conservativ ...
in 1860, Mexican presidential elections were held. Ocampo might have been a candidate, but backed Juárez against his rival Miguel Lerdo. "Juárez may have needed the such help, for even though president, he was viewed by many as second rate in comparison to Ocampo and Lerdo." By 1861, both Miguel Lerdo and Ocampo were both dead, with Ocampo murdered by conservative guerrillas after he returned to civilian life.
Death
Some months after retiring from public service, Melchor Ocampo was abducted from his hacienda in Michoacán by conservative guerrillas on orders from either
Leonardo Márquez
Leonardo Márquez Araujo (8 January 1820 – 5 July 1913) was a conservative Mexican general. He led forces in opposition to the Liberals led by Benito Juarez, but following defeat in the reform war was forced to guerilla warfare. Later, he help ...
or
Félix María Zuloaga or both (reports differ). Historian
Enrique Krauze
Enrique Krauze ( Mexico City, September 16, 1947) is a Mexican historian, essayist, editor, and entrepreneur. He has written more than twenty books, some of which are: ''Mexico: Biography of Power'', ''Redeemers'', and ''El pueblo soy yo'' (''I ...
gives a vivid account of Ocampo's last days, saying that Ocampo's captors allowed him to write his will, where he recognized his natural daughters and identified their mother, information the children did not know. Ocampo was executed by firing squad on 3 June 1861 at the Hacienda of Tlaltengo,
Tepeji del Río, in what is today the state of
Hidalgo. After the firing squad, his execution included "the finishing bullet in the head,
ndthey hung the body of Melchor Ocampo from a tree." His loyal follower,
Santos Degollado, pursued Ocampo's executioners and "was
himself
A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun that refers to another noun or pronoun (its antecedent) within the same sentence.
In the English language specifically, a reflexive pronoun will end in ''-self'' or ''-selves'', and refer to a previously ...
ambushed, captured, and executed by the conservatives. Ocampo's murder was a scandal, and Juárez's government took "more extreme measures" to repress the conservatives.
[Stevens, "Melchor Ocampo," p. 214.] The remains of Ocampo are interred in the
Rotonda de los Hombres Ilustres in Mexico City.
Legacy
He participated in writing new Civil Laws, that in the end would give sense to liberal politics and would end up amending the Constitution from 1857, in order to make civil and political matters independent from ecclesiastic ones. On July 23, 1859, D. Benito Juarez, interim president then, issues, at the Port of Veracruz, the "Civil Matrimony Law", which has 31 Articles. In Article 15, as a way of ceremonial formalization, the famous epistle, attributed to Melchor Ocampo, was included; and which reads as follows:
:::''I declare on behalf of Law and Society that you are united in legitimate matrimony with all rights and privileges granted by law, and with the obligations imposed; and also declare:''
:::“''That this is the only moral mean to establish a family, to conserve the human species and to make up for the imperfections of an individual who cannot provide for itself to reach mankind’s perfection. This doesn’t exist in a single person, but in spousal duality. Those married must be and will be sacred to each other, even more than what they are to each self.''
:::''The man, whose main sexual attributes are courage and strength, must give and shall always give the woman protection, food, and direction, treating her always as the most delicate, sensible, and finest part of himself, and with magnanimity and generous benevolence that a strong being owes the weak, essentially when this weak delivers to himself, and also when Society has entrusted him.''
:::''The woman, whose main attributes are self denial, beauty, compassion, shrewdness and tenderness, must give and shall always give the husband obedience, pleasantness, assistance, comfort, and advice; treating him always with the veneration owed to the person supporting and defending us, and with the delicacy of whom doesn’t want to exasperate the abrupt, irritable and harsh part of him, which is of his nature.''
:::''One to another are owed and shall always give respect, deference, fidelity, trust, and tenderness; both will take care of what they were expecting from each other by joining together, and that this will not be contradicted by this union. That both shall be prudent and attenuate their faults. You shall never say insults to each other, because insults among the married dishonors the one saying them, and proves the lack of judgment or common sense of election; and much less shall physically mistreat each other, because it is vile and cowardly to use force.''
:::''Both shall prepare with the study, friendly and mutual correction of their defects, up to the supreme judgeship of being family parents, in order to when both become that, your children can find in you good example and good conduct to serve as role models. The doctrine that you inspire in these tender and loved bonds of affection will make your luck to prosper or to be adverse; and the happiness or misfortune of your children will be the parent’s reward or punishment, fortune or sadness.''
:::''Society blesses, believes, and praises good parents, for the great good they do to it, for giving them good and courteous citizens; and the same properly censures and despises those, that by abandonment, or misgiving affection, or by setting bad example, corrupt the sacred depot that nature trusted them with, for granting them such children.''
:::''And last, when Society sees that such said persons did not deserve to be elevated to have the honor to become parents, but merely should have lived subject to guardianship, incapable of conducting themselves with dignity, grieves for establishing with its authority the union of a man and a woman who have failed to be free and to conduct themselves towards good.”''
(Translated by
TRANSFLO
This is Ocampo's best-known legacy from 1859, which is known as the
epistle
An epistle (; el, ἐπιστολή, ''epistolē,'' "letter") 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 par ...
on marriage, still read out nowadays by judges presiding over civil weddings in many states.
Epístola de Melchor Ocampo
See also
*
War of the Reform
The Reform War, or War of Reform ( es, Guerra de Reforma), also known as the Three Years' War ( es, Guerra de los Tres Años), was a civil war in Mexico lasting from January 11, 1858 to January 11, 1861, fought between liberals and conservativ ...
*
Liberalism in Mexico
Liberalism in Mexico was part of a broader nineteenth-century political trend affecting Western Europe and the Americas, including the United States, that challenged entrenched power. In Mexico, liberalism sought to make fundamental the equalit ...
Further reading
*Romero Flores, Jesús. ''Don Melchor Ocampo, el filósofo de la Reforma'', 2nd edition. (1953)
*Scholes, Walter V. ''Mexican Politics during the Juárez Regime''. Columbia: University of Missouri Press 1957.
*Sinkin, Richard N. ''The Mexican Reform, 1855–1876: A Study in Liberal Nation-Building''. Austin: University of Texas Press 1979.
*Valadés, José C. ''Don Melchor Ocampo, reformador de México'' (1954)
References
External links
Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ocampo, Melchor
1814 births
1861 deaths
19th-century Mexican politicians
1861 murders in North America
Liberalism in Mexico
Deaths by firearm in Mexico
Mexican deists
Mexican biologists
Members of the Chamber of Deputies (Mexico)
Presidents of the Chamber of Deputies (Mexico)
19th-century Mexican lawyers
Mexican murder victims
Mexican Secretaries of the Interior
Mexican Secretaries of Foreign Affairs
Mexican Secretaries of Economy
Governors of Michoacán
Politicians from Michoacán
Mexican people of the Mexican–American War
People murdered in Mexico
Critics of the Catholic Church
1850s in Mexico
1861 in Mexico