. Young folks' history of Mexico. eservation of anation, the downfall of which would prove its ruin. Atthat time it became evident to close observers that achampion of the oppressed had arisen. Among thosewho eloquently advocated the passage of this measurewas a young lawyer, named Juarez. Born of poor parents, in 1806, in a hill town ofOaxaca, Southern Mexico, Benito Juarez lived till he wastwelve years of age without being able to read, write,or even speak, the Spanish language. He was a trueMexican, a Zapotec Indian, of unadulterated blood. The 47B Mexico. race of Indians to which he belong
. Young folks' history of Mexico. eservation of anation, the downfall of which would prove its ruin. Atthat time it became evident to close observers that achampion of the oppressed had arisen. Among thosewho eloquently advocated the passage of this measurewas a young lawyer, named Juarez. Born of poor parents, in 1806, in a hill town ofOaxaca, Southern Mexico, Benito Juarez lived till he wastwelve years of age without being able to read, write,or even speak, the Spanish language. He was a trueMexican, a Zapotec Indian, of unadulterated blood. The 47B Mexico. race of Indians to which he belonged, the Zapotecs, hadnever been wholly conquered by the Spaniards; more thanonce have these Indios de las Sierras^ — Indians of thehills — marched down into the valleys, and dictated termsto their rulers. It was fit that the future deliverer ofMexico from the thraldom of three centuries should havebeen born of such stock. We have not space to dwell upon the career of thisremarkable man, but will note that, after having been a. PORTRAIT OF JUAREZ. member of the city council of Oaxaca, a civil judge,and Secretary of State, he was elected by the people adeputy to the General Constituent Congress, which metat the capital of the Republic in December, 1846. It wasthere he showed himself the friend of freedom and the un-compromising enemy to oppression that his later actsproved him to be. In 1853, in the Plan of Ayutla — the announcementof principles for which theyfou2:ht — Generals Alvarez andComonfort sounded the death-knell of the Church. In Overthrow of Co7nonfort. 479 July, 1855, ^^ great personal peril, Juarez joine the armyof Alvarez and marched with him to the capital. He hadpreviously met with harsh treatment, and had even beenimprisoned and sent into exile, by Santa Anna, whose over-throw he now saw so triumphantly accomplished. His history now becomes a part of that of his country,for he was identified with every prominent political move-ment from this period until
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