José María Bocanegra

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José María Bocanegra

In office December 18, 1829 – December 23, 1829
Preceded by	Vicente Guerrero
Succeeded by	Pedro Vélez, Lucas Alamán and Luis Quintanar

Born	ca. July 3, 1787 Labor de la Troje, Aguascalientes
Died	July 23, 1862 Mexico City
Political party	Popular

José María Bocanegra (ca. July 3, 1787, Labor de la Troje, Aguascalientes, Mexico—July 23, 1862, San Ángel, Distrito Federal, Mexico) was a Mexican laywer and politician.

Bocanegra graduated from the Colegio de San Ildefonso in Mexico City, becoming a lawyer. During the colonial period he was a lawyer for the Audiencia and a member of the College of Attorneys. He was vice-president of the Committee of Charity of the Hospice for the Poor. He became a deputy to the first Mexican Constituent Congress in 1824. He supported Agustín de Iturbide's ascent to the imperial throne (Plan de Iguala), but opposed his exercise of arbitrary power.

Bocanegra entered the Chamber of Deputies in 1827, and on January 26, 1829, President Guadalupe Victoria named him Minister of Internal and External Relations. He continued to hold this position with the change of administration to Vicente Guerrero, until April 1, 1829.

On December 4, 1829, Vice-President Anastasio Bustamante rose in revolt against Guerrero (Plan de Jalapa). Guerrero received permission from Congress to take the field to combat the rebels. On December 18, 1829 Bocanegra became interim president during Guerrero's absence, by virtue of his position as president of the Supreme Court. He served from that date to December 23, 1829, only five days. On the latter date, the military garrison of Mexico City joined the Plan de Jalapa and withdrew recognition of Bocanegra. They installed an executive triumvirate of Pedro Vélez, Lucas Alamán and Luis Quintanar. Bocanegra returned to his professional duties as a lawyer.

Later, Bocanegra was Minister of the Treasury under Presidents Valentín Gómez Farías and Antonio López de Santa Anna (April 26, 1833 to December 12, 1833) and Minister of External Relations and of the Treasury under presidents Santa Anna, Nicolás Bravo and Valentín Canalizo (through August 18, 1844). During this period he violently protested the annexation of Texas by the United States.

Bocanegra was known as an honorable and capable man who was uncomfortable participating in politics but felt it his duty to do so. He wrote Memorias para la Historia de México Independiente. His nephew Francisco González Bocanegra was the author of the Himno Nacional Mexicano (Mexican National Anthem). José María Bocanegra died July 23, 1862 in the Federal District.

[edit] References

(Spanish) "Bocanegra, José María" Enciclopedia de México. Mexico City, 1988.
(Spanish) Appendini, Guadalupe, Aguascalientes. 46 personajes en su historia. México, Gobierno del Estado de Aguascalientes, 1992.
(Spanish) García Puron, Manuel, México y sus gobernantes, v. 2. Mexico City: Joaquín Porrúa, 1984.
(Spanish) Orozco Linares, Fernando, Gobernantes de México. Mexico City: Panorama Editorial, 1985.