Miguel Lerdo de Tejada was a Mexican statesman, a leader of the Revolution of Ayutla, and author of the Lerdo Law, extinguishing the right of corporations, including the Roman Catholic Church and indigenous communities, from holding land
Background
Miguel Lerdo was born on July 6, 1812 in the port city of Veracruz. His father was of Spanish blood and moderately successful as a merchant; the belief exists that he may have been a friend of Antonio López de Santa Ana when both families later lived in Jalapa.
Career
In 1853, although still a federalist, Lerdo supported Santa Ana for the presidency and was a member of the commission which called Santa Ana home from exile. Lerdo later served in Santa Ana's Ministry of Public Works.
The Mexican Church appealed to the papacy, but the law gave them only 3 months in which to sell. With the clergy refusing to bend, the government began to confiscate and sell Church lands. The clergy rebelled openly. Lerdo, as the author of the hated law, was disliked by the Conservative forces but became a hero to many Liberals, who wanted to make him president.
In 1857 the Conservatives seized Mexico City; Lerdo escaped and joined Benito Juárez in Veracruz. During the Three Year War (1857 - 1860) Lerdo was one of the most prominent Liberal leaders, serving as minister of the Treasury and as a negotiator with the United States for the sale of lower California (Maclane-Ocampo Treaty).
In 1860 he quarreled with Melchor Ocampo over the direction which the sale of Church lands was to take and retired to private life to prevent an open break within the Liberal party. He had also disagreed with Juárez in 1860 over the suspension of the foreign debt, which Lerdo heartily advocated and Juárez at that time opposed.
In November 1860 the Veracruz government called for presidential and congressional elections, and Lerdo emerged as the candidate of a large Liberal faction and a serious rival of Juárez. Although personally attacked by Ocampo and other prominent Juáristas, he remained a threat.
On March 22, 1861, Lerdo died suddenly at his home in Mexico City.
Politics
Both he and his younger brother, Sebastián Lerdo de Tejada, became leaders of Mexico's Liberal Party. After Santa Ana's overthrow, Lerdo, always a Liberal, easily collaborated in the government of Ignacio Comonfort, serving as his minister of finance.