Ignacio Ramírez (politician)
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Juan Ignacio Paulino Ramírez Calzada (22 June 1818 – 15 June 1879), more commonly known as Ignacio Ramírez, was a 19th century Mexican liberal intellectual and statesman. He was known for publishing various newspapers championing progressive causes, and he would often use the pen name El Nigromante, (the Necromancer). He served in more than one presidential cabinet and would go on to become president of the supreme court. Ramírez has been described as the most radical and progressist of all 19th century Mexican liberals, as he was "jacobin", an intransigent atheist, ecologist, "feminist", indigenist, and a social fighter. He belongs to the generation of Mexican liberals of
La Reforma In History of Mexico, the history of Mexico, (from Spanish language, Spanish: "The Reform"), or reform laws, refers to a pivotal set of laws, including a Federal Constitution of the United Mexican States of 1857, new constitution, that were ...
; which includes other intellectuals such as Ponciano Arriaga, Miguel Lerdo de Tejada, Melchor Ocampo, and Guillermo Prieto. While the
Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...
consistently supported anti-clerical measures, Ramírez was also one of its few partisans who openly expressed atheism.


Early life

Ramírez was born at San Miguel el Grande in
Guanajuato Guanajuato, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Guanajuato, is one of the 32 states that make up the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Guanajuato, 46 municipalities and its cap ...
on 22 June 1818. His father, Lino Ramírez, had already been a noted liberal, who was named as vice governor of
Querétaro Querétaro, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Querétaro, is one of the Political divisions of Mexico, 32 federal entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Querétaro, 18 municipalities. Its capital city is Querétaro Cit ...
during the presidency of the progressive Valentin Gomez Farias. Lino educated the young Ignacio from an early age and passed on to him his liberal ideals. He began his studies at Santiago de Querétaro, before transferring to the Colegio of San Gregorio in Mexico City. Ramírez's thesis at the Academy of San Juan de Letrán in Mexico City consisted of defending the proposition that "there is no God; natural beings sustain themselves". The faculty including José María Lacunza congratulated him on his discourse, but it still caused a public scandal. In 1845, he began to publish a newspaper called ''Don Simplico''. The paper was shut down in 1846 under the conservative government of Mariano Paredes, and Ramírez found himself arrested along with fellow contributors Guillermo Prieto and Manuel Payno.


Early political career

It was at this point that the
Mexican–American War The Mexican–American War (Spanish language, Spanish: ''guerra de Estados Unidos-México, guerra mexicano-estadounidense''), also known in the United States as the Mexican War, and in Mexico as the United States intervention in Mexico, ...
broke out. After a series of military failures, the Mariano Paredes administration would fall later in the year and meanwhile the liberal Francisco Modesto de Olaguíbel Martinón had become governor of the State of Mexico. Modesto appointed Ramírez to the state government, and he served on the governor's council. The federal government then named Ramírez as the administrator of the territory of
Tlaxcala Tlaxcala, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Tlaxcala, is one of the 32 federal entities that comprise the Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided into Municipalities of Tlaxcala, 60 municipalities and t ...
, where he attempted to organize the war effort, but he was forced to resign and leave Tlaxcala in the wake of the controversy that resulted after he cancelled the annual religious celebration of the
Virgin of Ocotlán The Virgin of Ocotlán is a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Ocotlán, Tlaxcala, Mexico. The Virgin of Ocotlán is the patron saint of Tlaxcala and the neighbouring state of Puebla. She was granted a decree of canonical coronation by Pop ...
. Meanwhile the war with the United States had ended. Ramírez moved to
Toluca Toluca , officially Toluca de Lerdo , is the States of Mexico, state capital of the State of Mexico as well as the seat of the Municipality of Toluca. Toluca has a population of 910,608 as of the 2020 census. The city forms the core of the Grea ...
, where he worked as a professor and he founded the radical liberal newspaper ''Temis y Deucalión''. The paper caused Ramírez to once again get in trouble with the law, but he was ultimately acquitted of any wrongdoing. In 1852, Francisco de la Vega y Rábago, the governor of Sinaloa, appointed Ramírez to the state government, but Ramírez stepped down and fled to
Baja California Baja California, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Baja California, is a state in Mexico. It is the northwesternmost of the 32 federal entities of Mexico. Before becoming a state in 1952, the area was known as the North Territory of B ...
after a conservative government under Santa Anna came to power at Mexico City in 1853. Nonetheless Ramírez stayed in the country and once again found a job teaching, resulting in his imprisonment. Ramírez remained in prison for eleven months until Santa Anna was overthrown by the
Plan of Ayutla The Plan of Ayutla was the 1854 written plan aimed at removing conservative, centralist President Antonio López de Santa Anna from control of Mexico during the Second Federal Republic of Mexico period. Initially, it seemed little different from ...
in 1853. Ramírez met one of the leaders of the Ayutla Plan, and future president of Mexico, Ignacio Comonfort, who made Ramírez his secretary, but they parted ways over differences in politics, Comonfort being much more of a moderate than Ramírez.


La Reforma

Ramírez then joined a more radical faction of liberals including his old colleague Guillermo Prieto, Melchor Ocampo, and future president Benito Juárez. He participated in the pivotal Constitutional Congress of 1856 to 1857, as a representatives for the state of Sinaloa. The congress would go on to draft a new constitution for the nation which would ultimately trigger almost ten years of civil war. He also founded another progressive newspaper, El Clamor Progresista which endorsed the minister Miguel Lerdo de Tejada for the presidency. The promulgation of the
Constitution of 1857 The Political Constitution of the Mexican Republic of 1857 (), often called simply the Constitution of 1857, was the Liberalism in Mexico, liberal constitution promulgated in 1857 by Constituent Congress of Mexico during the presidency of Ignacio ...
in September of that year produced enormous controversy, and ultimately the moderate Comonfort joined a self coup instigated by the conservative general Felix Zuloaga triggering the Reform War. Comonfort would ultimately back out of the plan and the constitutional presidency passed to Benito Juarez who managed to set up his capital in Vera Cruz. Throughout the war Ramírez found himself imprisoned multiple times, but he was freed after the moderate conservative Manuel Robles Pezuela overthrow Zuloaga and declared a prisoner amnestry. Ramírez found himself in Vera Cruz, and he collaborated with the Juarez government in passing the Reform Laws. By the end of 1860, the liberals had won the war. The triumphant Juarez government moved back to Mexico City and Ramírez was named to the cabinet, along with Guillermo Prieto. Ramírez would serve as head of the joint Ministry of Justice, Public Instruction, and Development through which he pursued various liberal reforms.


Second French Intervention

He stepped down from his post in mid 1861. At the time, President Juarez had cancelled the payment of foreign debts in response to a financial crisis and Mexico was threatened with foreign intervention by France, Spain, and England. With Guillermo Prieto, Ignacio Altamirano, and Jose Iglesias, Ramírez then founded another newspaper called ''La Chinaca'' which was intended to lift the national spirit in the face of the impending foreign invasion. A French invasion finally began in April, 1862, but was temporariliy repulsed after the Battle of Puebla in May. The Mexican congress met in April 1863 during which Ramírez advocated the nationalization of the monasteries at Puebla to fund the war effort, advice which was accepted and carried out. Meanwhile French reinforcements had arrived, and Mexico City was taken in June, 1863. Ramírez left the capital and headed towards Sinaloa where he continued to publish progressive periodicals attacking the
Second French intervention in Mexico The second French intervention in Mexico (), also known as the Second Franco-Mexican War (1861–1867), was a military invasion of the Republic of Mexico by the French Empire of Napoleon III, purportedly to force the collection of Mexican de ...
and the establishment of the Second Mexican Empire. He returned to Mexico City but was discovered and imprisoned by the Imperial government after which he was transferred to Yucatan. Ramírez was freed when the Empire fell in 1867.


Later life

After the fall of the Empire, Ramírez figured amongst the liberal opposition to
Benito Juárez Benito Pablo Juárez García (; 21 March 1806 – 18 July 1872) was a Mexican politician, military commander, and lawyer who served as the 26th president of Mexico from 1858 until his death in office in 1872. A Zapotec peoples, Zapotec, he w ...
who had held on to the presidency for ten years. Ramírez was elected president of the Supreme Court and was also named Minister of Justice by President
Porfirio Díaz José de la Cruz Porfirio Díaz Mori (; ; 15 September 1830 – 2 July 1915) was a General (Mexico), Mexican general and politician who was the dictator of Mexico from 1876 until Mexican Revolution, his overthrow in 1911 seizing power in a Plan ...
. He died on 15 June 1879.


Works


Essays

Some of his renown studies and essays are: * "Dos lecciones inéditas sobre literatura" ("Two Unpublished Lessons on Literature", read at Instituto Políglota de Toluca) * ''Libros rudimental y progresivo para la enseñanza primaria'' (1873) * ''Lecciones de literatura'' (''Lessons on Literature'', 1884) * ''Estudios sobre literatura (Studies on Literature'')


Articles

He published famous periodistic articles in the following 19th century Mexican liberal newspapers: * ''Don Simplicio'' * ''Temis y Deucalión'' * ''El Siglo Diez y Nueve'' * ''El Clamor Progresista'' * ''La Insurrección'' * ''El Monitor Republicano'' * ''La Chinaca'' * ''La Estrella de Occidente'' * ''La Opinión'' * ''El Correo de México'' * ''El Mensajero''


See also

* Guillermo Prieto * Irreligion in Mexico * Liberalism in Mexico


References


External links


_ignacio.htm Biography – In Spanish
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramírez, Ignacio 1818 births 1879 deaths Mexican atheists Mexican male journalists 19th-century Mexican lawyers Secretaries of education of Mexico Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation justices Governors of Tlaxcala People from San Miguel de Allende Politicians from Guanajuato Writers from Guanajuato 19th-century Mexican journalists 19th-century Mexican male writers Liberalism in Mexico Burials at the Panteón de Dolores