Juan Bautista Ceballos

Juan Bautista Ceballos (May 13, 1811, Durango, Nueva Vizcaya (now Durango state)—August 20, 1859, Paris) was interim president of Mexico from January 6 to February 8 of 1853. He was a moderate Liberal.

His family moved from Durango to Valladolid (Morelia) when he was very young. He received his education there, culminating in a law degree from the College of San Nicolás in 1835. While at the college, he became friends with Melchor Ocampo and Santos Degollado. In 1842, and again in 1851, he was elected to the Mexican Congress.

From May 1852 to January 1853 he was president of the Mexican Supreme Court. In this position, he succeeded to the presidency when the conservatives forced Mariano Arista from office on January 6, 1853. Shortly after becoming president, he asked Congress for the extraordinary powers it had denied to Arista, and they were granted.

Nevertheless, Congress rejected many of his initiatives, and he dissolved it militarily on January 19, calling for a constitutional convention. Congress continued to meet in a private house, naming Juan Mújica y Osorio as president, but Mújica did not accept. This led to intervention by the Mexico City garrison under Manuel Robles Pezuela, which removed Ceballos and made General Manuel María Lombardini president (Plan de Hospicio).

Ceballos returned to the Supreme Court. In 1856 he was elected deputy from Michoacán and Colima to the Constituent Congress (1856–57). President Antonio López de Santa Anna, who succeeded Lombardini, nominated him to the Order of Guadalupe, but Ceballos rejected the honor, not being a supporter of Santa Anna. For this snub, Santa Anna exiled him.

Ceballos left for Europe. He died in Paris in 1859.

References

• (Spanish) "Ceballos, Juan Bautista," Enciclopedia de México, v. 3. Mexico City, 1996, ISBN 1-56409-016-7.
• (Spanish) García Puron, Manuel, México y sus gobernantes, v. 2. Mexico City: Joaquín Porrua, 1984.
• (Spanish) Orozco Linares, Fernando, Gobernantes de México. Mexico City: Panorama Editorial, 1985, ISBN 968-38-0260-5.
• (Spanish) Rivera, Agustín, El Plan del Hospicio y el Cabildo Eclesiástico de Guadalajara. Lagos, Jal.: 1890.
• (Spanish) Rivera Cambas, Manuel, Los gobernantes de México, 2 vols., 1872.