Manuel de la Peña y Peña

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Manuel de la Peña y Peña
In office September 8, 1847 – November 13, 1847 January 8, 1848 – June 3, 1848
Preceded by	Antonio López de Santa Anna Pedro María Anaya
Succeeded by	Pedro María Anaya José Joaquín Herrera
Born	March 10, 1789 Tacuba, Mexico
Died	January 2, 1850 Mexico City

José Manuel de la Peña y Peña (March 10, 1789, Tacuba, Distrito Federal, Mexico—January 2, 1850, Mexico City) was a Mexican politician and jurist, interim president of Mexico from September 8, 1847 to November 13, 1847 and president from January 8, 1848 to June 3, 1848.

[edit] Before assuming the presidency

He was a scholarship student at Seminario Conciliar. He graduated in civil and ecclesiastical jurisprudence on December 16, 1811, as valedictorian of his class. On December 26, 1813 he was named a trustee of the Mexico City government. On February 23, 1820 he was named by the Crown to the Audiencia of Quito, a position he was unable to fill because of the independence of Mexico.

From April 10, 1822 he was a public prosecutor, at a very young age for this position. On October 21, 1822, Emperor Augustín de Iturbide named him minister plenipotentiary to Colombia, but he was unable to occupy this position either, because of the fall of the empire. After the promulgation of the federal constitution, which created the Mexican Supreme Court, he was named to a seat in that body (December 25, 1824). Except for a few short gaps, he retained this position until his death.

On April 22, 1837 he was named Minister of the Interior, and on November 16, 1838 he was appointed to the Supremo Poder Conservador. He was also a law professor at Universidad Nacional de México, president of the Academy of Jurisprudence, and rector of the College of Lawyers. On December 4, 1841 he was named to edit the Civil Code.

On October 3, 1843 he was designated a senator of the Republic, and he was reelected to that position on November 19, 1845. In 1845 he was also Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of the Interior, and plenipotentiary to negotiate an extradition treaty with the Spanish envoy.

[edit] As president

In 1847, because of the governmental chaos caused by the United States occupation of the capital, Peña y Peña assumed the interim presidency of the country in his capacity as president of the Supreme Court and by act of Congress. He served from September 26 to November 13, 1847, when he was replaced by Pedro María Anaya. The government was at that time in Querétaro. He was later named president in his own right (not interim) (January 8 to June 3, 1848. The state of Yucatán had seceded from the federation, Michoacán declared sovereignty, and many other states were ignoring the federal government.

During his term of office the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo, which ended the war with the United States, was negotiated and signed. Negotiations began on January 2, 1848 and concluded on February 2. Mexico ceded Texas, New Mexico and Alta California to the United States and received a payment of 15 million pesos.

The treaty had much opposition in Congress, which was meeting in Querétaro, but considering the state of the country and the inability to continue the war, Congress ratified it on May 13, 1848. With the conclusion of the treaty, Peña y Peña resigned the presidency and returned to the Supreme Court. Congress elected General José Joaquín Herrera president.

[edit] References

• (Spanish) "Peña y Peña, Manuel de la," Enciclopedia de México, v. 11. Mexico City, 1988.
• (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.

Preceded by Antonio López de Santa Anna	(Interim) President of Mexico 1848	Succeeded by Pedro María Anaya
Preceded by Pedro María de Anaya	President of Mexico 1848	Succeeded by José Joaquín de Herrera